SPRINGVALE – York County’s top prosecutor says probation transfers from other states are straining his office’s workload and he will continue to oppose them. District Attorney Michael Cantara said probation officers already face high caseloads, and the arrival of out-of-state offenders only makes matters worse.

Since the beginning of November, he said, York County received five requests to transfer probation to Maine. Three came from New Hampshire and there was one each from New York and Connecticut. Because the decision rests with the Corrections Department, Cantara says his opposition is little more than a formality.

Probation officers who deal with adults in York County have a caseload that ranges from 125 to 160 individuals, Cantara said.

“Too many Maine defendants are placed on low-level administrative supervision, with little contact between convicted defendant and the supervising probation officer,” he said. “Furthermore, probation officers in York County still lack an adequate office support system.”

Because of its proximity to other states, York County receives requests to accept out-of-state probationers.

“I probably carry 12 or 13 [out-of-staters] I’m supervising. It seems a bit disproportionate,” Probation Officer Lew Randall, who works out of an office at Springvale District Court, said last month.

Cantara acknowledged that there have been improvements in the system. “In fairness, the Department of Corrections has worked to improve shortcomings … in York County over the past four years,” he said, citing the addition of a full-time secretary in the Biddeford office and a part-timer in Springvale.

“I believe local probation officers do a very good job under difficult and challenging circumstances. … But the large number of Maine probationers you are currently responsible for, plus inadequate office support systems, suggest to me that importing probationers from outside of Maine is ill-advised,” he said.