Innovative Leader to Leave Probation Dept.

The chief probation officer of Los Angeles County, Barry Nidorf, who has implemented groundbreaking crime-fighting measures in a period of fiscal austerity, said Tuesday that he will retire in March for personal reasons.

Nidorf, 56, has headed the nation’s largest probation department, with a $350-million annual budget and 4,150 employees, for the past 13 years.

“Given all the turmoil in the last few years, it seems we’re turning the corner in terms of the county’s financial problems, so I decided now is the time to go,” he said in an interview. “I want to retire while I’m young enough to enjoy retirement.”

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Nidorf, who took a leave last year to undergo treatment for leukemia, said his retirement was not brought on by health problems. The leukemia is in partial remission with medication, he said.

The department supervises 80,000 adult and 16,000 juvenile offenders. It operates 22 juvenile halls and probation camps, administers drug tests, visits the homes of probationers and prepares sentencing reports for judges.

Despite seven consecutive years of budget problems, and the fiscal near-collapse of the county government in 1995, Nidorf has managed to develop several programs that have emphasized crime prevention rather than punishment--programs that have become models for probation departments nationwide.

In 1991, Nidorf opened the nation’s first juvenile boot camps at Camp Munz and Camp Mendenhall near Lake Hughes. He also helped develop a program that assigns probation officers as counselors to troubled children to keep them away from drugs and gangs.

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And earlier this year, Nidorf oversaw the opening of what is believed to be the nation’s first all-female boot camp at Camp Scott in Saugus. Only about 25% of those who finish sentences at boot camp wind up back in jail--less than half the rate of other juvenile offenders.

“He’s always been on the cutting edge, especially with regard to programs for juveniles,” said Rocco Pozzi, president of the American Probation and Parole Assn. and head of the probation department in Westchester County, New York.

After his retirement, Nidorf said, he likely will do consulting work for the county and continue as chairman of the National Institute of Corrections advisory board, which advises the U.S. Justice Department. He was appointed to the board in 1990 and reappointed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno in 1994.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a high school classmate of Nidorf’s, called him a “man of integrity, vision, and leadership . . . who will be remembered as a great leader.”

Though the county has recovered since its near-collapse in 1995--when only an eleventh-hour bailout by Gov. Pete Wilson saved the camp system from being shut down--the Probation Department faces a deficit of $48.5 million in the current fiscal year.

The department is expected to run out of money in February, but Nidorf says he is confident the state or federal government will come up with funding by early next year.

Still, years of budget cuts have had a serious affect on the department: More than 60% of probation officers have caseloads of more than 1,000.

Even the most serious cases, including those involving convictions for gang violence and sexual assault, are supervised at a rate of one officer to 100 criminals.

Probation workers say the department was able to avoid layoffs or shutting down probation camps because of the close relationship between Nidorf and the Probation Department union.

“His hallmark has been trust and goodwill, and he will be missed,” said Richard Shumsky, president of the union.