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Mel,
We have ran into the multiple agents looking for the same skip we were on a few occasions. I can understand that the bondsman just wants the skip found and turned in, but it can cause some problems. We have occasionally worked as exclusives on a contract, but one thing we always do these days is keep the information we uncover to ourselves. There is no need for me to pass all the information we uncover to the bondsman so that they can pass it on to another person to recover the same defendant we are looking for. We put a lot of time and money into working on a case and if we give away that information, the other guy gets it for free.
Another reason to keep the information tight is for your safety, and maybe even your informants safety. We have had informants roughed up because another agent got a-hold of our information through the bondsman, and they passed it on to someone else. And that 3rd party had no idea the conditions that information came in. One of them was a woman, and she was beaten pretty severely when her boyfriend figured out she was giving information.
We have also been at a location doing a recovery and had other agents show up to recover our same skip. It's pretty awkward. I used to feel obligated to pass information on to a bondsman, but I figured out that being the honest guy sometimes comes back to bite you. We keep our info close unless we are going to quit a case. Then we will pass what info we have over to the bondsman, but we no longer call and give updates just because we found new information. Unless we know the bondsman really well and we know they won't use that information to undercut us. And we warn them up front that we can't work with someone who does that. Exclusive contracts are good, but still watch what information goes out.
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Jeff D.
Gauntlet Professional Services
Fugitive Recovery, Bail Bonds, Process Servers, Investigations, Security, Training,
State Approved Courses for POST and DIFP
Located in Central/Southwest Missouri/St. Louis/Kansas City
417.309.0582
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