§ 257. Probation personnel; qualifications and duties. 1. Except as
may be otherwise specified in other provisions of law, all salaried
probation officers and their supervisors, including the director, of
every probation department, agency or service maintained by any county
or city shall be in the competitive class of the civil service. No
person shall be eligible for appointment as a probation officer or to a
position that involves the duty of supervising a probation officer, who
is under twenty-one years of age, or who has not had a high school
education, or equivalent education, or who is not physically, mentally
and morally fitted. Probation officers shall be selected because of
definite qualifications as to character, ability and training, and
primarily with respect to their capacity for rightly influencing human
behavior. The director of any probation department may appoint
non-salaried volunteer probation officers, provided they have the
qualifications required of salaried officers. The general rules
regulating methods and procedures in the administration of probation, as
may be adopted from time to time pursuant to section two hundred
forty-three of this chapter, may require additional minimum
qualifications for probation personnel and shall set forth procedures,
not inconsistent with this or other laws, to be followed in appointment
of all probation personnel.

2. The office of probation and correctional alternatives may when
necessary certify in writing the need of one or more salaried probation
officers to the official body charged with responsibility for
appropriating funds for support of government in the political
subdivision of the state wherein a probation department is located. Such
body shall then determine whether such need exists and if found to exist
it shall fix the salary of such probation officer and appropriate the
necessary funds, as well as provide for the necessary expenses of such
officer.

3. Each probation officer who collects or has custody of money, before
entering upon the duties of his or her office, shall execute a bond,
pursuant to the provisions of section eleven of the public officers law,
in a penal sum to be fixed by the local director of probation with
sufficient sureties approved thereby, conditioned for the honest
accounting for all money received by him or her as such probation
officer. In the discretion of the local director of probation, a
position scheduled bond covering all such probation officers may be
procured and executed in lieu of such individual bonds. The accounts of
all probation officers shall be subject to audit at any time by the
proper fiscal authorities and the office of probation and correctional
alternatives.

4. It shall be the duty of every probation officer to furnish to each
of his or her probationers a statement of the conditions of probation,
and to instruct him or her with regard thereto; to keep informed
concerning his or her conduct, habits, associates, employment,
recreation and whereabouts; to contact him or her at least once a month
pursuant to rules promulgated by the commissioner of the division of
criminal justice services; to aid and encourage him or her by friendly
advice and admonition; and by such other measures as may seem most
suitable to bring about improvement in his or her conduct, condition and
general attitude toward society. Probation officers shall report to the
head of the probation bureau or department who shall in turn report in
writing to the court and the office of probation and correctional
alternatives at least monthly or where there is no bureau or department,
directly to the court and the office of probation and correctional
alternatives concerning the conduct and condition of probationers; keep
records of their work as probation officers; keep accurate and complete
accounts of all money collected from probationers; give receipts
therefor and make prompt returns thereof at least monthly; aid in
securing employment; perform such other duties in connection with such
probationer as the court may direct or as required by the general rules
adopted pursuant to section two hundred forty-three of this chapter; and
make such reports to the office of probation and correctional
alternatives as it may require.

4-a. In the event a probationer ceases to participate in or is
unsuccessfully terminated from an alcohol or substance abuse program
ordered by the court as a condition of a sentence of probation pursuant
to section 410.10 of the criminal procedure law or section 65.10 of the
penal law, the probation officer shall immediately report said cessation
or termination to the local probation director. The local probation
director shall report said cessation or termination to the court within
ninety days, except where the probationer has resumed participation in
an alcohol or substance abuse program with the approval of the local
probation director. The local probation director shall include the fact
of any such report to the court in the next monthly written report to
the court and the state director of probation and correctional
alternatives as required pursuant to subdivision four of this section.

4-b. It shall be the duty of every probation officer to provide
written notice to probationers under the officer's supervision who may
be subject to any requirement to report to the office of victim services
any funds of a convicted person as defined in section six hundred
thirty-two-a of this chapter, the procedures for such reporting and any
potential penalty for a failure to comply.

5. Probation officers may require such reports by probationers as are
reasonable or necessary. Probation officers shall be peace officers.

6. (a) Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the director
of probation in counties with a population of more than three hundred
thousand, except counties wholly contained within a city, shall be in
the non-competitive class of civil service and shall be appointed by the
county executive with the approval of the local governing body. There
shall be one deputy director of probation, who shall be in the
non-competitive class of civil service. Such deputy shall be appointed
by the director of probation.

(b) No person shall be eligible for appointment as a director of
probation or deputy director of probation pursuant to subdivision one of
this section who does not meet the minimum qualification requirements
established for the position by the general rules regulating methods and
procedures in the administration of probation.

(c) The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to any person
holding the office of director or deputy director of probation in any
such county on the effective date of this subdivision during the term of
such office.