Sink or Swim

Man, oh man, how things change and change quickly sometimes. Forth of July this year was another turning point in our family. If some of you remember 4 years ago, we had a family falling out that resulted in part of the extended family going their own way and us being portrayed as terrible influences. Well, we've dealt with it to the best of our abilities and at some point you just have to look at the situation and realize the things you did wrong. And you have to realize that some people will never grow a set to deal with the things they did wrong. I still wish things had gone down differently, but I can't make anyone change. So this year, we had a visitor from the "other camp" and she made a pretty difficult decision to come down for the celebrations. Unfortunately, her home turf didn't exactly look at the situation in the same light she did and she found herself faced with becoming an adult very fast.

The good news is that even in the midst of all this change and turmoil, she has started seeing things more clearly. While we're all adjusting to the change, life goes on and goes forward. Forward movement is the catch phrase we're using around here. After all, that's what it's all about...moving forward in a happy and healthy way. Looking at challenges as challenges we can overcome and not as obstacles too big to hurdle.

Aaron is working very hard on starting his new company, Truth Investigations. We've been toying with the idea for years and it is so exciting, nerve racking and scary at the same time. I have always compared the decision to work for yourself to jumping off a cliff. Maybe your parachute will open, maybe it won't. This is more like jumping off the back of a boat in the middle of the ocean. Maybe you'll float, maybe you won't. Maybe the sharks will bite, maybe you'll be close enough to land that you can swim to it. Either way, I guess the good thing is that we'll be doing it together- sink or swim.

It's really just a tangible option.

People never fail to amaze me. In the last few months I have heard some doozies. I can't tell you how many people I've had to explain the basics of bail to, which isn't really a new thing. I didn't really know anything about bail bonds when I first got into this business, but I knew the basic concept.

A bail bond secures a person's appearance in court and allows them to aid in their own defense.

That concept was one of the first things I learned in high school government class. It's in the Constitution, so really it's taught in every American History class I ever took. Teachers never went into the finer points of bail, but it's not surprising considering the amount of history one has to learn in a year. And let's face it, bail bonds is associated with criminals and who wants to focus to much on criminal behavior in high school?

In the last few months, I've had to explain why I won't cut rate a bond. What is cut rating? Cut rating a bond is when a bondsman choosing to take less than the 10% normally charged to write the bond. Why don't I do it? Because it's a slippery slope. When you start cut rating, you start cutting your throat. Every time a bondsman takes a lesser rate, that bondsman has to write more bonds to make up the difference. The more bonds a bondsman has to write, the more desperate they become to make up that difference. When a bondsman becomes desperate to write a bond, they start making terrible underwriting decisions. And let's face it, a bail bond is a form of insurance.

A bail bond insures a person's appearance in court.

As every insurance agent will tell you, when underwriting a policy, risk must be taken into account. Well what is the risk of cut rating? On the surface, the "customer" is getting a great deal, no different than a discount at a department store. Well, there's a huge a difference. When purchasing a bail bond, you are purchasing a service that will directly affect your freedom. I can't count the bonds I've written for people who went with that cheaper bondsman, only to have the bondsman come back to collect money and put the defendant back in jail because they couldn't or wouldn't pay. Or because they need to free up their liability to write more cut rate bonds. Or because they are just high on a power trip. Whatever the reason, purchasing a cut rate bond buys you a cut rate bondsman.

I've also had to explain to a lot of people why they have to have a cosigner. Hrm, well let's see if this makes sense to you... There must be a cosigner, or indemnitor, on every bond because there has to be someone or something that secures the amount of the bond. Think of it like a loan. I am loaning someone the full amount of the bond so they may be free to go about their daily business and aid in their own defense. Let's keep in mind this person has not yet been convicted of their accused crime. Our Constitution hinges on the fact that people are free.

See Amendment 1- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Our Constitution also gives us the rights of speedy trial and confrontation of witnesses.

See Amendment 6- In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

The point of bail is to give a defendant a tangible reason for returning to court. Most of us would do exactly as the court asked, however, let's face it, there are criminals amongst us. And sometimes criminals need a real, tangible reason to return to court. Sometimes it's not so easy to look at a person and determine if they are a person of integrity. There are people out there who have been falsely accused, however there are just as many who will con their way into our homes to walk away with our trust.

