Guns and Drugs

This is a very complicated topic and I'm not sure it can be answered here with the type of specificity it requires. I'll try and explain my position as simply as possible with a real life example.

A few weeks ago I located my skip who was staying with his girlfriend about 5 hours away from where I live. Problem was, he had a child with him and the girlfriend was not with him or the child. Now to each his own but I don't call Child Protective Services to remove a child from it's home because I'm gonna re-arrest a person leaving the child alone. I waited another 8 hours or so until the Mother arrived home before I apprehended the skip. Was not calling the cops or Social Services. This additional 8 or so hours added more time to get the job done and my butt back home. The child however was innocent. Call me what you will but that's the way I do it, period!

Approx. 6 months ago I apprehended a skip and asked him if he had anything on him he didn't want to take into the jail. He said yes and took a small amount of weed from his pocket and left it on the floor .

As we were leaving the police pulled up and this guy said that I had "popped" his door. The cops who had been in the area watching knew that wasn't true. I knocked on the door and nobody would come in spite of the fact that I saw three people in the living room. I take pride in the fact that I don't break down doors so his remark Peed me off. I told the officers that there were two more people in the traler and there were drugs inside. The cops looked at each other, smiled and drove off. (I actually just opened the unlocked door.)

On one occassion early on in this business I found a substantial amount of weed during an apprehension and notified LE. I was asked to fill out a report concerning my findings. I did as asked and the cop came back mad as heck and asked me if I was ready to go to jail. It seems that in the report I statd that I had found the marijuana in the kitchen area, or something to that affect. The cop said, how did you know it was marijuana? Did you smoke it? Again, mad as all hell.

Guns, if you live in my area you will own a gun, it is what it is and as stated earlier we don't apprehend felons exlusively so if I call LE about a gun found they aren't going to run out and check it out.

I've never put on my white gloves because my partner was killed. I have however been a pallbearer for many that weren't cops but human beings, just the same.

Lastly, I have a Brother, Uncle, several cousins who are LEO's and not one of them is any more important than anyone else.

You can call me a Liberal if you choose, in fact that is nothing to what I've been called by skips, but I do hope you'll hang around this forum, I'm sure we can learn from your experience.

Take care

_________________
Bill Williams
Bail Agent
Eagle Bonding Services
Asheville NC 28804
828-777-8667
Lic # NC10013561
Lic # TN 2033018

Never be haughty to the humble
or humble to the haughty - Jefferson Davis

Like a "diamond" ring and a ring with a "clear stone"

_________________


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

To clarify that reference, the situation was different from the one you mentioned. It was a 20 yr old single mother who lived alone. The choice was find a way to do the job, or let tell the posting agents they would have to eat the bond.

There was no plan to create a situation leaving the child alone.


I have been given arrest forms at specific jails when bringing in a skip. I tend to to simply write something to the effect of "Entered premises and detained defendant"... If they don't give me a difficult time I have in the past written a small addition such as "defendant very cooperative, did not resist."... I tend to keep it short and simple. If you HAVE to state something on paper regarding the arrest, often less is best.

_________________
(Freelance) Recovery Agent, MN.

Subject apprehended without incident

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)

Sorry, Marc, I wasn't questioning you or your post. We all have to do what we feel is best for all concerned. That was my only point.

Take care

_________________
Bill Williams
Bail Agent
Eagle Bonding Services
Asheville NC 28804
828-777-8667
Lic # NC10013561
Lic # TN 2033018

Never be haughty to the humble
or humble to the haughty - Jefferson Davis

I understand that, I was simply clarifying that particular decision because I have no rule of thumb as far as that type of situation is concerned, it generally comes down to planning and personal discernment case by case. I am not cold heartened, and have waited in the past for a skip to be away from their children, usually its about split custody; if dad has two weekends a month, I'd rather pick him up on Monday.

_________________
(Freelance) Recovery Agent, MN.

And if I may add;

I do NOT let people make phone calls to "make arrangements." They will get access to a phone when they are booked. To be honest, I have let teenage girls use their phones to play on facebook during transports that take a little while. (45-60min). As always, caution is key, and a lot of decisions are case by case.

_________________
(Freelance) Recovery Agent, MN.

If they are cooperative with us we let them empty drugs from their pocket and dispose of them but if they are a pain in he rear I dont care if they pick up another charge. Last night we done a recovery and let the guys friend take his car for him. On the way to jail he began to tell us of the 12 Narcotic prescriptions he had in the car. We interupted him makeing a sale. I didnt search his car and had no reason to. We got our guy and put him in jail and didnt care what he had in his car.
We always try to wait untill no kids are around or there is another person around to watch the kids if kids are ever involved. Luckily I have never had to call the police to get the kids.

While waiting outside Walmart and a young man that should be coming out at 11:00 I thought I'd address the phone situation. Assuming they aren't cuffed from the back I have no problems letting them use their phone to make arrangements to bond out.

I don't like them using my phone simply because my number is out there to all his friends and I don't need or want the hassle of getting calls from these guys.

One many occassions I've gotten calls from people in the back of a Police car headed to jail asking me to bond them out. If it's good enough for the cops....

I will let them use my other phone in most cases if they don't have theirs.

I guess it boils down to, this job isn't personal to me. Just a way of earning a living along with my Bail Bonding Business.

_________________
Bill Williams
Bail Agent
Eagle Bonding Services
Asheville NC 28804
828-777-8667
Lic # NC10013561
Lic # TN 2033018

Never be haughty to the humble
or humble to the haughty - Jefferson Davis

Here in MN, they usually are not able to bond out again. Our FTA warrants are body only. Generally if it is a misd. off. the defendant will see a judge the next day and be released on their own recognizance. So letting them make arrangements to bond out is out of the question unless they have an unrelated warrant they want to make bail on.... and unless they turned themselves in, they do not have much of a chance of getting bailed out.... maybe with collateral but that is still a big maybe. On a MN FTA, the surety is charged forfeiture fees that stay valid and owed even if/when recovery is effected.


I know a guy who wouldn't let people use their own phone after they were detained... his worry was that they would try to call their friends to come interfere. So he would make them use his phone... same "safety conscious" individual also let skips ride up front... I witnessed this firsthand. At the point I decided he was someone I would much prefer not to work with again. I don't need to the idiocy of another to make me liable. I transport defendants in the backseat, with child-safety locks enabled to prevent the doors from being opened from inside, I don't need the heat that can come from a skip throwing themself out of a moving vehicle.



THarris76: There is never any reason to search a car if you have your defendant. That could possibly bring about criminal charges in some areas.

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(Freelance) Recovery Agent, MN.