Jerry E. Powers More photos >>

           Jerry E. Powers was born in Stockton, California and grew up in Rio Vista, California. After graduating from Rio Vista High School in 1980, he attended the University of California at San Diego where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 1985.

Mr. Powers began his Probation career with the San Diego County Probation Department in 1984 as a student worker. During his 15 years with the Department, he moved up the ranks to the level of supervisor. He worked in a multitude of assignments, which included working and supervising in the adult and juvenile institutions, school-based, and community supervision assignments.

In September of 2000, Mr. Powers returned to California’s Central Valley as the Superintendent of the juvenile hall for Stanislaus County Probation Department. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to Deputy Chief, and in November 2002, he was appointed by the Court as Stanislaus County’s 13th Chief Probation Officer where he spent 10 years leading the Department. During his tenure as Chief, he spent a significant amount of time working with State policy makers advocating for probation and corrections reform. He provided expertise to the Legislature and policy makers on criminal justice system improvements, as well as to California State and Federal courts.

On December 6, 2011, Chief Powers became the 19th Chief Probation Officer for the Los Angeles County Probation Department—the largest probation services agency in the United States with over 6,200 employees. 4,400 of those employees are sworn peace officers that supervise over 80,000 adults and juveniles on probation in the Los Angeles County with an annual budget of over $700 million.

The newest of the many projects that Chief Powers has been tasked with is to oversee and implement California’s new Prison Realignment Plan (Assembly Bill 109). Under this new plan, the Los Angeles County Probation Department is tasked with supervising nearly 10,000 non-serious, non-violent, non-sex offender parolees (The term parolee is replaced with the new term “Post-released Community Supervision”).

When the Chief is not working at the Probation Headquarters in Downey, he enjoys spending time with his wife and his three children. His hobbies include golfing, hunting, fishing, diving, and traveling.