Bexar County juvenile probation referrals are increasing in violent crimes. But some programs are helping keep teens out of trouble.

A former juvenile detention officer is in custody Tuesday after Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said he used excessive force on a juvenile back in 2019.

SAN ANTONIO – When she was elected to the 289th Juvenile District Court bench last November, Jackie Valdes said the new position allows her to continue her mission as a juvenile prosecutor. “It was always from the perspective of what is in the best interest of this child to rehabilitate,” Valdes said Monday. Valdes said her mother, Senior District Judge Maria Teresa “Tessa” Herr, encouraged her to seek election. “I felt like the citizens of Bexar County should have a judge who was invested and knowledgeable and cares enough to show up,” Valdes said. “It just amazes me that she ends up as a judge in a juvenile court where she still can do what she loves and that is to help kids.”Related: State district court judge conducts inspection of juvenile facilities in Bexar County

SAN ANTONIO – On Monday, State District Court Judge Jefferson Moore, a member of the Bexar County Juvenile Board, toured the county’s four juvenile facilities. Since then, the agency, tasked with handling juvenile offenders’ cases, has been renamed the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, and the Texas legislature ordered that local governments make annual inspections of juvenile facilities. “All of us have an interest to make sure that everything here is done as good as possible,” Moore said. “We’re really totally separate from the juvenile system, and to put us as the oversight board for them, I think, makes a good difference,” Moore said. Moore noted that the adult criminal courts also benefit from an effectively operating juvenile justice system.

SAN ANTONIO – The chief Bexar County juvenile probation officer announced Friday that the Bexar County Juvenile Board was awarded a $622,000 federal grant to assist juveniles with mental health issues in transitioning from residential treatment facilities. “(The program) allows us to work with kids at a time when they’re very vulnerable,” Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Lynne Wilkerson said Friday. “We expect it to include a clinician, an assigned probation officer, of course, a case manager and a family partner,” Wilkerson said. When the program begins operating, it will be available to all three Bexar County juvenile courts. RELATED: New mental health dispatch program sees 7 mental health calls in first week