9.010 When referral to a private agency is permitted

If someone is convicted of a misdemeanor or a traffic offense, the court can place them on probation and have their progress monitored. This rule spells out when a district court is allowed to hire a private company to do that monitoring instead of using a government office.

The key point is that private monitoring is a last resort. A court can only use a private agency if no government agency, nonprofit, or volunteer program is available to handle the monitoring. In other words, the court has to check first whether free or public options exist before turning to a private, likely paid, service.

This matters to defendants because it affects who watches over their probation and whether they might have to pay fees to a private company. It also means courts cannot just default to private agencies for convenience. They have to show that other, usually cheaper, options were not available.