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In Durham, Wake and Gaston counties, probation offices have had difficulty retaining officers, college graduates who can find higher-paying jobs with better hours and benefits. The work can be dangerous.

Probation and parole officers are expected to work odd hours, not only making home visits, but stopping in at job sites and other places their charges might be.

For much of their work, probation officers are expected to strap on guns and bulletproof vests and set out for the riskier streets.

They do drug testing in homes and at their offices. "You think it's a pleasant part of the job, collecting urine?" Guy asked.

Their salaries range from $32,000 to $50,000. The bulk of the division's officers have no more than five years of experience, Guy said. And because there is no mechanism for merit-pay increases, he added, most officers stay at the lower end of the range.

"The probation system in North Carolina is not broke," Guy said. "We've just got some needs. We've got good people, good policies."

In 2000, state corrections officials investigated Durham's probation department after an officer's pistol disappeared.

That review turned up other problems. In a couple of cases, defendants had gone five years without reporting to an officer.

Others showed that officers had failed to promptly tell supervisors about serious crimes committed by offenders while on probation.

Seven supervisors and five officers were disciplined after the 2000 Durham-based inquiry.

The internal investigation into the Atwater and Lovette cases should help Guy determine whether inadequacies festered.

"The investigation will assist us in identifying all the problems," Guy said.

Juvenile-adult gaps

Lovette's case highlights a fissure between the juvenile and adult courts that stymies the free flow of information about young offenders.

Lovette, who turned 17 in November, was committed in 2006 to a juvenile detention center, but his records from then are not available for public scrutiny.

Not even prosecutors in the adult courts have access to all juvenile records.

"I only get it if they're charged in adult court with a violent offense," said Durham District Attorney David Saacks.

Lovette, who was released early from detention, was charged in November with breaking and entering, and larceny in Durham. But because he was not accused of violent offenses, a prosecutor would not have access to the offenses racked up before his 16th birthday.

"I don't think there's a judge in the state who's going to let us look into a juvenile record for a property offense," Saacks said. "It's sort of like 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.' What happens in juvie stays in juvie."

The juvenile system was set up to give offenders under 16 a chance for rehabilitation, treatment and a clean slate that might keep them off a crime-ridden path.

Lovette was put under the charge of the Durham probation office in January after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors -- breaking and entering, and larceny for a break-in at a Hope Valley home.

It was unclear whether Lovette was supposed to be under the watch of a post-release officer from the juvenile system.

In the adult system, Guy said, Lovette met with a Durham probation office in court in January. Although he was assigned to the lowest level of oversight, Guy said, an officer should have visited Lovette's home within 30 days of the hearing.

It is during those visits, Guy said, that skilled probation officers should find out whether their new charge has a troubled past.

"The policy's pretty clear," Guy said. "It's not just sit in the office and let them come in."

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