How do weed through the con artists and the persons of integrity? Well, you hold them to their word and secure their appearance with a tangible bond. As a bondsman, I'm going to involve their family and their friends in this process because, after all, it is my money I am loaning out to people I don't really know. Sounds crazy? Well, home insurance is just as crazy. When you go to your insurance company, they are promising to secure your property in the face of natural disasters. Chances are, that tornado will never travel straight through your house, but if it does, doesn't it feel good to know that your home insurance will be there to make you whole again? That's exactly what a bondsman does for the court system. We insure the defendant will appear to face their charges and if they don't, we make the court whole by returning the defendant or paying the full bond amount. Obviously, we prefer to return the defendant.

Let's review the basics...

1. A bond secures appearance.
2. I'm not going to cut rate. In turn, I won't revoke your bond for something stupid.
3. It is your Constitutional right to bail.
4. This is insurance...insurance to appear in court.
5. If you don't show, I will make the court whole again.

Simple, right? So why are there so many in our profession intent on making muddying the waters? Come'on people...keep it simple. Recognize the problem and fix it.

Big Pimpin'...Big "Going Out of Business Sale"

I have always believed that the secret to a successful business is do it like a baby would. By that I mean the old saying, "you have to crawl before you can run". I think it's one of the most important things to remember when making business decisions. Yes, you should take risk, but take risk that's in line with your next step. One foot in front of the other. I think we've done a good job of crawling and we've really started to master walking. We try to give advice to our agents and guide them along the successful path, but people don't always listen to us. Which is one of the reasons we have a fairly interesting attrition rate.



One of the interesting attrition stories I have is one about Sara Gene*. Sara was brought into our little family through the back door, so she didn't really get the full interview process until after she was already involved in bonding. She decided she wanted to cut the middle man out and go direct, but she didn't anticipate that if she changed the rules midway we would change the game. I mean it's only fair to change the game if the "employee" wants to change the rules. Personally, I think it takes a real bold person to think they can run the show if they don't even have the money to buy the tickets, but hey, what do I know?



So, we get the new contract together and make an appointment to meet. She missed it, no phone call, email, text. So we make another appointment- she missed it. And then we make a third appointment- she makes it at the last possible minute. We go through everything and she decided that she wants her lawyer to look over it. OK, fine, no problem, but she could have had me fax it on Wednesday when we scheduled the first meeting. I knew it was bull shit, even though I didn't know exactly why she was trying to buy time. She tells me that she's going to call me first thing in the morning.


The morning comes. The afternoon passes by and at 2pm I send her a text message asking her what's going on with the contract. Her husband calls me and starts with "now listen here..."


Now I don't know about you, but I think it takes balls to call up the person backing you with $800k investment and start a conversation with "Now look here..." But, you know, more power to you if you think you can.


Long story short, I don't intimidate easily and he was apologizing profusely within 2 minutes of my "countdown". (Btw, if you ever get the countdown, don't let me get past 3. This guy get to 6.) Those of you who know me understand that I don't really like people who apologize too much because it makes me distrust them and an apology looses meaning when it's given too freely. So, this is a red flag for me.

But, still wanting this work out, I overlook this phone call and make a mental note to talk to Sara Gene about it next time we meet. (A piece of advice for women in business- don't have "your man" fight your battle for you because it seriously undermines you.)

So, she dicks me around a couple more days to eventually say that "her lawyer" didn't see how she would make enough money to cover what she's already spending in business advertising, etc. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know many lawyers who will advise on contract rates unless they are negotiating for you. And not to mention, her contract rate was going up from 2 points to 6 points...um, hello, raise. So, again, the bull shit flag goes up. Well, we end up pulling her backing to find out that she had already gotten someone else to back her. Wow, so now she's violated her original contract because we had never released her from the original contract. Hrm, what are we to do? (We're still working on that one.)

To get back to my original thought about crawling before you run. My point here is that Sara Gene is cutting her nose off to spite her face because she is jumping sureties/investors too often (4 months in the business and on her second surety). She's spent thousands of dollars wrapping her Lexus and big pimping truck, she's probably spent thousands on Yellowbook advertising and she has the big pimping bondsman mentality going strong.

