tsuggs wrote:
Maybe if we expand on this conversation for a bit, it may help you understand the bail side.
You stated that you tell the bondsman that it is safer for you to apprehend the skips than for the bondsman doing it themselves.
Why? Please explain that.
How long have you been doing recovery? What is your training? Have better equipment? Better contacts or resources? In better physcial shape? Know the area better? Do you have liability insurance?
Do you ever think that the bondsman may be better in all or most of the above catagories than you are?
The bondsmans main concern is with liability. No matter how much you profess to operate safely, your altimate goal is to get the skip! Otherwise, you risk not getting called again to work a case for that bondsman if you fail to get that skip.
We have been in the recovery business for over three years.
As far as it being safer for us to apprehend the skip . Every bondsman is different if one of my bondsman says they will do it themselves I have no doubt to think they cant handle the job Trust me I have a few bondsman that will work the case first and give me the scraps when they are done
But we are trained to do the job and we have a team of people as apposed to a single bondsman. I have actually gone with one of my bondsman to get a skip because she wanted to do it herself and I felt more comfortable being there in case she needed me.
Our training. My team and I have gone through alot of training to better our ability to apprehend in a safe and efficient manner. I would never do anything to endanger myself or my team members or put my bondsman at risk, we are not "cowboys" Our training includes tactical safe entry, advanced handcuff and defense technique, taser , oc spray, post certified , and basic first responder certified.My wife has certs in cultural diversity training, hostage negotiation training, and domestic violence training all from her law enforcement background.
As far as being better equipt I would have to say we are, only because it is our necessary equipment for our job. We carry firearms as well as taser and oc spray and wear our protective vests . We have the necessary time to put together an effective and safe means of apprehension as well as the time to do intelligence and surviellance. I dont treat any case as an easy apprehension when people are desperate they will do almost anything not to go to jail. Bondsman are always busy and dont always have the time to deal with a skip and the necessary work that goes into the location and safe apprehension which is where we come in.
Contacts and resources. We have over the years developed very usefull relationships with the local law enforcement agencies in which we do our recovery. We have officers that will transport for us, assist in apprehensions if needed and have also worked with the Denver narcotics task force in apprehending suspects we were both looking for. We do also use alot of the recources that most people use including IRB searches ect. Because we are out there in the field on a regular basis we have the ability to build and maintain relationships with anyone that can aid in our success.
As far as better physical shape I can say for myself that I am in excellent shape. i am 6ft 230 lbs with about 10% body fat
and was a fitness trainer for 3 years. I also compete in 5k and 10k races at least every couple months so if you run I will catch you
We do have an extensive knowledge of the area we work in since weve been doing recovery in the same areas for over three years. For some reason all our skips like to hide in the same two cities
We do not have liability insurance any more we did for a while when we merged into a larger company for a bit but it became to expensive to maintain for our selves only because the rate goes up if u carry. I know no one is perfect but we do all we can to make sure that the recovery goes down without incident. We have never in all the cases we have done had anyone in our team injured or any defendants hurt due to our actions. We take pride in providing a safe service to our bondsman.
In regards to the question about the bondsman being better at any of the above mentioned services there will always be someone better than you at something and I take as much advice from these people as I can to better my knowledge of the business. If the bondman is better than me than they dont need my services but i will still offer it in case they dont have the time or need an extra hand.
. You can't blame the bondsman, they have to pu bead on the table too! The market is just bad right now. However, wait it out. Follow the advice from members. Over time, bondsman will notice who stuck around and who quit.