Bail Recovery: A Necessary Risk

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.

                                                                     DeAngelo Butler

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.

FUGITIVE RECOVERY: THEN AND NOW

I want to talk a little about the Fugitive Recovery Business. I am going to write a series of articles on the Fugitive Recovery Business to give hose that are interested an opinion to consider, from a person that has been in the business, that REALLY has "been there an done that"...

First it might be smart to give some background on myself, so you'll know that the person that is writing this article has a background that indicates that he knows what he is writing about.

There was a time when Fugitive Recovery Work was exciting, and most people in the business got along and networked. But there was a time when Fugitive Recovery Work was just a job, a way to earn a living, to put food on the table for your family. One thing Fugitive Recovery Work was NEVER meant to be was publicised! 

I have worked in the Fugitive Recovery Profession for a long, long time. I started out in 1989 assisting a high school friend of mine who chose to become a Bail Bondsman with recovering his fugitives. I found I had a knack for it, and quickly rose to a large Bail Bonds Company's Head Fugitive Recovery Agent. It was a decent job, but it seemed like the hours were longer than the pay. It is also easy to get "burned out" when you stay on the road and away from your home more than you stay at home. Eventually I changed positions and became the Office Manager for the Bail Bonds Company I was working for. I must admit I was "burned out". I met some good Recovery Agents in the beginning stages of my long journey through the Fugitive Recovery Business; like Odell Jones and these were the people that have enriched my life, which is why given the choice I don't think I'd change anything about my past.

I realized that there was a lot more money in running my own Fugitive Recovery Business than there was in working for someone else. I had the experience, I knew the Bail Bonding "game", made some really good contacts, and I was ready to run my own business; or so I thought...

Here is a lesson for anyone wanting to run their own business, and you have to listen carefully. You can be the very best at what you do, and not understand business and completely fail at running your business despite being the best at what you do. You can be the worst at what you do, and understand how business works, and you will last a little while in your business, just long enough for your clients to realize that you are the worst at what you do. You have to understand business, and be good at what you are offering to your clients to succeed. The business world can be an unforgiving beast, and if you can learn those unforgiving lessons and stay in business, YOU ARE A SUCCESS!

I started my own Fugitive Recovery Business after I left my office manager position, and I did pretty well as far as successfully locating and apprehending the fugitives that my clients gave me to find. My ONLY advertisement was "word of mouth" and I was picking up 3 to 5 clients a week. There was always another Bail Bondsman calling to see what I'd charge to locate and apprehend his or her fugitive. What I did not understand is that "business is business", if you want to do charity work, start a charity. If you want to be in business, then conduct business. I did a lot of favors for a lot of people, what I did not understand is that favors are easily forgotten. My lack of understanding of business took it's toll and I had to go back to work for a Bail Bonds Company; but that was okay I was marketable by this time.

I went to work for one of the largest Bail Bonds Companies in the state of North Carolina at the time. Again, it was not that hard for me to rise up to Chief Recovery Agent, I was in charge of six other Recovery Agents, and I really did not do a lot of field work. Somehow I got the nickname "Major Case"; probably because the only cases that I went into the field on were major cases like very high dollar bonds, or cases with serious charges, or cases where the fugitive had a violent background.  I worked at this Bail Bonds Company for about a year,  until I had enough money to start up my own business again. I remember the owner of that Bail Bonds Company well, because he taught me a lot about business; he was a great man in my book. 

I was back in business again, a little smarter about business, and a little better at managing people. One of the first cases I got when I went back to work was a $75,000.00 bond in a small town, where this defendant just seemed to disappear from. The Bondsman said he hired several "Bounty Hunters", and two private investigators and none of them could find him. I asked for 25% of the bond, and the Bail Bondsman agreed to that, and gave me a credit card and some cash for expenses. In three weeks I had their fugitive safely back in North Carolina, by way of New Haven, CT. where I found him and had David Schultz grab him for me. I did not feel like I was any better than anyone else at what I chose to do, but my clients seemed to think I would "walk on water". Finding fugitives just seemed easy for me, it was hard work but I almost never "missed". Here is a well overlooked truth about the Fugitive Recovery Business, apprehending a fugitive is not hard, any well trained chimpanzee can do that and if you throw enough S.W.A.T. Gear on him, he is a sure bet! It is locating the fugitive that is the hard work. It can take hours on the phone, hours in the field interviewing people, mind numbing hours reading through and researching documents, and months of waiting, before you locate your fugitive. It requires good note taking, excellent organizational skills, a great memory, and a phenomenal amount of patience. Those successful skip tracers, respect them because it takes real skill at being able to skip trace someone that does not want to be found. 

