Interim probation director appointed

Helen Harberts

HOUSTON – The Harris County probation department has a new interim director.

Local 2 Investigates has learned county judges appointed Helen Harberts Friday to run the department while they search for a permanent director.

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Harberts' first order of business will be to clean up the county's drug testing program which has been overwhelmed with mistakes since 2006.

Local 2 Investigates has been reporting on the mistakes for nearly a month. A court hearing in August exposed data entry mistakes that caused positive drug tests to be linked to the wrong people and errors with how urine samples were handled.

Harberts is a former probation officer and served as a deputy district attorney in northern California.