Aiding A Bounty Hunter

3 Bergen County Sheriff employees suspended for passing documents to bounty hunter

Friday, March 5, 2010
BY ANDREA ALEXANDER
The Record
STAFF WRITER

Three Bergen County Sheriff department employees have been suspended without pay and could be fired for allegedly passing on documents about an arrest warrant to a bounty hunter, a spokesman said Friday.

A bounty hunter went to the Essex County Court House on February 1 to hand over a person who had an outstanding arrest warrant, said Ben Feldman, a spokesman for the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department. While the bounty hunter was at the court house it was determined that he had documents pertaining to the arrest warrant that he should not have had, Feldman said.

Feldman described them only as “documents that shouldn’t have been in possession of someone outside of law enforcement.’’

An investigation determined that the documents had come through the sheriff’s office, Feldman said.

Feldman would not release the names of the suspended employees, citing Attorney General guidelines on internal investigations.

He said the department is conducting an internal affairs investigation to determine how the documents “emanated out” of the Sheriff’s office.

E-mail: alexandera@northjersey.com

NCIC data? Also how the chain of information could have been tracked.

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

Unless the documents had any information about a minor, especially the victim being a minor, or if it had to deal with co-defendants in the case, I'd like to know what caused such a stir? This is something to keep watching as it unfolds.

_________________
There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything. - From the Hagakure

In some states like California, LE can not give out suspect information that includes SS#s, addresses and prior criminal cases to the "public." Some LEs will not even confirm warrants with bail agents.

Also, many local LE will not provide a booking photo to bail agents.

So, it may be a local LE policy that restricts certain information on defendants.

Oh wow, well I feel spoiled then. When we get the file we have photos of not just our def. and prior booking photos (if any) but photos of their tats', scars, sometimes even copies of the citation.

And they sometimes won't confirm a warrant? Ouch...

_________________
There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything. - From the Hagakure

This is life in California. The 58 county sheriffs, operate under their own rules.

Some are bail friendly, others are not.

It is a Class "D" Felony to provide NCIC information to anyone NOT LE here in Arkansas.
A good Bondsperson gets a booking photo and all the pertinent information when writing a bond. One just writing for the money . . . well, lets' just say . . . they usually lose what little bit of money they made on the bond initially and then the balance of the bond . . . plus. It is not a wonder that so many go by the way

Should a bondsperson (BountyHunter) come into this information it is in the best interest of their "Source" for that said Bondsman (BountyHunter) to not divulge that they even have that information . . . what an IDIOT

_________________


Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Wow...I'll never complain about a crappy booking photo again.

_________________
There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything. - From the Hagakure

The beauty of a digital camera.

_________________


Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

I do not want to speculate about the facts of this specific case. However I will agree that NCIC data is considered restricted information and can only be released to a criminal justice agency or its agent that has a FBI assigned “ORI”. Now with that said most open warrants are public record and the information thereto can normally be secured from court records, i.e. charging documents that include his address, ssan, dob, along with copies of the arresting agency’s internal reports that document the circumstances that caused the arrest. These reports sometimes contain the subject’s next of kin information and prior arrest history.

Securing booking photos of a suspect from a law enforcement agency comes with a lot of fanfare sometimes. Several agencies will afford the Bondsman or his certified BEA a booking photo without any issue, others prefer that a court order be issue for the photo, and yet others will tell you that booking photos are considered restricted law enforcement work product and can not be released to the public. I believe LuVonda addressed it best if you are a true professional you will take your own photos of the subject when you bond him out of jail, and another when and if you have to re-arrest the subject.

_________________
Domestic Security Investigations
P.O. Box 4462
Rockville, MD 20849
Tel: 1-800-387-0787
Anti-Moral Majority Club President
"Fear not the unknown, Fear the person who controls the unknown" Gene 7:14