Is it legal for the police to do a probation search of my purse and home without my probation officer present
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Is it legal for the police to do a probation search of my purse and home without my probation officer present
The local sherrifs
office knocked on my
door an imformed me
because im on probation
that they were here to
do a probation search.
They searched my purse
and arrested me an my
boyfriend. Once we had
been taken into custody
they conducted a full
serch of our apartment
while no one was in the
residence. Is this
legal?
Asked on December 30, 2018 under Criminal Law, Texas
Answers:
B.H.F., Member, Texas State Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 4 years ago | Contributor
The best answer I can give you without seeing your probation records is "it depends."
The court can impose a requirement as a condition of your probation that you consent to a search of your home by probation. If this was not included in your conditions, then no, law enforcement had no authority to enter. If this was included, then the probation officer had the authority to enter and seek the assistance of law enforcement. If probation was not present, then this may not be a valid search as it may be a 'pre-text' (pretend) reason for entry, rather than one at the direction of the probation department.
If the initial entry was illegal...then any subsequent entries by law enforcement were also illegal.
If the initial entry was legal and they obtained a search warrant to search the full apartment, then the search MAY be legal. I say MAY because they still need probably cause to show the need not only to search your part of the dwelling, but that of your boyfriend's. If he is not on probation, he also had a privacy interest that was not automatically waived just because you are on probation.
You really need to get an attorney to review your court records, the communication between law enforcement/probation, and any search warrants. Once these documents are reviewed, they will be able to tell you with more precision whether or not either search was legal.
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