Calaveras probation chief retires

Calaveras County Chief Probation Officer Teri Hall will retire at the end of this month after putting the county on track to comply with the Assembly Bill 109 state prisoner realignment.

Hall plans to stay through March 29, shortly after she turns 50 and qualifies for a full retirement. 

Her 24-year law enforcement career has been spent almost entirely within Calaveras County.

Her deputy, Stephen Siegel, will relieve Hall on an interim basis until a permanent appointment is made by Calaveras County Superior Court judges.

She will exit shortly before the doors open next month on the county’s day reporting center, the centerpiece of its solution to the AB 109 reforms, providing education, substance-abuse treatment and other services for supervised probationers who formerly entered the parole system.

Hall fought tooth-and-nail with other law enforcement leaders in the county — including Calaveras County Sheriff Gary Kuntz, District Attorney Barbara Yook and Angels Camp Police Chief Todd Fordahl — to ensure implementation of the evidence-based practices outlined in the legislation. 

Kuntz, in particular, has regularly expressed skepticism about the ability of such programming to reduce recidivism and criticized Hall in town meeting forums.

Hall is left with no regrets.

“I went out on top. It’s been a wonderful … real, rewarding career,” she said. “The staff I have is amazing. I’m very confident they will be moving forward with all the … programming. I’m going to be cheering from the sidelines.”

She took on the chief probation officer role in 2010 after predecessor Mike Kriletich retired.

“She’s done an excellent job … with AB 109 and with everything,” Kriletich said in an interview last summer with The Union Democrat.

All but the first year of her career, as a juvenile probation officer in Amador County, has been spent in Calaveras.

Hall said her husband Ron retired three years ago and the pair now plan to dive into an “extensive bucket list,” first with a trip to Hawaii and “eventually Italy, Spain, Portugal … we still have a lot of the U.S. to explore.”

She will continue to make her home in Jackson and plans to spend more time with her grandchildren and three dogs and dabble more in her hobby of photography.