Bail Agent Blog

Orange County Bail Agents ask Bill Hunt some “If he were Sheriff” questions:

Sean Cook:
What is your overall opinion of the bail industry?

Bill Hunt:
I believe I have an excellent personal and professional understanding of the bail industry and the many problems it faces in Orange County. As sheriff I am committed to ending capping in our jails and improving the overall operation of the jail. This will include changing the current department culture of indifference to one of service. As sheriff I will insist that our deputy’s understand they are there to serve the public and our private stake holders like the bail industry. Service means inconveniencing themselves to make the operation and your interaction with us more efficient.

Sean Cook: In the past it used to take 10 minutes for a deputy to take a defendant from a Bondsman when we surrendered them back to custody. Today it is often in excess of 3 hours. Why do you think the changes occurred and what would you do to change it?

Bill Hunt:
Unfortunately, I know first hand that 3 hours is being generous and that is inexcusable. It is a potential public safety risk to have a handcuffed fugitive sitting in the visiting lobby for 3-6 hours. This is another striking example of the Sheriff’s Department’s lack of responsiveness to the stakeholders it is supposed to be providing service to. When I am sheriff, bail surrenders will be booked on the back dock where police officers book their prisoners. They will be given priority over police department bookings unless medical or security reasons require otherwise. If it takes more than an hour to book a fugitive on my watch someone will have some explaining to do!

Sean Cook:
What is your opinion of OR compared to the private bail industry?

Bill Hunt:
When I am sheriff bail will be the preferred method of release. It makes no sense to release people on OR when there is little accountability to ensure they show up in court. It also makes extra work for the Sheriff’s warrant detail to have to hunt them down when they fail to appear and have a warrant issued for their arrest. Bail has a lower fail to appear rate than OR, bail agents are both personally and financially responsible for ensuring their clients appear in court and are held accountable when they not. It’s a better system all around. OR should be limited to its original purpose of providing an alternative to incarceration for those who are destitute and unable to make bail. This is in line with my overall political philosophy of smaller government. We shouldn’t be creating and expanding government’s version of a more efficient private sector alternative that is at the very least cost neutral to begin with.

Sean Cook:
Currently the Orange County Jail takes about 6 hours to book an inmate and another 6 hours to release an inmate. Would you be willing to “Fast Book”or “Fast Release” inmates when you are aware they will be bailing out?

Bill Hunt:
I am committed to streamlining and improving the booking process. It would be my goal to develop some type of fast track program like Sacramento County has, not just for bail but to make the whole booking process system more efficient. The current booking process is akin to the American auto industry compared to the Japanese auto industry in terms of efficiency. It can and should be more efficient. As sheriff I will meet with department personnel, records personnel and members of the bail association for input and recommendations. We’ll evaluate current practices, look for ways to improve the operation and then do it. It’s not hard; we just need a leader who understands the reason and benefits for it to get things started.

Sean Cook:
Would you assign a sheriff liaison to our association?

Bill Hunt:
Yes, and I’ll do one better. I believe that the Sheriff’s Department cannot become truly responsive to the public without input from the public and the other components of the criminal justice system that rely upon interaction with the sheriff’s department on a daily basis like the bail industry. I am going to commission a Public Safety Committee to meet with me regularly to evaluate our policies and practices to ensure we are providing excellent service and forming productive partnerships with industries like the bail industry, the security industry, criminal defense attorneys’ public defenders, private investigators, etc. I will invite the bail association to select members to be part of this committee on behalf of the bail industry. After all, you aren’t really a stake holder if you don’t have a seat at the table to begin with.

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I helped some clients to bail out their brother last Thursday and we met at the Superior court. This turned out to be the longest day ever for all involved. The defendant had been in custody 2 days before and the family decided to save the money by allowing him to go to court. The end result didn’t justify the pain and suffering endured by the family. The family had been told to “let him go to court” and we understood the decision as times are tough. The outcome proved to be a loss of sleep, time, effort and if that wasn’t enough, the job as well. The job lost was a union job working for SAG. The time lost was close to 3 days total. The hours lost were over 36 and the defendant was released at 5:00 am the next day. Everyone invloved, rearranged clients, day care, work schedules and they were emotionally disrupted throughout the entire process. I know this sounds negative but my point is, if someone is worthy of bailing out, please take do everything you can for them. We work with the judicial system each and everyday. Our experience with all County Jails is second to none. We are very accurate with our expectations and we can produce the result. Had the family allowed us to work for the money we were already earning, they would have had a better experience with bail. The defendant tells me in conversation afterwards, “I wish I had been in left in custody”. WOW, how do you like that? I would not share that comment with the family. He was very upset with his family as he thought they dragged their feet.

