June 26, 2024 — An 18-year-old Albany man was arrested June 21 after he brought a loaded handgun into the Albany County Probation office.
Shascott Ham entered the office around 2:50 p.m. to meet with his probation officer when security found the gun during a search of his backpack. Albany Police took Ham into custody without incident.
PEF is the exclusive union representative for the Albany County Probation Department Unit. Division 502 Council Leader Tricia Drautz said the situation was handled extremely well and professionally.
“No one was hurt during this incident,” she said. “This was a job well done by security and the two probation officers involved. Security did their due diligence in searching this individual, as well as all others who enter the probation department, which helps to keep us all safe.”
In the future, she hopes staff notification will happen differently.
“Administration did notify staff of the incident, through their supervisors, and we appreciate the notification,” Drautz said. “However, the membership would prefer that administration notify staff directly when issues of great importance such as this occur.”
The problem lies in the fact that there are times supervisors are not in and the message doesn’t make it to some staff in a timely manner.
“Union leadership will continue to work with the administration on communication,” Drautz said. “This incident reminds us that parts of the population we work with are becoming much more dangerous and our jobs are becoming much more dangerous. We all want the same thing, to go home safely at the end of our workday to our families.“
Assistant Council Leader Michelle Driscoll echoed Drautz on the changing dynamics of the population. “I have worked for probation for almost 23 years,” she said. “Our jobs have become more dangerous than ever before.”
Ham was arraigned in Albany County Criminal Court and remanded to Albany County Jail.