§ 257. Probation personnel; qualifications and duties. 1. Except as\nmay be otherwise specified in other provisions of law, all salaried\nprobation officers and their supervisors, including the director, of\nevery probation department, agency or service maintained by any county\nor city shall be in the competitive class of the civil service. No\nperson shall be eligible for appointment as a probation officer or to a\nposition that involves the duty of supervising a probation officer, who\nis under twenty-one years of age, or who has not had a high school\neducation, or equivalent education, or who is not physically, mentally\nand morally fitted. Probation officers shall be selected because of\ndefinite qualifications as to character, ability and training, and\nprimarily with respect to their capacity for rightly influencing human\nbehavior. The director of any probation department may appoint\nnon-salaried volunteer probation officers, provided they have the\nqualifications required of salaried officers. The general rules\nregulating methods and procedures in the administration of probation, as\nmay be adopted from time to time pursuant to section two hundred\nforty-three of this chapter, may require additional minimum\nqualifications for probation personnel and shall set forth procedures,\nnot inconsistent with this or other laws, to be followed in appointment\nof all probation personnel.\n 2. The office of probation and correctional alternatives may when\nnecessary certify in writing the need of one or more salaried probation\nofficers to the official body charged with responsibility for\nappropriating funds for support of government in the political\nsubdivision of the state wherein a probation department is located. Such\nbody shall then determine whether such need exists and if found to exist\nit shall fix the salary of such probation officer and appropriate the\nnecessary funds, as well as provide for the necessary expenses of such\nofficer.\n 3. Each probation officer who collects or has custody of money, before\nentering upon the duties of his or her office, shall execute a bond,\npursuant to the provisions of section eleven of the public officers law,\nin a penal sum to be fixed by the local director of probation with\nsufficient sureties approved thereby, conditioned for the honest\naccounting for all money received by him or her as such probation\nofficer. In the discretion of the local director of probation, a\nposition scheduled bond covering all such probation officers may be\nprocured and executed in lieu of such individual bonds. The accounts of\nall probation officers shall be subject to audit at any time by the\nproper fiscal authorities and the office of probation and correctional\nalternatives.\n 4. It shall be the duty of every probation officer to furnish to each\nof his or her probationers a statement of the conditions of probation,\nand to instruct him or her with regard thereto; to keep informed\nconcerning his or her conduct, habits, associates, employment,\nrecreation and whereabouts; to contact him or her at least once a month\npursuant to rules promulgated by the commissioner of the division of\ncriminal justice services; to aid and encourage him or her by friendly\nadvice and admonition; and by such other measures as may seem most\nsuitable to bring about improvement in his or her conduct, condition and\ngeneral attitude toward society. Probation officers shall report to the\nhead of the probation bureau or department who shall in turn report in\nwriting to the court and the office of probation and correctional\nalternatives at least monthly or where there is no bureau or department,\ndirectly to the court and the office of probation and correctional\nalternatives concerning the conduct and condition of probationers; keep\nrecords of their work as probation officers; keep accurate and complete\naccounts of all money collected from probationers; give receipts\ntherefor and make prompt returns th
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