Source: https://www.azag.gov/sgo-opinions/I07-012
Timestamp: 2015-05-23 07:52:31
Document Index: 232663704

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 926', '§ 926', '§ 6', '§ 926', '§ 926', '§ 8', '§ 6', '§ 926', '§ 12', '§ 12', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 8', '§ 926', '§ 926']

Probation Officers and Surveillance Officers’ Status as Qualified Law Enforcement Officers Under Federal Law | Arizona Attorney General Skip to main content
HomeProbation Officers and Surveillance Officers’ Status as Qualified Law Enforcement Officers Under Federal Law Probation Officers and Surveillance Officers’ Status as Qualified Law Enforcement Officers Under Federal Law
Opinion No:I07-012 (R06-032)
Re: Probation Officers and Surveillance Officers’ Status as Qualified ...
The Honorable Karen S. JohnsonArizona State Senate
The Act regulates qualified law enforcement officers’ carrying of concealed firearms nationwide. Before the Act’s passage, each state determined whether an individual could carry a concealed firearm within its borders without respect to whether the individual was a qualified law enforcement officer authorized to carry a concealed weapon in his or her home state. The Act permits a person who meets the definition of a “qualified law enforcement officer” and whose employing agency authorizes him or her to carry a firearm to carry a concealed firearm within his or her home state and into another state without first applying for and receiving permission to carry it under that state’s own concealed-weapons process. The Act sets out six criteria for determining whether an employee of a governmental agency is a “qualified law enforcement officer.” 18U.S.C. § 926B(c). One criterion is whether the employee is authorized by the employing agency to carry a firearm. 18U.S.C. § 926B(c)(2). As you note in your opinion request, the Arizona Code of Judicial Administration (ACJA) authorizes some probation officers and surveillance officers to carry firearms under certain circumstances. ACJA § 6-113 (setting forth firearms standards for adult and juvenile probation and surveillance officers). Thus, probation officers and surveillance officers may satisfy the requirement in 18 U.S.C. § 926B(c)(2) that they are authorized to carry a firearm. To be a “qualified law enforcement officer” under the Act, a surveillance officer or probation officer must also be “authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for, any violation of law, and has statutory powers of arrest.” 18 U.S.C. § 926B(c)(1). Determining how this applies requires an analysis of the powers and duties of probation officers and surveillance officers. Although the federal law refers to the “statutory” power of arrest, Arizona law requires an analysis of statutes and the ACJA to determine the authority of probation officers and surveillance officers. Arizona statutes and the ACJA do not give juvenile surveillance officers the authority to arrest people. See A.R.S. § 8-205; ACJA § 6-105(F). Therefore, juvenile surveillance officers do not satisfy subsection (c)(1) and are not “qualified law enforcement officers” under the Act.
In addition to having statutory powers of arrest, the governmental employee must be “authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for, any violation of law.” 18 U.S.C. § 926B(c)(1). The duties of an adult probation officer include creating and maintaining records on all persons placed on probation, exercising supervision and observation over probationers, creating presentence reports for the court, keeping complete identification of probationers and their terms and conditions of probation, obtaining information concerning the conduct of probationers and reporting the information to the court, and bringing defaulting probationers into court when the probationer’s conduct justifies revocation of probation. A.R.S. § 12-253. Adult surveillance officers maintain contact with probationers and their employers and family members, monitor the conduct of the probationer, assemble information on the probationer, and report to the court if the probationer engages in conduct constituting an offense. A.R.S. § 12-259.01. Juvenile probation officers “receive and examine all referrals or Arizona uniform traffic ticket and complaint forms involving an alleged delinquent juvenile or incorrigible child,” A.R.S. § 8-205(1), “[r]eceive petitions alleging a child or children as dependent and transmit the petitions to the juvenile court,” A.R.S. § 8-205(4), maintain case records, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(d), conduct personal interviews, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(e), exercise general supervision and observation, enforcing all court orders, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(f), ensure probationers pay restitution, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(g), conduct risk assessments, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(h), monitor school attendance and performance, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(i), assist juveniles in finding employment and monitor employment, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(j), involve parent or guardian in the rehabilitation and treatment, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(k), provide for supervision of juveniles performing community service, ACJA § 6-105(E)(3)(l), and “prepare a disposition summary report for every juvenile who has been adjudicated of a delinquent act or of a technical violation of probation,” A.R.S. § 8-352(A). In short, the duties of adult and juvenile probation officers and adult surveillance officers generally consist of supervising persons on probation and addressing probation violations. Taken as a whole, the language “prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for, any violation of law,” 18 U.S.C. § 926B(c)(1), applies to actions taken before or during prosecution, prior to conviction, or during incarceration. See Ruiz v. Hull, 191 Ariz. 441, 450, 957 P.2d 984, 993 (1998) (in construing statute, court reads statute as a whole and gives meaningful operation to each of its provisions). The statute does not mention supervision and monitoring for which probation and surveillance officers are responsible. Probation and surveillance officers are not involved in the criminal investigations that precede a person’s prosecution and conviction. And, although probation and surveillance officers might be involved in probation violation hearings, those hearings concern whether a person has violated the terms and conditions of probation and are not criminal prosecutions for violations of law. See State v. Alfaro, 127 Ariz. 578, 579, 623 P.2d 8, 9 (1980) (“Essentially, the function of a probation violation hearing is not to decide guilt or innocence but to determine, by a preponderance of all reliable evidence, whether a probationer has violated the terms and conditions of his probation.”). Moreover, probation is not incarceration. Cf. State v. Graves, 188 Ariz. 24, 27, 932 P.2d 289, 292 (App. 1996) (holding that because incarceration means “confinement,” it does not include parole, which is a release from confinement). Adult and juvenile probation officers and adult surveillance officers do not engage in the “prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for, any violation of law” as described in 18 U.S.C. § 926B(c)(1), and, therefore, they are not “qualified law enforcement officers” under the Act.(2)