Kalisa Rochester

Chief Rochester began her career as an intern at the Merced County Probation Department in April of 1999.  She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Juvenile and Adult Corrections and Services with a minor in Sociology from Eastern Kentucky University.  Chief Rochester was hired by the Merced County Probation Department as a Juvenile Institutional Officer in March of 1999.  She worked in the Juvenile Detention Facility for several months before she transferred to the field services division as a Deputy Probation Officer.  Chief Rochester has held many positions within the department such as, Adult Intake/Investigations, Juvenile Supervision wherein she was stationed on high school campuses working with troubled youth for four years, Adult Supervision, Adult Drug Court, the Juvenile Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Program  and she was assigned to the Multi-Agency Gang Task Force. 

She was promoted to Supervising Probation Officer in 2012 where she was assigned to oversee the Placement Unit, a unit that supervises youth who have been removed from their homes and placed in group homes or foster care. In 2015, Chief Rochester was promoted to Program Manager, where she was assigned to oversee the Detention portion of the custody division of the probation department and in 2017, she was promoted to Assistant Chief Probation Officer.  Chief Rochester was appointed as Chief Probation Officer on March 30, 2020.