Barbados Embraces Tech to Advance Supervision Operations

Pushed out of the sea by volcanic activity thousands of years ago, Barbados boasts breathtaking coral reefs, caves, and underground lakes for the most curious explorers. On shore, the island country is equally stunning — beaches of fine white sand stretching along a blue-green sea, with constant sunlight and fresh air. While the beauty of the island may evoke a carefree mindset, its government agencies can face the same challenges as mainland agencies, such as cybersecurity threats and antiquated paper-based processes. The Barbados Probation Service (BPS) chose to proactively tackle these obstacles through technology, implementing a cloud-based case management software solution to streamline probation processes and increase security.

Most probation departments only manage probation, but the BPS is not your typical probation department: It encompasses family matters, adult and juvenile probation, community service, and ex-offender support services. Staff handle a multitude of tasks across each sector, including sentencing reports, adoptions, maintenance, diversionary programs, reintegration plans, welfare, and aftercare. Prior to October 2021, “everything — every single thing we did was paper based,” said Deputy Chief Probation Officer Angela Dixon.

Cross-Departmental Electronic Efficiencies

Courtesy of a grant from UNICEF, the BPS went live with new supervision software in 2021. The cloud-based case management solution allowed the department to transition from a completely paper-based supervision system to a web-based one, empowering staff to fully collaborate electronically to coordinate, communicate, record, and track each step of the probation and pretrial process. New functionalities, such as automated prompts to complete tasks, within the software make it easier for officers to manage supervision clients, so nothing or no one slips through the cracks.

BPS staff members no longer need to physically run around to obtain the status of a handwritten report that sits on the desk of another staff member located a hallway, office, or building away from the starting point. All reports and information about clients are now stored within one electronic database that all staff members can access at their convenience. A supervisor can now check the status of any pre-sentencing or other report, including pertinent notes of who they visited or called and if the client has participated in a mandatory program as part of sentencing. “It has made life easier for them [BPS staff] and it’s so much faster,” noted Dixon.

Greater Accuracy in Reporting

The new case management system has made Dixon’s leadership tasks easier as well. One of her many responsibilities in BPS includes crafting the annual report, which used to be tedious as she awaited handwritten statistics and reports from officers every month. She would also have to go back and add up all the statistics by hand, often encountering an error or a missed report if an officer was on vacation and did not submit his or her report in a timely manner. “But with the new system, now it’s just a matter of plugging in and generating the report, so it’s so much easier for me to compile that [the annual report], and it is more accurate,” said Dixon.

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Learn how modern supervision solutions can help community partners and agencies support better client outcomes — from reducing recidivism and truancy rates to lowering the number of people who are incarcerated or awaiting trial.

SaaS Security Creates Confidence

While island life may seem carefree from the outside, their government agencies are just as vulnerable to security incidents, which is why Dixon stresses the importance of having a secure system for prevention. Several other agencies within Barbados have been victims of hackers over the years, but Dixon prides herself on the fact that BPS is “one of the few agencies that has never been touched.” She credits having a cloud-based system for the utmost safety and added that “having the cloud solution was really, really a wise decision for us and going forward.”

Having a trusted software partner further enhanced the security abilities of the new solution and the overall transition from paper-based processes to electronic. BPS would notify its software partner after hearing of another agency affected by a hack, and a support team member would run a report and confirm that the BPS system was good within minutes. During the training process, if a staff member ran into any challenges, they could easily reach out to support for a thorough and quick resolution, allowing the BPS team to embrace the new system with greater confidence. Dixon further shared that BPS wants to expand with more modern technology like an electronic monitoring solution in the near future.

Promising Future for All

The future looks as bright for BPS as the ongoing sunny days on the island, fully equipped with a virtual case management solution that better serves supervision stakeholders and clients under supervision. Greater efficiencies for staff lead to improved engagement and communication within the many sectors of BPS and stronger outcomes in reporting mechanisms and assessment methods. With a shared, secure SaaS-based supervision database, client information and details are captured more accurately to help BPS create more effective rehabilitative programs and assistance, supporting better outcomes for evolving community needs.