Court Opinion

ID: 9462034
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:30:27.48705+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:22.390310
License: Public Domain

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge,
joined by CHAMBERS and WALLACE, Circuit Judges, concurring:
I concur in the holding that the search here was reasonable, not oppressive or harassing, and that there should be no requirement that a parole officer obtain a warrant to search his parolee or the parolee’s home. I note, too, that the majority believes that “A good parole officer does not regard himself as a policeman.” Majority op. at 250. In my dissenting opinion in United States v. Consuelo-Gonzalez, 521 F.2d 268 (9th Cir. 1975), I made the same observation as to probation officers and their role and relationship vis-á-vis probationers.
But I have some doubt about the majority’s observation that “the parole officer ought to know more about the parolee than anyone else but his family. He is therefore in a better position than anyone else to decide whether a search is necessary.” Majority op. at 250. The majority also assumes that much of the information about parolees comes from interviews and home visits. Id. at 249-250.
As my dissent in Consuelo-Gonzalez attempted to make clear, in many instances such extensive contact between probationers and parolees and their supervisors is untenable. In those cases as well as others, those best able to decide whether a search is necessary are law enforcement personnel. Town marshals, city police, sheriffs and state and federal law enforcement officers will often have made observations and reports that would provide a parole officer with the basis for making his decision to search, and be in the best position to advise him when and how to do so effectively and safely.
The majority suggests that there would be something improper about a parole officer searching at the suggestion of the police. Who would be in a better position to suggest it? The majority recognizes the need to prevent further “antisocial or criminal conduct by the parolee” and, surely, law enforcement personnel would have as much concern for those ends as would a parole officer.
In actual practice, parole and probation officers don’t ordinarily have to proceed on the basis of “hunches.” Rather, they act on reliable information from agencies which are set up for that purpose.