Keep Bailing

The Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS) association’s annual midyear meeting is approaching. This four day event will be held at the Millennium Park Hotel in Chicago July 21- 24. This will be their last meeting before they celebrate the 30th year anniversary in February, 2011. Bail professionals from all over the US meet here and are given the opportunity to network, attend and participate in lectures as well as attend association meetings.

According to PBUS President, Linda Braswell, there was some controversy on the location of the event. Apparently there were some PBUS members that were not in favor of this location because Illinois happens to be a no-bail state. Braswell stated that having the meeting in Chicago would allow them an opportunity to get them to support the bail system.

Braswell said, “They’re (Illinois) a 10-percent state, but 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 »

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 »

If you are having ideas for a new career like many people these days, maybe you’d like to know how to become a bail bondsman. It probably seems like easy money: answer the phone, collect 10% of the total bail amount, post the bond… “next!” Before you take any of the steps necessary in getting licensed by the Department of Insurance (yes, you will have to pass a test), you might want to take a look at the life of a bail bondsman.

(Assumedly, you already know how bail bonds work, so I’ll skip those details.) In order to survive as a bail bondsman, be prepared to be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Any good bail bondsman or company will tell you, the entire livelihood of the company is generated from the 10% premium of the bail that is written. If you are not willing to take calls on Saturday morning at 3:00am, you probably won’t be in business for very long.

Additionally, doing all the necessary technical steps to becoming a bail bondsman are very straight forward, but Read more »

‘Tis The Season

It’s that time of year: we get together and give. Southern California bail bondsmen have held two fundraisers in the last week: one supporting Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich in his bid for Los Angeles City Attorney and the other supporting three worthy charities.

Bondsmen from Orange County, the Inland Empire and Riverside County came together on Wednesday night for their annual holiday event to enjoy the season and to raise funds for the Debbie Chisholm Memorial Foundation, Special Olympics and the Santa Ana Police Athletic & Activities League (PAAL), which is supported by the Santa Ana Police Department. All three organizations do an outstanding job of working with and for young people to make a difference. 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 »