Kern County Probation Department

Bill Dickinson began his career with the Probation Department as an Extra-Help Group Counselor at Juvenile Hall in 1994. He was appointed as a permanent Group Counselor in 1995, and worked in that classification at both Juvenile Hall and the Kern Crossroads Facility. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Communications from California State University Bakersfield in 1997. In 1998, Bill was promoted to the Deputy Probation Officer classification where he worked in several assignments, including Custody Intake, Juvenile Investigations, and Prevention Services.

In 2004, he was promoted to Probation Supervisor where he began supervising the Placement unit, and later transitioned to supervising the Aftercare unit. In 2012, Bill was promoted to Assistant Probation Division Director, assigned to James G. Bowles Juvenile Hall, where he served until 2014 when he was promoted to Probation Division Director of Juvenile Programs.  In 2018, he transitioned to Juvenile Hall as Probation Division Director where he served until 2019, before being promoted to Deputy Chief Probation Officer of the Youth Services Bureau. 

Bill will become Chief Probation Officer through an appointment by the Superior Court in August of 2023.