I wanted a change of scenery, so I moved to Norfolk, Va., in 1995 and I loved it there. That is where I met and partnered with Norman Jennings. It is hard to find much about Norman Jenning on the Internet, because almost everything he did from when he was a young man was classified, from his time in Marine Forced Recon in Vietnam, to his work with AirScan, But that was where I really went to school, was when Norman Jennings and I worked together, he taught me so much, just by the way he worked and the example he set. Norman Jennings is still alive and I talk to him every now and then. I NEVER had a better partner than Norman Jennings. 

From here I traveled around, I also worked "in-house" for a few Bail Bonds Companies. I ran a team of six agents at one time, and was on a television show called "Bounty Hunters". I liked what I did, because I was good at what I did. But back then things were simple. You did not have Facebook, and you did not have Twitter and all of the other Social Media Sites. You looked at your job as the work you did to support yourself and your family. Nobody in the business really wanted to be a celebrity, we all just wanted to apprehend fugitives. You spent your time on the street doing your job like some people spend their time in a factory doing their job. You didn't brag about what you did, as a matter of fact rarely did you want anyone to know what you did for a living. You did not dress up in S.W.A.T. Styled clothing and gear to play out your childhood fantasies, you dressed in jeans and a tee shirt and knew how to blend in where you were working, your tools stayed hidden until it was necessary to bring them out, and your fugitive never knew who you were until after you had him or her in handcuffs. That is the way we worked, and IT WORKED! We did not want fame, we wanted fortune! You told us we did a good job by paying us. We understood that "almost" did not count at all, it was all about results. And we did our work for the right reason, COLD, HARD CASH! We understood that our job was not personal, we did not like or dislike the people we were apprehending, we were indifferent and unbiased; what we cared about was the money, and that kept us from getting personally involved. We understood that tempers and emotions made you make mistakes, that is why we kept those things in check. We knew if we got mad, lost our temper, or got emotional, the chance of success in finding our fugitives went down. Did we step over the line now and then? Sure! Absolutely! But we never spoke of it, and we always made the decision to do so based on if the fugitive was dangerous enough to risk it, and we balanced that with whether or not what we were doing would cause anyone to get hurt, and if there was even a 1% possibility of anyone getting hurt, we did not cross that line. Not because we were good and decent people (although I'd like to think that we were), but because we were professionals and we made CALCULATED DECISIONS!

Nowadays, it just seems that Fugitive Recovery Work is not about results, it is about who can brag the loudest on Facebook. Who's "war story" tops everyone else's "war story". It is the reality television show, that back in my day would have scared the hell out of a real Recovery Agent; but nowadays everyone wants to be on. And most of what is out there now, could not have done the job we did back when I started. The work would have been too hard, the hours too long, and they would not have had a platform to brag from, meaning they could not get the attention that they so desperately have to have these days. Most of what is out there now is just a bunch of publicity seeking, blow hards. Most of what is out there now would not last 10 seconds in the Bronx, New York where a partner and I snatched a man right off of the street in broad daylight that was wanted out of North Carolina.  Don't get me wrong, there are some really good, "real deal" Recovery Agents out there these days, some "old timers" that are true professionals, you just wont find them on Face Book bragging about their exploits every day or on Twitter tweeting about the latest local bond jumper they picked up. 

I know one thing. I learned a lot from my days as a Fugitive Recovery Agent. What I learned in those days that I did Fugitive Recovery Work has paid off, it has helped me immensely in my Private Investigation Business that I have had for about fifteen years now. I learned how to find a person who did not want to be found, and I am one of the best at it because I have done it for so long. I learned how to communicate with people, which is one of the reasons that I am still here after having diffused many volatile situations. There are few people as good at finding someone as I am, if I am so motivated.  I took a way a lot of skills from my time doing Fugitive Recovery Work, and I still consult a little. But now I have a comfortable Private Investigation Agency where I make pretty good money, and I don't work too hard. Most of the people that I worked with a long time ago, what we call "old timers", have moved on to more stable jobs and are trying to retire. 

Well, that is a little about me. The next blog post will dive into some current event issues. I am going to give my opinion on "Modern Fugitive Recovery" and some of the "heros" in the "Modern Fugitive Recovery Business"...

Ricky B, Gurley