House and Senate Republicans touted a bill Tuesday that would allow all law enforcement officers to conduct a warrantless search on any probationer.

The bill is in response to a series in The News & Observer that found that the state's probation system frequently lost track of its charges. One story reported that a probation officer was disciplined for conducting a search on a probationer who was living in another county.

The bill, which is still in the drafting stages, would require judges to place all supervised probationers on a restriction that requires them to submit to warrantless searches. Currently, that restriction is not mandatory.

The bill would also allow any sworn officer or any probation officer to conduct those searches. The idea, said Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger is to make it easier to keep an eye on probationers. It would also seek to correct instituational failings, such as restrictions on probation officers who want to find violators.

"I think the first thing that needs to be done is we need to get bureaucracy cleaned up," Berger said.

Berger also said he is asking the state's probation officials to post on its Web site the names and photos of some 14,000 probationers that have been "lost" in the system.

The bill would also require drug testing for all probationers. Drug testing is currently ordered only in certain cases.