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. Each organization had a representative to talk about the work of their organization. Officer Serafin, Director of the Santa Ana PAAL is pictured at left.

Also present at the charity event was Curt Hagman, local bondsman and newly-elected Assemblymember for the 60th District.  After thanking the CBAA for a donation, Hagman said he looks forward to working closely with bondsmen state-wide and locally. He told the group that bail is about public safety and we need to do a better job of letting the public know about it.

Bail bondsmen also gathered last week at a dinner held to honor Carmen Trutanich. “Nuch” reiterated what he had told bail agents in Tahoe last month: he understands the importance of bail in the criminal process and as City Attorney, he will do what is necessary to educate his staff about the benefits of bail. Trunich said that when he was in the District Attorney’s office, it wasn’t clear to him the advantages of having a defendant out on bail from both a cost perspective and from an oversight of perspective. Pictured here, Trutanich is welcomed by Bob Narin, AIA.