County probation and Brawley officials outline youth-crime trends and expansion of diversion programs

Imperial County probation officials told the Brawley City Council on April 1 that roughly half of the juveniles currently in the county juvenile hall are from Brawley and urged expanded early-intervention programming to reduce arrests and long-term custody in the city.

Chief Probation Officer Dan Prince said the county’s juvenile hall currently holds 16 young people and that about half of them are from Brawley. “We are holding a disproportionate number of youth from Brawley,” Prince said, adding that the county’s juvenile system now carries longer local commitments since state facilities closed and the state raised juvenile-court jurisdiction to age 25.

Probation staff outlined prevention and diversion programs they said could reduce referrals to the hall by focusing on younger children before involvement escalates. Oswaldo Guerrero, juvenile division manager, described the department’s Aspire program for ages 9–13 and a “walk-in prevention” model that provides family counseling, referrals and community supports. Guerrero said probation could expand Aspire to serve first-time and youthful offenders, recommending collaboration with city stakeholders and schools to identify referrals early.

RightTrack Youth Services, a county-contracted nonprofit, described existing local programs and proposed additional parent-education classes. Marisol Medina, RightTrack program director, said the organization offers after-school supervision, a substance-abuse-focused “Elevate” program for young parents, and a gender-specific diversion program for girls financed by grants. Medina proposed bringing RightTrack’s “Active Parenting of Teens” curriculum to Brawley to give parents tools to manage behavior and reduce risk factors that can lead to delinquency.

Brawley Police Department leaders outlined existing police-led youth programs that city staff and community partners say are already expanding: MLS Go (youth soccer participation with financial support), an Explorers program (police-advisor mentorship), a boxing program (28 participants and a wait list), a Brawley Police Football Club (52 participants, girls’ program active; boys’ program forthcoming) and a planned Esports Academy in partnership with the library. Assistant Chief Blackstone said those programs are intended to build trust, structure and life skills and to occupy young people after school.

Probation and RightTrack officials said programming is funded through a mix of grants and contracts; RightTrack reported a 75% successful completion rate for its long-supervision programs. Chief Prince and probation staff told the council the department is willing to fund pilot classes and after-school programs in Brawley but that they would need city facilities to host those programs. Council members and city staff expressed interest in a pilot arrangement and asked staff to return with logistics, facility availability and a budget for one or more trial programs.

No formal action was taken at the meeting; council members instructed staff to continue coordinating with probation and nonprofit partners to finalize program designs and sites.