Yeah, these people come out here, attempt to play with the big dogs and get hurt. The problem I see with these wanna-be business people is that they are a big nuisance for a short period of time and leave the rest of us to clean up their bull shit. It annoys the hell out of me, but gives me a good story to train our "play by the rules" agents.

We're all going to make the money and we're all going to be successful as long as we learn to master each step...crawl, walk, run, sprint, fly. Simple concept to some, impossible to understand for others.





*Names have been changed.

As sacred as they can be.

I have to say this career I have chosen continues to supply me with colorful stories which I can share with my friends and family. This one is no different. I must warn that the following story may be a bit offensive to some, so if you're going to get all huffed up about some of the language in this story, don't read any more.



As part of our business, there comes a time when we may have to arrest someone because they don't want to go to court. This doesn't happen a lot because most people have some sense of responsibility and know if they don't go, we'll pick them up and make them. And then you have other people like "Evan". (His name has been changed.) Evan is a saucy- or sauced up- old redneck who is a "personal friend of G" and has been through the system once or twice before. Now, in my mind, if you've been through the judicial system a few times, you should now the score. You get arrested, you get bonded out, you go to court...very simple. But this guy forgot the "go to court" step. So he advanced to the "get picked up by the bounty hunters" step.



The bounty hunter step is reserved for special clients. Being a member of this special club is like being a member of the special Olympics...even at the finish line you're still f'ing retarded. (Please don't throw tomatoes at me for that comment, I already know it's crude, but the effect is warranted here because the only people who skip bond are sissy asses on charges like Driving on Revoked or Indecent Exposure.) Seriously, the punishment for NOT going to court is always more seriously than if you just go and suffer your lumps from the judge.



So the bounty hunters go to the girlfriend's address and get little response from knocking, except from the pit bull mix barking and a few drunken adjectives shouted from inside. The guys couldn't see Evan to make a positive ID and we don't really like to kick doors down until we are certain the fugitive is inside. The guys decided to hang outside and tempt Evan out. After an hour, the police are called by Evans girlfriend. I guess she though they would get rid of the bounty hunters, however it back fired because the cops left after knocking and receiving no response from inside. So, the guys pulled out some lawn chairs and decided to do some moon-tanning while they waited for Evan to come outside. The boys didn't think it was fair that they were the only ones who weren't getting any sleep, so they kept the dog up by knocking on the front door and then the back door and then the front door and then the back door, and then the side window the the front door, etc. While the dog goes crazy and pushes the curtain aside giving a little peak inside, the people inside get more annoyed. Oh yes, the fugitive's mental strife makes us laugh.



After 5 hours, the boys are still tapping on windows and doors until an AC unit falls out of the window and allows access to a bedroom. One of the boys jumps in, gets to look down the hallway until the pit bull mix comes to greet him. He shuts the door as the fugitive gets a running start and kicks the door into Corn Flae as he screams threats of "going and getting his AK". CF jumps back out the window as Evan comes out the front door chugging a bottle of Malibu Rum. While on the front porch, the dog follows him. Bake holds his gun on him and attempts to get Evan on the ground while D maces the charging dog. The fugitive continues to approach aggressively screaming all kinds of "F you's" and "F your mothers".



Now this guy had a Confederate flag on a flag pole in his front yard and an entire room dedicated to the "war". On the team, we have a black guy and a Puerto Rican guy, so insert all the racial slurs you've ever heard because he used them all. I have to say, our guys are very professional an didn't respond to Evan's rantings. Although they did tell the guy he should be a comedian.



On the ride back to jail, Evan told the guys how he was going to get them back and he was swearing on some interesting things. I've heard people swear on their mothers and on their children...and sometimes even on the graves of their loved ones. But this swear is a first. I promise. this is truly what he said...



"I swear on my momma's pu$$y hairs. That's sacred, well that's kind of sacred....well, as sacred as they can be."



Now, what I find funny about this is that you can almost see his drunken mind thinking about what he's saying...and he's almost rationalizing how "sacred" his mother's pu$$y hairs are. I mean, really, what son wants to think about his mothers V-zone? This man is a little off.

