Mary Banks-Thiry spends her nights and weekends walking into the homes of convicted criminals — thieves, drug offenders, rapists — without blinking an eye, just checking in to make sure they’re not violating the terms of their intensive-probation programs.

But these days Banks-Thiry finds herself facing a different fear, one not so easily shrugged off by training or experience.

She’s about to become unemployed.

“I have control over what’s going on out there on the job, but I have no control over what an elected official is going to do,” said Banks-Thiry, surveillance officer for Douglas County Community Corrections. “On the street I’m always on guard, but I’m trained. And I get to be out there keeping the community safe. But this is more of a personal fear — nobody likes to lose their job.”

Banks-Thiry’s job security is as loose as an unlocked cell door these days, as the Kansas Department of Corrections already has moved to eliminate a $30,000 grant beginning this summer.

But Douglas County commissioners say they are willing to consider keeping Banks-Thiry on the payroll, to be paid by the county instead of statewide taxpayers.

Their argument: Without a surveillance officer, the community corrections program could be forced to recommend that its 140 “borderline” clients each year either should be sent back to prison or locked up in the county jail.

And that, officials said, not only would cost more money but also threaten the community’s safety. Failing to rehabilitate convicted criminals can lead to more serious crime down the road.

“If you send them to prison, even for a short time, they’ll be back — and oftentimes it’ll be worse,” said Ron Stegall, the county’s chief executive probation officer.

County consideration

¢ More on Douglas County Community Corrections¢ Douglas County Jail information¢ Kansas Department of Corrections

Commissioners will consider bankrolling Banks-Thiry’s position as part of next year’s budget.

Craig Weinaug, county administrator, estimated that it would take about $50,000 to cover the surveillance officer’s annual salary and benefits. Weinaug is scheduled to begin meetings this week with county administrators to see what programs should or should not be included in his recommended budget.

The discussions arrive as Weinaug already is bracing for a politically unpopular move. He’s poised to recommend increasing the county’s share of property taxes by about 10 percent, or enough to generate the $2.1 million needed next year to restore financing for the “temporary” cuts commissioners made last year to account for unexpected losses in state revenue.

The money Weinaug’s anticipating to collect through increased taxes would be used to pay for a range of services and projects that have been in the county’s pipeline for months, even years. Among them: hiring three new emergency dispatchers to keep up with increased demands; hiring three new fire-medical personnel to help run a new station for firefighting and ambulance services; and putting up a long-awaited storage/maintenance building at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Adding $50,000 to take responsibility for a community corrections employee — a position previously paid for by the state — could happen, Weinaug said, but commissioners would have to balance that need against others sure to surface in the coming weeks.

Looking for help

“You’re going to have several of these” he told commissioners last week.

John Frydman, a Lawrence defense attorney, said the investment would pay off. He’s had dozens of clients run through the program, and more than a few might have veered off course had the program not had enough people to keep track of them all.

Paying $50,000 now, he said, would be better than paying perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars later.

“Financially, the hope would be that we could lessen the criminality of these people and get them on the straight and narrow, and law-abiding, so we don’t have to use our tax money to charge them and incarcerate them,” said Frydman, a defense attorney in town for 18 years. “Prison does not help people. Community corrections can help people.

“I’ve definitely seen people who have been helped. They’ve been through the program, they haven’t been revoked, and now they’re law-abiding, taxpaying members of our community. That’s where the benefit comes.”

For the next few months, at least, Banks-Thiry will continue to make her rounds — coming in about 6 p.m., then checking in with her 35 clients at any particular time. Anywhere from a dozen to 15 clients get personal checkups each night or on a weekend.

Whether it is a curfew check, Breathalyzer test or impromptu counseling session, Banks-Thiry is ready to make a difference for as long as it lasts.

“I’m hopeful that the work that I do is very worthwhile,” she said.