Keep Bailing

Most people love to ask me about my work. Bail bonding must seem exciting, dangerous, and mysterious – all at the same time. I have to disappoint them, though. We just don’t have a lot of exotic tales. That’s because people we bail out are mostly ordinary folks who have gotten themselves into an unfortunate, often surprising to family, situation.

Law enforcement officers tell me that they get similar questions, but of course, their jobs are very different. Their stories range from harrowing to hysterically funny.

Jen’s List recently two great cop stories pertaining to kids. One thing that I love about kids is you can never predict what will come out of their mouths – or when. Read more »

Halloween isn’t just for kids anymore. To be sure, little pink princesses, Bob the Builders, and pint-sized goblins will be out ringing doorbells, but many adults get into the Halloween spirit too. More than 85% of 18-24 year olds celebrate Halloween and sometimes get too “spirited” for their own good. For many, that thing going “bump in the night” isn’t anything supernatural. It’s the sound of a jail cell door slamming shut.

Tampa, Florida police recently arrested a 21-year-old man for wearing a Batman costume, Read more »

Santa Ana Police Chief Addresses Jail and Bail with OC Bondsmen

The monthly meeting of Orange County bondsmen welcomed Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, Mike Edwards, his legal counsel, and Russ Davis, Santa Ana PD Jail Administrator. Police Chief Walters began the meeting with an interesting recount of how he came to the Department nearly 20 years ago and evolution of the Santa Ana Jail.

Apparently, many years ago, the Santa Ana Police Department made the decision to release all misdemeanors on a citation (known as “O.R.” or “Cite Out” and also called a “promise to appear”) and house only felony arrestees. According to Chief Walters, the Santa Ana experience was that 95 to 98% of bailees returned to court to address the charges compared with only 25% of defendants who were cited out. In the case of non-appearance, a bench warrant is issued for the defendant which, in the case of Santa Ana at the time, put additional duties on an already stretched-too-tight police force. The results of this practice carried a clear message: Read more »

Day 2 of the California Bail Agents Association (CBAA) Annual Convention featured bail bondsman education. In addition to an extensive review of local bail issues throughout the state, on Tuesday California bondsmen heard from a Professional Bail Recovery Panel. The informative panel of four professional fugitive recovery persons (known to most as “bounty hunters“) provided an in-depth review of California Penal Code Section 1299, the panel shared industry trends, pitfalls and ways that bondsmen can help make the recovery person’s job easier.

The day concluded with luncheon speaker Jose Solario, Assemblyman from the 69th District (Santa Ana) and Chair of the Public Safety Commission. Chairing such a committee, Assemblyman Solario has considerable insight into the jail system and the purpose of bail. He told bondsmen, “What you do saves tax payers money and keeps the public safe.” Read more »

The California Bail Agents Association (CBAA) kicked off its 2008 Annual Convention last night in South Lake Tahoe at Harrah’s Casino Resort with an opening reception. The opening address was given by Curt Hagman, bondsman and Assemblyman-elect from the 60th District. Curt not only talked about introducing legislation necessary to protect the California consumers as related to bail, but implored bondsman to get involved in the political process. Mr. Hagman talked about bondsmen getting organized and united to make important donations to candidates and, importantly in my opinion, to educate legislators and other elected officials about the importance of the bail system in California and in the nation. Without bail, the important American tenant of innocence until guilt is proved simply does not exist.

Bail agents heard more along these lines on today when they heard from Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich, candidate for Los Angeles City Attorney who told bondsman that when he is in office, he will make it a priority to educate all attorneys on staff about the benefit of bail and the fact that bail agents provide an important service to the criminal justice system. Not only are bondsmen agents of the court, but quite literally Los Angeles cannot afford to house people during the pre-trial process. The cost, Trutanich indicated, to house an inmate in LA County jail is $200,000 a year. Read more »

We All Need Help Sometimes

As a bail bondsman, my job is to help people get out of jail. It’s not my job to give advice. Sometimes, that’s hard to do. Today was a good example, the phone rang around 6:00 am, I looked at the caller i.d. before answering, as is my habit. “Global Tel Link“ - tells me it’s a call from a Los Angeles County Jail. “Bail Bonds, may I help you?” I answer.

The caller is a male who tells me that he is in the Van Nuys Jail. He immediately tells me that his bail $10,000, he had $3000 in cash when he was arrested and would like to pay for the $1000 bond fee himself with that money. Before I even ask the usual bail questions, my warning signals are twitching. He seems to know the bail bond process, he sounds young and he has a large sum of cash. Read more »