A probation center is opening up right next to a Brooklyn school, leaving parents worried about what this will mean for their children.
Construction for the center is almost complete, and it will be opening up soon less than a block away from St. Ann?s School. Parents say they?re worried this unwelcome neighbor will put their kids in danger.
?The kids walk back and forth a lot, often unchaperoned, because they go out for lunch,? Alice Wong, a parent, says. ?You have kids grades 6-12, they hang out all over here ? it?s a recipe for disaster.?
Other residents worry the opening of the center will mean trouble for everyone, not just the kids who go to St. Ann?s.
Bette Bast has a grandchild who lives in the area, and she thinks the reason people are so upset is because they thought nothing like this would ever happen to them.
?Even though this is a very wealthy neighborhood [it] doesn?t mean we should be immune to everything everybody else has to deal with,? Bast says.
The new probation center is actually a consolidation of two other parole offices that have been operating in the area since the 1970s. Out of 1,700 men and women currently on federal probation, about half will come to the office.
News 12 Brooklyn reached out to the Federal Parole Commission, but no calls were returned.