ATM Withdrawal

Several weeks ago I had to run to the bank to deposit a check someone wrote us for a bond, which is normally a fairly easy thing to do. It was 9:30pm and it wasn't an unusual thing for me to ride right up to the ATM and make a quickie deposit.



I always look around to see who's in the parking lot because, after all, I usually carry large sums of cash on me. I noticed this dark SUV in the parking lot with a couple guys walking around it. I thought it was strange, but I thought maybe they were cleaning the car out while a friend was at the ATM. When I came around the building I noticed the SUV had moved to a neighboring parking lot and it looked like it had stopped facing the exit. Another guy was kind of lingering on the front side of the bank. Feeling the hair on the back of my neck rise, I decided to take note of where my gun was, which was in the trunk because I had been through the car wash earlier. I stopped the car just before the ATM and felt confident that I could get to the trunk and hands on my gun fast enough just in case this turned into a bad ATM camera video. I kept one eye on the SUV and the other eye on the strange guy lingering. When I got out of the car, the lingering guy decided to move up kind of behind me.

I mean, I can see why I'd be a good target...lone female in dark parking lot going to the ATM. I figured, he would wait until I was at the ATM before he tried anything, but this guy was a little jumpy.

I got my gun out of the back of my trunk and put it straight down against my side. I didn't want to appear to be swinging it around, but I did want to the guy lingering around to notice I had something in my hand that may not be too friendly. It worked, because he noticed something and stopped. It was like he was thinking. Well, this guy wasn't too stupid because he turned tail and ran back to the waiting SUV, which pulled away and went on it's way down Midlothian Turnpike.

I got back in the car and preceded to make my deposit, secure in the fact that if someone was going to rob me, I was certainly going to share my thoughts with him. Of course, I would never want to shoot anyone, but I would protect myself and my money.

A crack house?! By yourself!? Really, come'on?!

I don't know what The Other Boyfriend was thinking when he thought it would be a good idea to go into a crack house by himself. He called me and said he was going to pick the girl up on P St in Church Hill and I about had a fit. He bonded the girl out and took a check, which of course bounced and then she didn't show to her last court date. (People will do that sometimes when they are going to see some jail time. I've never figured out why, because it always causes a worse situation in the long run.) So, basically, he bonded this girl out "for free".

He had tracked the girl's government check down and knew she was going to need to get it, so he held it while waiting for her to show up. Now I would never normally suggest holding a check, but in this situation it worked out OK because she did call and she did end up signing it over. Of course, she did try to accuse him of forcing her to do it, but with my husband and I as witnesses, she didn't get that far with the claim. Or it could have been her cracked-up lazy eye that gave away she was lying. People don't lie so well when they are chemically impaired.

Aaron and I met up with him at an address in Richmond's Southside and drove over to the Lock-up to leave one car so we could travel together in one. We got to P St and saw a couple lookouts on the corner and hiding in a bush in the front yard. We knew we were getting ready to walk into a crack house, so we called the police for a little support. Now in situations of bail pieces, the police can't touch the person because they don't have an active warrant in the system. The bail piece acts as the bondsman's warrant because we are the authority deciding to arrest this person. We don't have to get permission from a judge and we really don't have to have a "good reason", but that doesn't mean we revoke bonds for pleasure either. In this person's case, we were completely justified and probably should have done it as soon as the check bounced.

We hung back several blocks to keep an eye on the front door while we waited for the police. We saw 4 cars pull up, with 2 cops each and met them outside the residence. The look outs scattered like cockroaches when the lights are turned on and we knocked on the door. The police hung out to make sure no one got hurt and The Other Boyfriend searched the house. Aaron was at the back door with an officer. We found her hiding in the bathroom as the other residents of the house claimed they "didn't know no Sally*" and hurriedly hide crack pipes under bedding. Suuuuuuure, they didn't know her, of coouuurse...why is it no one knows no one when the bail bondsmen come knocking on the door, but we're your best friend when they are locked up and crying about getting out? That's a question for the ages...maybe a question for another blog.

