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sandman
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Post subject: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry  Posted: Fri 21 Jan 2011 12:37 |
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Maybe one of you fine folks from CT can shed some light on this article: http://www.ctmirror.org/story/11254/pri ... point-2001It came out earlier today, it sounds to me like they're building off the fact the state prison population is at a 10 year low, and legislators want to make it lower by "hyper-inflation of bail bond amounts", and accusing bondsmen of undercutting and accepting credit for fees. I'm not from CT, so I'm curious how someone from there (present or past) would view this? Are they trying to over-regulate the bonds business there? Or are they just trying to take business away from bondsmen and do something like pretrial services? In AZ, we hold suspects in county jails until their IA, and it never occurred to me some states use prisons instead of jails to do this...learn something new every day! Any thoughts?
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speezack
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Post subject: Re: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry Posted: Sat 22 Jan 2011 07:24 |
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Joined: Fri 02 Mar 2007 10:51
Posts: 5055
Location: South Central Virginia
FRN Agency ID #: 1474
Experience: More than 10 years
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Quote: As numbers of bail bondsmen in Connecticut have grown considerably over the last decade, there have been increasing concerns that many are charging clients discounted fees and accepting payment by credit--in violation of state rules. Well, duuuuhhhhhh............. why not consider policing the violators.... rather than punishing the industry as a whole, if financing bonds is against the code... I would be willing to bet that the compliant agents would work very diligently to help enforce the code and weed out the bondsmen that are breaking the law... I certainly would be willing to do that in Virginia if DCJS had the balls to enforce the law... unfortunately, regulatory agencies... IE: DCJS.. do not seem to have teeth... and it is too easy to just drop another law on the books and regulate a tighter overall policy on the entire industry... Quote: Lawlor said he believes that police, bail commissioners and judges have tried to compensate for this trend by setting higher bond amounts. In some instances, this increased the numbers of accused who fail to make bail and must await their court appearance in prison. I seems just the opposite is true here in Virginia.. bonds are being reduced and many are being PR'd and released rather than being held... and of course pretrial is also involved... it seems we are all under the gun. Quote: A 2003 study by the legislature's Program Review and Investigations Committee concluded that the bail industry is "dangerously unregulated" and that fee under-cutting, posting of fraudulent bonds and other illegal practices are "pervasive and persistent." I reiterate !! This was posted by a CT Bail Agent and I think makes my point... at least in his eyes... I do not know this particular agent but he speaks well... how bout it Angela? what do you think? Quote: Submitted by Drew Bloom on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 9:48pm.
A CT Bail agent speaks up. Year after year a bill is proposed that would help curtail the illegal activities of some bail bonds agents in CT. Year after year we hear from our legislators how awful the feel about it. Year after year those same legislators fail to pass the bills proposed to help remedy the situation. Let's stop complaining about the problem and do something about it. Please support legislation proposed to help the Department of Insurance do their job regulating the CT Bail Industry.
The CT Bail Industry saves the taxpayers of the state millions by pretrail monitoring 10s of thousands of defendants per year, insuring their appearance in court, and at no cost to taxpayers or risk to law enforcement agents return defendants who miss their court dates.
The CT Bail industry is good and important.
We just need some help weeding out some agents who don't believe the rules aply to them.
_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222
"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"
"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"
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BondgirlCA
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Post subject: Re: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry Posted: Sat 22 Jan 2011 11:26 |
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Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006 18:44
Posts: 1311
Location: San Ramon, CA
FRN Agency ID #: 1366
Experience: 7 - 10 years
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Let me tell you how it REALLY is...
The prisons are overcrowded. The state was issued way too many bail licences and people are out undercutting each other..a violation of state law. I know of the persons trying to push this legislation and this is why it will not work...
