Filed Date: 3/30/1981
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
William L. Burke, Esq. County Attorney, Madison County
You have asked whether the director of probation and his deputies come within the purview of section
In the Matter of New York Post Corporation v Moses,
Article 12 of the Executive Law creates a division of probation and a director thereof (§ 240) who supervises the administration of probation throughout the State (§ 241). The director "shall endeavor to secure the effective application of the probation system and the enforcement of the probation laws" (§ 243).
Article 12A of the Executive Law requires counties to set up probation agencies to be administered locally under the aegis of the State director (§ 256). These county probation agencies are to "perform probation services therein" (§ 256[1]). An agency established under this section must have a director of probation and may have deputies (§ 256 [4]). The power of the office is obviously vested in the person who exercises it — the director. If there are deputies, they are authorized to have the same power as the director in his absence or inability to act (County Law, §
Clearly, then, the probation director and his deputies in each county have been vested with the power to enforce the State probation laws. They are, therefore, public officers because "* * * the functions and duties directly affect the citizens of the [county] and involve the exercise of the police powers of a political subdivision" (Haller v Carlson, supra, at 830).
Since public officers, under section