The Circuit Court Probation Department provides probation services to the judges of the Macomb County Circuit Court. The department's offices are on the first, ninth and eleventh floors of the County Building at 10 N. Main in downtown Mount Clemens.

    The Circuit Court Probation Department has as its primary goal the protection of the public and the enhancement of public safety. They attempt to accomplish this by recommending sanctions to the Judges of the Circuit Court and, as directed, carry out the sentences given to convicted adult felons in a humane, cost-efficient manner, consist with sound correctional principles and constitutional standards.

    The Department utilizes a wide range of correctional sanctions that are available to the Judges of the Circuit Court, such as restitution to victims, community services, community correctional components, electronic monitoring, boot camp placements, probation supervision, and, when necessary, jail and prison. It is the aim of the Department to supervise offenders in the most appropriate setting consistent with public safety.

    One of the major tasks of the Probation Department is the preparation of pre-sentence investigation reports for the Circuit Court on all felony convictions, and on other cases as requested. These reports outline the nature of the defendant's background, including social history, criminal history, substance abuse, employment and educational history, etc. after reviewing this information, a sentence recommendation is made to the Court. In 2001, the Department prepared and presented 3,092 pre-sentence recommendations to the Court.

    Another major task is to supervise probationers, under the terms of a Judge's probation order. By monitoring probationers' compliance with the order, and intervening when appropriate, the Department staff can enhance public safety while assisting probationers. One of the major functions of the Department is to provide meaningful opportunities for offenders to help themselves improve their behavior and become law abiding, productive citizens. Each case is evaluated and offenders are referred to appropriate academic classes, vocational programs, employment programs, substance abuse classes, etc. At the end of the year 2001, the Department had 3,693 probationers under supervision, including 175 electronic monitoring (tether) cases.

     As part of the supervision function, the task of the Department is to monitor and enforce the collection of court-assessed fees. This includes court costs, restitution, supervision fees, court-appointed attorney fees, Crime Victims Rights Act assessments, forensic laboratory fees, and other costs. In the year 2001, the Department collected $671,505 in court costs and $1.5 million in court-ordered restitution assessments.