Policy Text
TRAINING BULLETIN
Evaluation Coordinator: Training Section Commander
Automatic Revision Cycle: 3 Years
“Department Training Bulletins shall be used to advise members of current police techniques and
procedures and shall constitute official policy.” Index Number: I-O.4
Alpha Index: Legal Aspects of Searching
Persons on Parole or Probation
Effective Date:
23 Nov 11
LEGAL ASPECTS ON SEARCHING PERSONS ON
PAROLE AND PROBATION
The purpose of this Training Bulletin is to inform OPD personnel of the legislative mandates of conducting
parole or probation searches. This Training Bulletin further enumerates OPD’s directive to document the means of confirming the status of the parolee or, if a probationer, his or her status and whether they have an
appropriate search clause. Finally, this Training Bulletin provides guidance in situations where inconsistent
information is discovered in AWS, CORPUS, or CRIMS regarding a probationer’s status.
Policy
Officers shall continually be respectful when engaging and providing service to the community. To help
eliminate negative perceptions of peace officer’s conduct, offi cers are encouraged to focus on developing a
rapport with community members and refraining from immediately asking if he or she is on probation or
parole. Asking such a question, especially if it is the first question asked, infers that the community member
must have some sort of criminal history. Community members may view this line of questioning as
disrespectful and as an assumption without merit.
Officers’ primary motivation to conduct a parole or probation search shall serve as a legitimate law
enforcement or rehabilitative interest. A parole or probation search shall not be:
• Arbitrary;
• Capricious; or
• Harassing
1.
There are three (3) requirements necessary to invoke a search clause of a parolee or probationer:
• Knowledge of search condition
Prior to a probation or parole search, an officer must be aware of the person’s search conditions. If
the parolee advises that he/she is on parole, or a probationer advises that he/she is on probation with
an appropriate search clause, offi cers do not need to independently verify their status prior to
conducting the search.2
1 USSC: Samson v. California (2006) 547 US 843,856
2 In re Jeremy G. (1998) 65 CA4 553,556
2
Legal Aspects of Searching Persons on Parole or Probation, Index Number I-O.4
• Rehabilitative or law enforcement motivation
The search must be reasonably related to the purpose of his or her probation or parole status, making
certain they are adhering to the appropriate legal guidelines set forth.3 A parolee or probationer’s
status is sanctioned by the courts to prevent recidivism and encourage accountability. The
motivation behind invoking a parole or probation search shall not be to re-incarcerate an individual.
It is rather an accountability mechanism to prevent any future criminal behavior.
• Scope and intensity
The search must be reasonable in its scope and intensity.4
Verifying Status
To verify the status of a parolee or probationer, AWS, CRIMS, and CORPUS are available.
There have been numerous incidents where there is a discrepancy as to the date of termination of a
probationer’s conditions as calculated and displaye d in AWS, CRIMS, and CORPUS. The contrariety is
being addressed by the Alameda County Information Technology Department and the Alameda County
Probation Department.
If an officer has no prior personal knowledge or has not been verbally advised by the parolee or probationer
confirming his/her status, prior to conducting a probation search of an individual and/or their property, an
officer shall ensure there are no status inconsistencie s that may later jeopardize an investigation. In these
cases, the officer shall verify the stat us of a parolee or probationer via AWS and CRIMS. In the event that an
inconsistency is discovered, an officer shall rely on CRIMS as the verifying information.
Note
: When a subject’s probation is “revoked,” he/she is still considered to be on active probation. The
revoked status extends the Probation Termination Date, wh ich may indicate different termination dates in the
databases.
If the parolee advises that he/she is on parole, or a probationer advises that he/she is on probation with an
appropriate search clause, it is not manda tory to confirm his/her status prior
to the search. Officers shall,
however, always confirm the parolee/probationer’s status after the search is completed and document the
findings in his/her applicable report. This step is necessary in the event the person is not actually on parole or
probation to prevent future searches based on inaccurate information fr om the person and to mitigate risk to
the officer and the City.
After the search of the parolee/probationer is comp lete, officers shall document the following in an
appropriate offense report and/or Field Interview Report (via FBR):
• What led to the consensual encounter/detention of the subject;
• How it was determined that the subject was on parole or searchable probation;
• How parole or probation status was verified. If verified via AWS or CRIMS from an accessible
computer terminal, officers shall cut and paste the information from the computer into their Field
Based Reporting offense report and/or Field Interview Report. If verified via CORPUS and/or no accessible computer terminal is available to access AWS or CRIMS, officers shall document that the
parolees/probationer’s status was veri fied via the service channel.
3 People v. Zichwic (2001) 94