California parole officials, stung by recent high-profile failures in the system, said Tuesday they are beginning to test more intensive monitoring of parolees in four counties as the first step in a five-year plan to improve supervision of high-risk offenders.

Selected parole agents in Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Sonoma counties this week began supervising 48 parolees, down from the usual 70 offenders, said Robert Ambroselli, director of adult parole for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The lower caseloads will increase the amount of attention agents can devote to each parolee, he said.

The new policy being tested in the four counties requires agents to meet with parolees and their family members, drug counselors and prospective employers or job-training agencies to develop individual goals.

Parolees who meet their goals may be rewarded by having to undergo drug tests, searches of their homes and intensive interviews with relatives once every other month instead of at least monthly, Ambroselli said in an interview. They can also qualify to end their parole after a year instead of the typical three years.

Experts had recommended the state dump its old system in which overworked agents often conducted cursory home visits, drug tests or brief conversations with parolees or family members.

Agents and their supervisors will also get more training. The department is hiring nearly 440 new agents, and hiring more supervisors to reduce the number of agents each must oversee.

The change is one benefit from a law that took effect in January that ended parole supervision for ex-convicts who were convicted of lesser crimes or are considered to be less dangerous.

The law was projected to save $200 million in its first year in part by reducing the number of parolees returned to prison for violations. Half the savings is going back into increased supervision of parolees considered to be higher risk, and to catch parole violators.

Sex offenders will not be included in the new policy until a task force makes its recommendations later this year. The task force was convened after agents failed to discover that a convicted sex offender was allegedly keeping Jaycee Dugard hidden at his Contra Costa County home for 18 years. They also elected not to revoke the parole of a convicted child molester who later pleaded guilty to killing two San Diego County teenagers.