Welcome to the wonderful world of being on probation. The best way I can explain probation is it’s like walking around on eggshells. Probation is in place to monitor you and ensure you handle all of the classes, community service, assessments, fines, and anything else the court adds to your punishment. You will meet with your probation officer monthly and they will ask you questions about interactions with the law, any drinking or drugs, make sure all of your contact information has not changed, and check the status of your taking care of what the court has ordered you to do. If you move while on probation, you need to tell your PO before you move and provide them with your new address. Failing to do so is a violation!
Most POs are nice and helpful. They want you to make it through probation without any issues and want you to be a better person. Unfortunately, some POs will scare the shit out of you. They have your freedom in their hands and can make probation a living hell if they want. During probation for my 3rd, my first PO scared the shit out of me. She was always angry, not friendly at all, and would scold you at the drop of a pin. She scolded me for using a paperclip on some paperwork. She also scolded me for slightly scooting my chair up. The only thing you can do is be as polite as possible. The easier you make it for her, the more she will appreciate you. I set a goal to make her smile 1 time before I was done by bringing in a dad joke each month. It worked! My first dad joke cracked her up and she liked to see me after that initial joke. I’m not saying this works for everyone, but I did what I could to make the best of the situation. Unfortunately, she left for maternity leave and I went through several other POs before finally being assigned to one who was new to the position. I can tell you, without a doubt, that if you get a fairly new PO, they will be much easier to deal with than someone who has been doing it for 10-20 years. Just imagine dealing with the people they see daily for years…it makes you a hard-nosed human. The POs who haven’t been doing it long haven’t had as much time to get so angry. That’s my opinion.
The best way to handle probation is to knock out every class, pay every fine, and finish community service hours as fast as you can early in probation. POs prefer to not constantly tell you to finish this or that, so if you finish everything fast, it’s less for them to question you about. It also shows them you are on top of everything. They much prefer seeing a probationer who is on top of everything versus someone who they have to constantly stay on to finish things. It’s also nice to get all of those things behind you fast. Then it’s just a monthly meeting with your PO, your Interlock Device, and most important, staying out of trouble. While you are on probation, you cannot get in trouble again. I drive the speed limit, stop at stop signs completely, and will not run red lights or even yellow lights … it is easy to do right. If you do find yourself in trouble, even traffic tickets, make sure you tell your PO as soon as possible. You want them to hear it from you before someone else because it will make it back to them. The other thing is to always be honest with your PO. If you screw up and drink and they are going to give you a UA (urine analysis, aka drug test), it’s much better if you tell them before they see the UA results. There is nothing a PO dislikes more than lying to them. Honesty goes so much farther with them, trust me on this.
While on probation, you will be subject to drug tests. Generally, they are urine tests. If your PO suspects they need a stronger test to identify drugs not found by the UA, they can order you to get a hair follicle test. I said on another page that they can detect alcohol 80 hours after you drank, which is about 3 in a half days later. I mentioned that trying to work the system and drinking when you know you won’t be tested is a risky thing because if they decide to send you for a hair follicle test, it can detect drugs and alcohol up to 90 days prior, which is why your life will be so much less stressful if you just stay away from all drugs and alcohol. If they catch you, they can easily violate your probation and send you to jail for whatever the suspended sentence was, which is usually at least 180 days consecutively. Use probation as a time to clean up your life. I can speak from experience, drinking in my late teens through my 40’s, it is quite a nice place to be when you are sober for months or years. I also know how a way of life with alcohol is a tough thing to break, but if you put your mind to it, it is possible.
Probation can be as easy or hard as you make it. I highly suggest making it as easy as possible. When you constantly mess up, you will deal with violations, which you can read more about in that section.