I have never forced entry.... I have however, used this tactic.... Go to the door, knock in a normal manner.... announce yourself as "Insurance Agent (which I happen to be) delivering a check for.... 'defendants name'...".... if no one answers.... and you have an idea the perp is in the house.... just say to your partner (always have a backup)... "Well, I guess we'll have to send this check back to the home office..."... say it loud enough that you could hear it upstairs or on the back porch..... I will almost guarantee that someone will open the door........... have a piece of paper... in one hand... and cuffs in the other....
... please do not laugh... I have made pickups in this manner several times... others I have found out info that we did not have that led to the recovery.... now, as always mentioned... I am not a recovery agent but I do go after my own skips... which are very few... but I have only lost one in 11 years.... and he is in Mexico... (but he did not get the check...)
and the indemnitor did pay the forfeiture.....
... this is called 'alternative conceptions of creating recovery technics' or how to bull sh-t a bull sh-ter... I am too damn old and fat to be kickin' down doors or chasing a 20 year old down an alley... and I won't shoot someone unless I figure they are gonna hurt me and are less than 6 ft. in front of me.... so I devise alternative methods of capture.... building a better mouse trap if you will... and so far they have worked.
One other one is to go to the door with an empty pizza box "Pizza delivery for the defendant"... put the cuffs inside of the box and take a very large mean man with you as a backup....
Another is to take a very good looking young lady to the door with you and have her call the defendants name... this works better if he is married or if he has a girlfriend inside with him... I will guarantee the door will be opened... he may actually be flying through the window also..... if the defendant is a woman, just have the young lady say........ "Avon calling"... or "It's the Tupperware lady"
Use your head not your muscle.... anybody can kick a door down... I like to get them to open it out of curiosity.... and believe me... they often will do exactly that.... and as for announcing yourself as a bondsman... you can do that after the door is opened or if they say....... "Oh, sh-t... your the bondsman" and you can say.......... "That too"...