So, we got her in handcuffs and walked her out to the car. Said our thank you's to the officers and took Miss Sally* to Lock-up. She was a bit non responsive while she was being driven back to jail but quickly perked up when we walked her to the door. It was like a light bulb was turned on and she realized she was going back to jail. She had the same look my students used to have when they realized they learned something new even though they had been fighting it. It was almost like you could see her brain tell her conscious, "Oh yes, you are going back to jail now." The delay on it was unreal. It took about 30 minutes. I can't believe it didn't clue her in when the hand cuffs went on, I can't believe she didn't realize it when we fussed at her for not going to court, and I certainly can't believe she didn't understand it when she was strapped into the car on the way to jail. I don't know, maybe she got confused because we rode her in on the leather seats of a Mercedes. I can see how that would have been confusing.

*Names have been changed.

We've finally signed her!

I've been talking about getting this posting agent and talking about getting her signed up for, what seems like, forever. Well, we finally got her signed up and her powers in her hand. We know she's going to require some retriaing because she's been working under another company that we don't particularly work closely with. No reason in particular, we just don't share the same business practices and prefer to work at a more level playing field. Of course, that doesn't mean we won't work angles, we just aren't willing to cut corners and manipulate the grey areas of the law.

She's starting out as a posting agent, which means she won't be taking liabilty. She is a bondsman, she does work under her own company name and she is responsible for most everything a regular agent would be responsible for. That has it's good points and bad points. We don't really like posting agents to stay posting agents. We want them to develop their good habits early so they aren't hit by a speeding bullet train when they do become full liable agents. The bottom line is we want them to start off on the right foot so they don't have to tap dance to get marching again. I think we'll get her there, it's just going to take a song or two.

Fortune Cookie Says "You are independent politically"

I have found that usually my horoscope is right, weird things happen on a full moon, Friday the 13th is rarely a day I should get out of bed and fortune cookies hit the nail on the head. Today at lunch, my husband and I went to the Chinese buffet and ended the meal with the same fortune in our cookie. Now while this is a rarity, it does happen to Aaron and I quite a bit. But today it hits home because we're both ready to offer commentary on a variety of issues.

I think my issue today is why lawyers are such arrogant dumb asses. In our line of work...pause for a brief commercial moment... (Custom Bail Bonds- serving the Richmond Metro, Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, Tri-cities and almost the rest of the state of Virginia)...end pause...we run across different types of lawyers, but most of them we end up having to talk to are just a little off. I guess it's about par for the course when Virginia doesn't actually require lawyers to have a law degree. Which I have always found interesting...did you know that anyone off the street can be a lawyer, all they have to do is pass the Bar Exam? So that means Slappy from the corner can take the test, pass it and be practicing law the following week. Now that doesn't mean I have a hatred for all lawyers. In fact, I think there are a lot of great lawyers out there who do a wonderful job, however even they have to admit there are some that crawl out from under their rock every morning swearing up and down that they know everything there is to know about how the court system works. I would venture to say those are the lawyers we run into and remember.

An example of this type of lawyer is a man, who will remain nameless because after all he is a lawyer, who tells his clients not to go to court. Now here's the problem I have with this... The defendant does not have any reason not to trust the lawyer, often my clients will say they thought the lawyer knew what he was talking about...and I can't blame them for that, after all they are paying the lawyer to look out for their well being. So the lawyer tells the defendant that they don't need to go to court, that the lawyer will take care of it. To me, I see several problems with this:

1. The lawyer cannot testify for you. So if you aren't there, then how are you going to face your accuser and defend yourself?
2. The lawyer is not the one who has to go to jail for Failure to Appear (FTA).
3. The lawyer does not have to pay the bondsman again for the additional charge of FTA.
4. The lawyer is not the person who will have the FTA on their record.
5. The lawyer does not have to do the time for a guilty verdict because the defendant wasn't there to defend themselves.

And the ironic thing here is that the lawyer will most likely charge the defendant's family for all the time he spent running back and forth to correct his mistake. So, I'm thinking that could get really expensive and time consuming.

I guess what I'm really saying here is that if you ever end up being accused of a crime and need the services of both a lawyer and a bondsman, go to court no matter what the dumb ass lawyer tells you. I have seen so many good people get f*c$$% because they listened to someone who told them going to court wasn't necessary. If you have a court date associated with your name, you need to make sure you appear in front of the judge. The judge doesn't want to see anyone but you...if you don't believe it, waste a few hours in jail thinking about it after you're picked up on an FTA. Now that's a day that's going to suck.