the Tippecanoe County Probation Department is going high-tech low-risk offenders are now reporting to an electronic kiosk instead of using probation officer resources News 18s Kayla Sullivan reports how it could save you money I selected I'm checking in with the touch of a finger the Tippecanoe County Probation Department is holding low-risk offenders accountable so the idea is using the kiosk I can free up another officer to do something other than ask these very simple static questions of you got an address change you paid off your if you pay your restitution and it's saving you money the county is not out any money and that covers the kiosk for a year in fact I've secured for two years actually each year is thirty thousand dollars that's about half of what it would cost to hire a new probation officer by the time you figure in their salary and all their benefits you're looking at about sixty two thousand dollars for a first-year line officer but is it safe in what is a low-risk offender typically low-risk offenders are individuals that have a theft charge a trespass maybe first time OWI Hollinger says no sex offenders will be using the kiosk a calculated system refers people to the program we identify what I referred to as criminal genic needs or domains and these people typically have score low on this this risk assessment the probation kiosks are located here in the lafayette sentinel office they also do drug screenings and depending on how well this program goes in Tippecanoe County Sentinel says they plan to offer their services to other counties in the state we adapt to the needs of the agencies so if we do go into another county and they need a different different questions different modes of response then we'll adopt it for that county he was all over news 18 and Hollinger says he has received positive feedback from probation officers so far they can now concentrate where they're needed which is more moderate and high risk offenders