The state's probation system has a new leader, at least for now.

Tim Moose, a 25-year employee who started his correction career with the Wake probation office, will serve as the director of the Division of Community Corrections until a permanent replacement is found, according to an announcement made this morning by the N.C. Department of Correction, Sarah Ovaska reports.

Moose is filling the job left open when Robert Guy stepped aside when Gov. Beverly Perdue came into office this week. Moose was named director by Alvin Keller, the new N.C. Correction Secretary.

The probation office has been rocked by crisis this year, after the March death of UNC-Chapel Hill student Eve Carson exposed problems with the statewide system. The two men accused in her killing were on probation at that time, but received scant supervision.

Last month, the News & Observer reported that 580 probationers had killed since the start of 2000. The series also showed that the probation system had lost track of nearly 14,000 convicted criminals and that Guy and other leaders missed chances to help officers keep up with their charges.

More after the jump.

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Friday will be Robert Guy's last day of the state's probation system.

No word yet on who will replace him, Sarah Ovaska reports.

Guy, the director of the state’s probation system since 1997, had been one of the focuses of "Losing Track," an N&O series that ran in December and found, in several cases, probationers had been unwatched, and went on to kill.

The investigation also found that Guy missed several chances to implement technology to help his officers and didn’t respond to years of warnings that in several urban officers the high level of vacancies left remaining staff with unmanageable caseloads.

His retirement won’t be effective until Feb. 1, but he'll be out of his office by the end of the week, he wrote in a letter distributed to community correction staff on Monday.

"The staff of the Division of Community Corrections is the hardest working and most dedicated public servants at any level of government," Guy wrote. "In closing, I love our chosen profession and I will always love and cherish our work together and wish all of you the best!"

More after the jump.

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Since 2000, 580 people were convicted of murder or manslaughter while on probation.

The N.C. Division of Community Corrections has allowed vacancies among probation officers to pile up in urban areas with heavy caseloads. They failed to convey to legislators the growing difficulties. And when they did ask for help, the legislature usually said no.

Community Correction head Robert Guy and Correction Secretary Theodis Beck both work for Gov. Mike Easley and have made significant financial contributions to his campaign. Beck held Guy's job for two years under form Gov. Jim Hunt.

Yet for the past decade, problems in the probation system simmered beneath the surface.

The arrests of Demario Atwater and Laurence Alvin Lovette in the killing of Eve Carson, the popular UNC-Chapel Hill student body president, were followed quickly by the news that the two had scant supervision while on probation.

Beck said his department should have paid more attention to the problems. (N&O)