Do probation officers work odd hours?
It depends on the department. Our department is open 8:30 to 4:30 daily, closed for lunch from 12 noon until 1 pm. My bosses are great, and they allow us to come in early or late and to leave early or late as long as we get our 35 hours per week. Heck, I worked late on Monday and Tuesday of this week, so I didn’t go the office at all today, since I didn’t schedule any appointments for today. Some officers might work late in the evening so that some clients don’t have to take off work to come in. (That’s why I work late some nights, plus I love having three day weekends!) I might do home visits on a weekend or evening. Even though there are only three juvenile probation officers in our department, all the officers take turns being on call for a week at a time. If a juvenile gets arrested outside office hours, the on-call officer has to respond to a page to determine if the juvenile should be put in a detention center, returned to parents, or whatever. The job isn’t difficult physically.
