Public safety takes back seat to politics in state legislature Wait till next year.
The motto of the Boston Red Sox is now the motto of the 3rd District Court in New Bedford, where overworked probation officers have been promised another attempt at relief in next year's legislative session. This is the fourth busiest court in the commonwealth, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever walked in the front door during working hours. Those cases were split up among the 11 probation officers on staff, meaning at an average 108 cases per officer they're carrying the heaviest caseload in the state. This is not to cry the blues for people on the state payroll. This is to realize that if these people cannot get the job done, if there are too many people for each of them to keep tabs on, then the system breaks down and the entire community is put at risk.