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Well here it is again, the Holidays. A time when one should enjoy family and friends and then the unexpected “Ooops, that darn red light” nails you. If this is someone you know, I can imagine you didn’t welcome that in like you did the New Year. This very thing happened to my niece. She decided to take the wheel after a small social gathering at her friends home. They were only twenty minutes away from home and my niece thought she was less drunk and offered to drive. At the moment she took the wheel and made the seat adjusment, a CHP was rolling by and pulled her over before moving forward one inch. Imagine that? She had just taken the seat and “BAMm” red light time! She was arrested on the spot and this was her first going to County. Moving on with this story, she was released on OR but the total cost of time and money has far surpassed the action. She tells me that she still parties but is more carefull now, whatever that means. I saw her over the Holidays and I know that she drove under the influence. I am not her father but I am her uncle and wouldn’t want to see her arrested again. If the case be that she is arrested, I know the routine and it pains me to bail her out. I feel for all that go through this process but I have to keep a professional stance. I cannot help everyone that has been arrested but I can offer my services when called upon doing so. Please be careful and and drive safe. If the worse case scenerio occurs to you don’t hesitate to call us at Premiere Bail Bonds (800) 662 0056 day or night and we will help you ASAP!! For those Spanish speaking clients, please call (888) 733 8533.

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How do I start this story…Hmmm…Well I got a call from a gentleman that ask if I were a notary and I responded to him by saying yes…Well he proceeded to tell me his name and where he lived…He lived in the small town of Savage Minnesota and he needed  my services and that his name was Jimmy…So I asked him how I could help him…He explained that his wife was in jail at West Valley Detention Facility in Rancho Cucamonga California on a Fraud case and that she was going to be there for at least a year…So he needed a power of attorney signed by her so that he could take care of their affairs while she was in jail…So he asked how much I charged and he said he would send me the money and the Power of Attorney right away… [Read more →]

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I was bailing out a male defendant from the Burbank P D one Tuesday afternoon. I met with his co-worker who had nothing but good things to say about the defendant. Upon completing all the paperwork, I posted the bond and was told that the defendant would be released in one hour. I decided to wait for him and receive his signatures.Upon his release he was very friendly and grateful for my attention to detail and expediting the bail release process for him. His co-worker had since left as he had to get back to work. In about ten minutes the defendant became very irate and very uncomfortable to be around as I started asking personal information. This is to be expected and I must say that I enjoy it. I continued to inquire more information and I knew I struck a nerve when I asked him about his wife. Oh boy, here it comes, the old, I hate that such and such and she’s a gold digging, nickel bending, yada, yada and more yada. [Read more →]

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There have been articles in the recent past that talk about how the Bondsman should be responsible for the actions their clients take while released on bail.

My questions is: Should the Judge also be responsible? Should the DA be responsible? If the judge or District Attorney felt that the defendant posed a risk to anyone or was a flight risk shouldn’t they have held them on a “No Bail”? Why the judge issue a bail amount if he felt the defendant was a risk? And why didn’t the District Attorney argue to keep the defendant in custody rather than issue a bond? [Read more →]

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“What exactly does a bail bondsman do,” one might ask. A bail bondsman agrees to pay an amount of a bond of an offender for a fee, often 10%. For larger bonds, a bondsman might take a mortgage on a homeowner’s house to ensure the payment of a bond. When a bondsman enters into such an agreement, they also consent to ensure that the defendant or offender is present in court on their assigned date. To guarantee the appearance of their offenders, a bondsman will use almost any means necessary. The preferred method of bondmen involves enlisting the expertise of bounty hunters to track down the offenders and bring them to court. Moreover, if a defendant jumps bail, or fails to show up in court, these bounty hunters find the offenders and re-arrest them, bringing them to justice. [Read more →]

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When it comes to bail bonds, every defendant will have a different amount of money to pay in order to get out of jail on bail while waiting for his or her trial. The bail bond is a basic assurance that the defendant will return to court on the day of the trial. Bondsmen and bail bonding agencies that put up the bail for a defendant and responsible for ensuring that the defendant returns to court for the trial. [Read more →]

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Bail is a basic assurance that an accused criminal (a defendant) will show up to court to stand trial for a crime that he or she is accused of committing. When a person is arrested as a suspect in a crime, the person is booked and put into jail to await trial. In many situations, that person may be allowed to post a bail bond, which assures that he or she will return to court. However, there are situations where a person is accused of a violent crime, has a criminal history, or is considered to be a flight risk, in which a judge may not grant bail. [Read more →]

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As the debate over public versus private bail bond enforcement wages on, it is important to examine the evidence presented to determine the impact that bond enforcement has on society. In an article by Eric Helland and Alexander Tabarrok entitled, “Public versus Private Law Enforcement: Evidence from Bail Jumping,” the authors explore the efficiency of bail bondsmen over public bond enforcement or release on their own recognizance. Helland and Tabarrok compile failure to appear rates (FTAs), and they then compare the rates of surety bonds, which are those bonds that employ the use of a bail bondsmen, to public bonds, or those released on their own recognizance. Helland and Tabarrok affirm that bail bondsmen provide over a 50% decrease in FTAs as compared to release on their own recognizance. This evidence declares the efficacy of bail bondsmen over release on their own recognizance. [Read more →]

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