On 08-18-2017 a Bail Bondsman was shot in Columbia, MO. while trying to apprehend one of her skips. You can see her Facebook article below, regarding this incident: Bondsman In Columbia, MO. Shot
First, foremost, and most importantly, I'd like to wish Lisa a speedy and 100% recovery. Lisa is a hardworking lady, that deserves to be able to continue working, as hard as she always has.
So, as it has been reported, Lisa Henneberry was out putting up wanted posters for one of her bond fugitives,DeAngelo Butler in a neighborhood where he was known to frequent. As Lisa was putting up these wanted posters she noticed her bond skip sitting on the porch at his aunt's house. As Lisa spotted her bond skip, he also spotted her. and ran inside of the house. Lisa then went to the back of the house, where the bond skip exited the house with a firearm and shot Lisa in both of her knees.
This incident has stirred some controversy on Facebook. It seems that this incident has been turned into a racial matter, or a matter of legal ethics regarding the commercial bail industry. I'd like to address some of these issues here on this blog.
So, let me qualify myself. I have been in the bail recovery business for over 27 years, in one form or another, either as a consultant, a freelance recovery agent, or as a manager of a recovery department in-house for various bail bonds companies. I have recovered over 4,000 fugitives either by direct apprehension, or administrative exoneration. I have pulled fugitives out of 42 states in the Unites States, and 4 countries in the world. I know just a little about the world of bail recovery.
So, below are the points that I'd like to dive into here.
First, the commercial bail industry has been around in one form or another even before our organized legal system has. The commercial bail system can trace it's roots back to old English law, before codified and statutory laws in America. The modern commercial bail system allows a person or a company to stand good for another person that is in jail, as long as that person agrees to pay a penalty that is set by the court if he or she fails to guarantee the appearance of the person they are standing good for. Of course this is a business, and bail bondsmen and bail bonding companies make a profit from doing this. hence the term commercial bail system. Of course the people risking their money by guaranteeing that their clients will show up for court, should have some recourse if their clients miss their court date. That recourse is that the bail bondsman gets a certain amount of time to retrieve their clients, by force if necessary, and bring them back to the court returnable and place them back in the custody of the sheriff of the county where the court returnable is located. This process arises from a contract that the bondsman makes with the court and the client. The clients guarantees the bail bondsman that he or she will show up for court, and acknowledges that if he or she does not the bondsman will come arrest him or her and put them back in jail. The bondsman also guarantees the appearance of the defendant to the court, and agrees that if the defendant misses their court date, and the bondsman can not retrieve their client in the allotted amount of time, the bondsman will forfeit the bond money that was put up with the court guaranteeing the defendant's appearance. This is a very brief explanation on the process of commercial bail.
Second, anytime you make a contract with someone, there should be a way to remedy any defaults that may occur that is beyond the control of the parties to the contract. In the commercial bail system, if a bondsman's client misses their court date, the bondsman has the right under the law to retrieve that client in a certain amount of time as prescribed by the court, even by force if necessary. This is the bondsman's available remedy allowed by law, if his or her client violated their part of the contract and misses their court date. In most cases the recovery process is not personal, it's not racially motivated, it is just business, not personal in any way. As a matter of fact often enough, the bail bondsman will retrieve their client and re-bond them, because it is profitable. I have seen times when a person that misses their court date has made things personal by taunting their bondsman, or acting childish. But, even in those cases most of the time the bondsman is professional enough to just be thankful that he or she retrieved their client on time.
In the case that was referred to above, Lisa Henneberry made some mistakes, but they were strategical and tactical in nature, not ethical or moral in nature. Lisa was doing what she was supposed to be doing as far as what her job calls for her to do, she just didn't observe proper safety precautions while doing her job. A bondsman or a recovery agent should NEVER under any circumstances, approach a bond fugitive for the purpose of apprehension without a means to defend their self. As a matter of fact, people doing fugitive recovery work should keep what I call a "go bag" in their vehicle, with all of the necessary tools they need for their trade: firearm, handcuffs, flashlight, teargas, taser, vest, radio communication gear, first aid kit, audio recorder, camera with video taping capability, wireless cell phone charger, etc., etc. For my private investigation business I keep a very similar bag with me, everywhere I go. Bail Bondsman and recovery agents should also form a network, or at least small networks among theirselves, with a mutual understanding that they will back each other up on fugitive apprehensions, if it is possible. Each bond fugitive should be thoroughly researched prior to an attempt to apprehend, one of the first thing that the bondsman should do when the receive notice that their client missed a court date, is run a background check on their client, gather as much information as possible on their client. The client may already have warrants for their arrest, and this could make the bond fugitive's apprehension as easy as making a phone call to the local police. These are just basic, common sense guidelines for recovery work. It is easy to get comfortable and complacent in the recovery business, when the recovery agent goes a long time with no incident. But comfort and complacency are very dangerous places to be in this line of work.
One of the things that RMRI, LLC. does is locate hard to find people. We have the resources for doing this. The databases, the contacts, and the computer savvy to get you close to your skip. For a lump sum fee, we work your locate until your fugitive is in custody. Often times we can even cause the apprehension of your bond fugitive or the exoneration of the bond, thereby making your recovery work just a little safer. RMRI, LLC. has over 27 years of experience at doing this.
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