The CT Insurance Dept sets the rate the person must pay to make bail. No money, no freedom. I will not do a bond for anything other than the posted rate. Now the state is looking at records and if you are found to have collected less than the posted premium, you will be fined and possibly revoked. Now..if you took a partial payment and a payment plan, this is legal; not the state's issue if you don't collect on it..you are simply taking money out of your pocket. Today, I did 2 bonds from a certain PD..last night they were set at $10.000 each...all narcotics charges I mght add...the bail commissioner came and DROPPED them to $500...each...so in the particular town, you can sell drugs, shoplift, steal cars, etc, get placed on a high bond, not make bond and the BC comes and lowers it..I'm waiting for someone to get killed because they should not have been released...
In regards to taking premiums on credit...CARDS...its legal.. we do it all the time...
There was a case where certian favors were exchanged in trade for bail and those persons were shut down; you don't pay, you don't go home...
_________________
Kate
650.863.8470
" Yeah, I see ya, you ding dong..."
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BondgirlCA
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Post subject: Re: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry Posted: Sat 22 Jan 2011 11:32 |
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Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006 18:44
Posts: 1311
Location: San Ramon, CA
FRN Agency ID #: 1366
Experience: 7 - 10 years
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Continued...
Certain jails I flat out refuse to do bonds out of...only because by the time I get there, they're gone..these bondsman sit in front of the police depts all night and take what they can. Unless I have a premium on a credit card or its one of my regular clients, I don't go..its not worth my time to go to these places for nothing...you want to undercut; fine..I see it all the time and no one does anything about it. I know I take full fee on all my bonds..play by the rules and you don't get caught...
Moral of this story:
The jails are overcrowded. People want to get out, but can't make bail. They tried this past year to have all agents remit all premiums to their GA's, they submit to the insurance companies, then you get paid..the Black and Hispanic Caucus fought this tooth and nail because they felt it was a racial thing.. until the 11th hour..my phone rang at 0130 for someone to tell me that this failed in the state level...not sure where "hyper-inflation" came form, but the only persons who can set bail are the police depts and the judge..and there is a set guideline for that.
_________________
Kate
650.863.8470
" Yeah, I see ya, you ding dong..."
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tsuggs
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Post subject: Re: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry Posted: Sat 22 Jan 2011 13:43 |
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Joined: Thu 09 Mar 2006 14:51
Posts: 3344
FRN Agency ID #: 3904
Experience: More than 10 years
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Racial thing? Oh, I get it. Only the black and hispanic bail agents would have to submit the full premiums up front. The "whites" could keep doing what they were doing all along, right?
Hey, are there any asian, bikers, middle eastern or samoian bail agents in CT? They should have complained that the law was racists also.
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BondgirlCA
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Post subject: Re: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry Posted: Sat 22 Jan 2011 13:54 |
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Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006 18:44
Posts: 1311
Location: San Ramon, CA
FRN Agency ID #: 1366
Experience: 7 - 10 years
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Tony.. I should have worded that better:)
The black and Hispanic caucus raised a stink
Because they felt they were being profiled as being
The majority behind bars because they couldn't afford to
Make bail. They felt it was not fair to be singled out and that I
Agreed with. They wanted everyone to submit their premiums to their
GA...
_________________
Kate
650.863.8470
" Yeah, I see ya, you ding dong..."
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tsuggs
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Post subject: Re: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry Posted: Sun 23 Jan 2011 08:28 |
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Joined: Thu 09 Mar 2006 14:51
Posts: 3344
FRN Agency ID #: 3904
Experience: More than 10 years
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No, I believe that they WERE making it a racial issue. I was just being sarcastic.
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BondgirlCA
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Post subject: Re: CT article on prison population, bail bonds industry Posted: Sun 23 Jan 2011 12:06 |
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Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006 18:44
Posts: 1311
Location: San Ramon, CA
FRN Agency ID #: 1366
Experience: 7 - 10 years
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Your usual 
_________________
Kate
650.863.8470
" Yeah, I see ya, you ding dong..."
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