North Carolina should fix its broken probation system with expanded authority to search criminals without a warrant, better pay incentives for probation officers and lighter caseloads, Gov. Beverly Perdue said Friday.

The governor hopes the lighter caseloads will give probation officers a reasonable chance of managing the 112,000 people convicted of crimes but not sent to prison.

"My priority as the new governor of North Carolina has to be the safety of the general public," Perdue said during a news conference in Asheville.

Problems with probation oversight were highlighted last year after two men were charged in the slaying of University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson, who was forced to make withdrawals from several ATMs before her death. The two men had received little attention from probation officers.

News reports in the wake of that case detailed long-standing problems in the Division of Community Corrections, including heavy caseloads, low pay, high turnover and an outdated court data system. A report by the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Corrections found failings by line officers and "ineffective management oversight at each level in the DCC." Demotions, reassignments, firings or early retirements followed.

Perdue said she would ask the General Assembly to spend more than $25 million extra over the next two years and make other legal changes to:

hire 117 probation and parole officers and 29 more supervisors;

increase the pay of 1,048 probation and parole officers to help raise recruitment and retention;

use federal stimulus funds to buy updated radios that allow parole and probation officers to communicate readily with other law enforcement officers;

make juvenile records of offenders accessible to officers;

make warrantless searches of probationers and their property a condition of every court order imposing probation as a sentence;

continue to recruit probation and parole officers until every one of the approximately 120 vacant jobs is filled.

Perdue's office said legislation to enact the reforms would be sponsored by legislative power broker Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland.

A first step will be putting the names, photos and crimes of the more than 13,000 offenders who have disappeared from parole supervisors on the Internet to generate tips. The Correction Department launched a page on its Web site describing probationers who did not report to probation officers. Perdue said the page launched Friday.

Republican legislative leaders, including House Minority Leader Paul Stam, last month urged Perdue to launch the site and to make warrantless searches a condition of probation.

"I'm very pleased," Stam, R-Wake, said after reading Perdue's proposals. "I think this will improve public safety."

Probation is a sentence that a judge can impose instead of, or in addition to, prison time. Probationers must agree to conditions such as paying child support and court costs, not possessing weapons and to "submit at reasonable times to warrantless searches" by a probation officer. Violations can result in prison time.

Perdue was asked how she would create prison space to handle an influx of probation violators at the same time that the recession-stricken state is forecasting the need to trim spending or raise revenues by $3.4 billion next year. She vowed to do whatever it takes to enforce probation conditions.

"We need to make offenders more responsible, especially for the bad decisions they make while on probation," Perdue said. "Prison space is not going to be a reason."