Author: tkanger

I'm back on the road again with trips through Louisiana and Texas over the next two weeks. Business as usual.  There is also business as usual around the country as the landscape in the criminal justice system continues to evolve. I read an online article last week where deep pocket political powerhouses George Soros and Koch Industries have joined forces with the ACLU, Americans for Tax Reform, Freedom Works and others to form the Coalition for Public Safety. These groups have pulled together $5 million dollars of initial funding to get the program off the ground.  The gist of the program being to reform the criminal justice system by finding ways to reduce jail crowding and addressing overcriminalization and overincarceration. Of course, the criminal justice system is in need of reform.…

Las Vegas, NV - I've just returned from my annual February trip to Las Vegas to attend the PBUS Winter Conference.  I've been present for this annual meeting of bail agents nearly every winter since 1986.  This trip can be exhausting though I do enjoy seeing familiar people I have gotten to know while attending this event through the years. I have a special affinity for PBUS.  My father Jack was a founding member.  I have fond memories attending PBUS meetings with him in the late eighties when the conference was held at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas.  I was learning from the master. PBUS is a place where bail agents and surety representatives from around the country converge on Las Vegas for a few days to discuss issues…

El Paso, TX - There has been an ongoing battle between the Professional Bondsmen of El Paso County and Commissioner Vincent Perez and his proposal to combine the various pretrial release offices into one department.  The local bonding community believes Commissioner Perez intends to expand the use of PR bonds to the detriment of the community. I attended a meeting of the El Paso County Bail Bond Board last week.  Commissioner Perez was present at that meeting to report on his progress.  He assured board members and those bondsmen in attendance the intent of his proposal was not to put bondsman out of business, that PR bonds were a very small part of his initiative.  Personally, I was not convinced. Commissioner Perez spoke of his recent trip to San Antonio where…

My 2015 travel schedule began with a trip to Jackson, Mississippi earlier this week to attend the Mississippi Bail Agents Association Legislative Reception and the MBAA Winter General Assembly Meeting. The MBAA is one of the more successful state associations in the country, with an excellent track record at the state assembly and tremendous support from that state’s licensed bail agents.  Their meetings are expertly organized by MBAA President Patty Hodges and her Board of Directors. The Legislative Reception for state legislators is an annual event and provides a great opportunity to discuss industry concerns with legislators or just get to know the peoples representatives.  Every state association should follow the MBAA’s example. The membership meeting included two heavyweight speakers, Mississippi Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and Inspector Robert Kay from…

Whew!  Another year is nearly behind us.  Is it too much to ask that 2015 be an uneventful year?  This past year was anything but calm.  There were some good decisions and a few bad decisions rendered throughout the last twelve months that will impact the bail profession and public safety for years to come.  Here are but a few. The Supreme Courts in Ohio and Washington State ruled earlier this year their lower courts could no longer deny criminal defendants the right to secure their bail with a surety bond.  Courts in these two states were setting bail with a ten percent cash option (ninety percent unsecured) to the exclusion of bail bonds.  Criminal defendants in these two states now have the option on how they choose to meet…

Speaker of the House Brian Bosma raised the issue of K-12 education during his opening address last week for the upcoming session of the Indiana Legislature. School funding and consolidation are at issue.  Not surprisingly, there are only few people who realize increasing the using of bail bonds can have a direct impact on revenue deposited to the Common School Fund. For those that are not aware, when someone is arrested in Indiana for a non-capital offense they are entitled bail.  In order to obtain release from jail a defendant can meet the bail obligation by posting full cash, real estate or a bail bond.  There is a fourth option; a judge can permit a defendant to post just 10 percent of bail amount in cash with no security required…

Attention all you would be shoplifters!  California just released its greatest hits with the passing of Prop. 47, just in time for the holidays. Much to the chagrin of retailers throughout California, this new law allows someone to shoplift items with values up to $950 and still avoid being charged with a felony.  If someone can get an LG-7.3 Ultralarge-Capacity Steam Electric Dryer, an $849 value, passed Best Buy’s security, it’s theirs.   If they happened to get caught, no worries, it’s only a misdemeanor as opposed to a felony which went the way of last year’s Ferby.  In most cases the offender will not be taken to jail, only handed a citation and a notice to appear.  To further illustrate the new law, a person can walk in to an…

Tuesday night yielded little to smile about if you’re of Democratic persuasion as Republican candidates had their way in most of the races across the country.  That said, for many states the candidates were not the only issue on the ballot. New Jersey voters approved an amendment to that state’s constitution allowing judges to hold serious criminal offenders in jail without bail, pending trial.  Public Question 1 (SCR 128) will also make it easier for criminal offenders to be released on their own recognizance if they claim to be indigent.  These changes go into effect January 2017. On the west coast, Californians voted in favor of Prop 47 which will reduce certain drug charges and theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, ostensibly to control crowding in the local county jails,…

What profession can survive without a new generation of young people seeking an opportunity to etch out a career and strive  for prosperity in a chosen field?  Commercial bail is no exception.  Trained, experienced and enthusiastic young people are critical to our survival. Earlier this week I traveled to Waco, Texas to attend a hearing before the McLennan County Bail Bond Board where a young Chase Chapman was seeking approval of his first corporate surety license appointment, the application was approved marking a pivotal moment in Chase’ future in bail.    Chase is now officially a second generation bondsman.  He’s been around bail bonds all his life shadowing his father Terry in his bonding office and at the county jail.  Documented experience is prerequisite to obtaining a bail license in Texas…

Did you hear about the Pennsylvania bail agent arrested for using forged powers of attorney to post several million in bonds? He’s currently sitting in the county prison with bail set at $250,000. Ironically, this guy was arrested for obtaining the release of criminal offenders using forged bonds and the court’s response is to set a phony bail amount of $250,000 of which they will require the defendant to post only 10% cash to obtain release from custody pending trial. So, unlike the forged bonds the bail agent had been posting that had zero value, the court will release him on a 10% bond which is 90% bogus. For the past year or so some Minnesota judges have been complaining about bail agents permitting clients to make payments on premium,…