Section 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 state director 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 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 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
  division of probation and correctional alternatives.
    4.  It shall be the duty of every probation officer to furnish to each
  of his probationers a statement of the conditions of probation,  and  to
  instruct  him  with  regard  thereto;  to  keep  informed concerning his
  conduct, habits, associates, employment, recreation and whereabouts;  to
  contact  him  at least once a month pursuant to rules promulgated by the
  state director of probation and correctional alternatives;  to  aid  and
  encourage  him  by  friendly  advice  and  admonition; and by such other
  measures as may seem most suitable to bring  about  improvement  in  his
  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 state director
  of probation and correctional alternatives at  least  monthly  or  where
  there  is  no  bureau or department, directly to the court and the state
  director 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
  state division 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 crime victims  board  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 four 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.