Gerba winner of ‘Probation Officer of the Year’ award
Jeremy Gerba, a probation officer for Washington County since 2006, was named Adult Probation/Parole Professional of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association on Probation, Parole and Corrections.
Gerba primarily supervises and coordinates the Mental Health Court Program and Veterans Court Program.
Thomas Jess, deputy court adminstrator for family court and probation services, said Gerba coordinates all referrals, organizes the monthly meetings and acts as the liaison with the Veterans Administration representative and local mental health agencies. Gerba organized and participated in a recent homeless veterans “stand down” day in which homeless veterans were offered housing, treatment and medical care free of charge.
Those who nominated Gerba wrote that these “caseloads take a considerable amount of time from not only a supervision aspect, but from a coordination aspect. Officer Gerba has the ability to balance both justice and rehabilitation for these programs.”
Gerba also has addressed the problem of pregnant opiate-addicted women who have been jailed due to probation or parole violations, coordinating efforts with medical specialists and corrections officials to allow pregnant women to be medicated legally while offering a safe-as-possible term of gestation for the unborn child.
Additionally, Gerba took the lead in producing a video to inform offenders and the public about the functions of the adult probation and parole office.