Keep Bailing

Bail agents from all over the country traveled to Los Vegas this week to attend the 2012 annual Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS) conference.

Most people have never needed to use the services of a bail bonds company before and because of that, many still have the belief that bail agents spend their days sitting behind desks, smoking cigars and throwing darts.  The truth of the matter is that there are more than 15,000 licensed bail agents throughout the country and more than 50 percent are women.

8 News Now said that this year’s group of conference attendees remain busy because more and more people are being arrested and taken to jail.  The attendees also wanted to make sure that the public has a greater understanding of the differences between bail bondsmen and bounty hunters.

Bail bondsmen are hired by Read more »

As last year, California bail agents met at Lake Tahoe for the 2009 Annual Convention of the California Bail Agents (CBAA). Day one was Monday and included the usual State of the Association and PBUS National Updates.

Pretrial Release

Continuing Education Credit was offered to bondsmen who attended all required sessions, the first of which was an attorney presentation regarding Pre Trial Release presented by Ash Pirayou of Rutan & Tucker and a panel on Credit Card Bail. Pirayou reviewed current happenings in Pretrial Release (commonly known as Release on Own Recognizance or “OR“) in Santa Clara County. Pirayou said that Santa Clara County jailsare attempting to use pretrial release to relieve jail overcrowding and save money, but the bottom line numbers show a significantly different picture. He called on bail agents to help paint an accurate public picture.

Orange County Sheriff Candidate

Bondsmen were also addressed by Bill Hunt, candidate for Orange County Sheriff.  Hunt, who spent 22 years in the Orange County Read more »

Most every county jail has a website, including the Orange County Jail. The websites provide all kinds of information, including inmate information and can be used by anyone who has access to a computer. For Lake County, Sheriff’s are now delaying the posted information by 2 days. Their reasons for delaying the information is that they feel that bail bondsmen are obtaining information about recently booked inmates and heading to the jail to illegally solicit bail business, which is a misdemeanor offense.

Bail bondsmen are believed to be lying to the jailers, indicating Read more »

Yesterday I wrote about what to expect if you become a California bail bondsman. If you got through that and you’re back for more, you’re ready for the steps in obtaining your bail license. Now that I completed my pre-licensing class, I’m the expert here (ha ha)!

So, without further fan fare, here are the necessary steps to becoming a licenced bail bondsman in California:

1. You must have lived in California for least 2 years and be prepared to provide proof.
2. You must be 18 years old or older.
3. You need a clean record. Kind of an obvious one since you are working within the legal system, but many people don’t realize that to be a bail bondsman, you must have no felony convictions on your record. (Unlike the NFL which employs many people without clean records.) Read more »

Scenario: you get a call from a friend, loved one, or worse yet, your child. “Hi, I’m in jail and I’d like to be bailed out.” What do you do? The most frequent first step is searching the Internet for an ethical or trustworthy bail bonds company. But what exactly qualifies “trustworthy” or “ethical“?

Here are four ways to know if the bail bonds companies you are filtering through might be considered unethical or untrustworthy.

1. Undercutting Bail Premiums AKA Illegal Discounts: You’ve narrowed your search for a bondsman online. So you start calling to interview to see which one fits best . The first one you call sounds okay, but when you get to the point of discussing premium (the fee for the bond), they start mentioning discounts that no other bondsman will give you. Suggestion? Tell them, “Thank you for your time, I will get back to you.” Why are you hanging up on this bail bonds company? One word: “discount.” In most states, Read more »

A writer by any other name… is a bail bondsman

Nope, this is not Stephanie Plum or Jackie Brown. This is Robin Sandoval-March: copy editor, blogger, published songwriter and screenwriter… and our newest bail bondsman (bondswoman?).

Robin grew up in San Jose. Bail bonds in San Jose is incredibly competitive, perhaps one of the most competitive bail bond markets in California. But Robin wouldn’t have dreamed of that connection. She set her sights on the songwriting business in L.A. “It was a challenge at first, but I finally managed to have some of my songs published in film, records and television. Unfortunately, the pay wasn’t enough; I still needed a full time job,”  Robin told me when we spoke about her become a licensed California bail agent.

“I didn’t know the first thing about bail bonds,  Read more »

“What’s Wrong With Bail in Los Angeles?” I’m thinking about making this a category here at KeepBailing. Bail is a great Constitutional Right. The system is really quite good and costs nothing to John Q. Public. Release on Own Recognizance is another story…

Recently, I had a call from a woman who’s brother was arrested and was at the Van Nuys Jail. He had been in an accident while driving under the influence of alcohol. His bail was $30,000 and their mother agreed to bail him out. As our bail agent arrived at Van Nuys (and was illegally approached by street solicitors looking to cut him a 5% deal on a bond – also illegal, but that’s another post), he went into the jail with bond in hand and the jailer told him, “Sorry, the guy just had an O.R. approved.”

My guy tells the jailer, “Well, I have a bond, wouldn’t that be better for everyone?”

“Sorry, gotta O.R. him,” the agent was told. (Note that I recognize that the officer was doing what he’s told to do.)

You might be thinking, that’s great for the defendant and his family; they don’t have to pay. Well, not so fast. What are the facts about O.R. versus bail when it comes to appearance in court? Read more »

Orange County Bail Agents Association (OCBAA) held their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday. Bondmen were addressed by Gustavo Liwski and Alfredo M. Amezcua of Santa Ana Business Bank who talked about how the bank meets the needs of local business owners. Mr. Liwiski noted that the bank is lending and encouraged each bondsman to call him to discuss individual needs. The bail agents in the room were clearly impressed when Read more »

Some Orange County jail inmates are convincing others to contact certain bondsmen and receiving financial benefit in return… That’s the claim being made by Orange County three bail bondsmen who have filed a claim against the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Richard P. Herman, attorney for the bail agents indicates that former Sheriff Michael S. Carona allowed former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo to initiate a scheme whereby inmates steer arrestees to certain bail bond companies in returen for a kick-back.

Such allegations are not new in the bail industry. Read more »

A Bounty Hunter and a Bail Agent Are the Same, Right?

You may have heard the term Bail Agent, or have seen the bright neon signs across the street from any city jail. Perhaps you’ve heard of a Fugitive Recovery Person like “Dog the Bounty Hunter” on television? Before I explain what they do, it’s important to know that these two job titles encompass very different duties.

Pictured: Bondsman Tonya Rynerson with Bounty Hunter Zeke Unger

Although Bail Agents, more commonly called a Bondsmen, and Fugitive Recovery Agents work very closely together at times, and are often confused as being one and the same. But by definition, they are very different indeed. In California, you must be licensed and trained specifically for the job of Bail Agent and as such, you can pick up your own “skips” or those who fail to appear in court. So let’s talk a about their big differences in their jobs: Read more »