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The Professional Bail Agents of the United States will hold its Winter Conference at The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas February 20 - 23.  This year's conference will include its staples Certified Bail Agents classes, Surety Council Meeting, Council of Bail Association Presidents, Welcome Reception and the Awards & Recognition Dinner.  Guest speakers will include American Bail Coalition Executive Director Dennis Bartlett and Chief Circuit Judge John G. McBain of Jackson County, Michigan. There will also be an election of select officers and board members including president, whose terms are expiring.  It is very important all PBUS voting members attending the conference participate and cast their vote for candidates who they feel will best represent the interest of all bail agents. I'm looking forward to attending this year's meeting and spending time with all the good people…

Austin, TX - New PBT President Scott Walstad of Dallas elected to spend his first months at the helm of one of the nation’s prominent bail agent associations getting their fiscal house in order.  The first hour or so of the Board of Directors meeting in the year's first quarterly meeting was spent talking about expense reports and meeting costs.  The objective, where can costs be reduced and processes streamlined to save costs.   The meeting, held at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Austin was not all about cost cutting.  There was still work to be done on the legislative front even though Texas Legislature is in hibernation.  Redistricting will bring a number of changes and new faces to the legislature in 2012-2013.  This will require a lot of work by the PBT Legislative Committee…

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, in his recent State of the State address, called for no bail for repeat violent offenders. Christie said, “We can only improve our quality of life by keeping the most violent criminals off the streets”.   This is not a new direction for New Jersey. Last November, Governor Christie signed into law A 1491, which expanded the current list of criminal offenses carrying a bail restriction, to include crimes involving domestic violence. Anyone arrested for a charge of an aggravated nature like sexual assault, robbery, carjacking and now domestic violence must either post full cash, a bond secured by real estate or a fully insured bail bond. This class of offender cannot be released on their own recognizance or a ten percent cash bond.   The peoples’ representatives…

While in the Mile High City last week, I met with some of our bail agents, attended a meeting of the Committee on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) to hear a presentation on bail bonds and made a guest appearance on "In the Lobby" on WKRP Radio to discuss the bail bond industry.   The Colorado Bail Industry has been hit pretty hard lately. Not only because of the poor economy, but also because some courts have stopped setting surety bonds in lieu of small cash bnods with no option of posting a bail bond.   You may recall my reporting on SB11-186 (Alternative Bond) last year. This bill would have created a percentage cash bond managed by the local public Pretrial Release Agency. After a lengthy legislative battle SB11-186 failed to pass. Look for…

On the drive into work today it occurred to me last month marked my thirtieth year in bail. The ink was barely dry on my diploma from Plano Senior High School in December 1981 when I took a job as a runner for Guaranty Bail Bonds in downtown Dallas. While I’m a second generation bondsman, my first job was not working for my father, Jack Whitlock (though I would eventually work for him for more than 20 years), but my older brother who actually got me a job as a runner. My brother got out of the business and while I didn’t know it at the time, bail became my career choice. The life of a bond runner is far from glamorous. It’s a hard job, you’re effectively a gofer.   Go post this bond,…

When I think about 10% deposit bail and I think about it often, I keep thinking how it’s a Rubik’s cube of logic that proponents use to justify its use to guarantee a criminal defendant’s appearance in court. Deposit bail (posting 10% of the bond in cash with the court with the remaining 90% unsecured) is really nothing more than an air sandwich being fed to the general public. A vacuous guarantee provided by the criminal offender himself, providing zero sustenance to victims and taxpaying citizens or the criminal justice system. Penn State assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky recently released on a 100% unsecured bond, not even a partial cash deposit; that was an air sandwich with cheese.   In our effort to prove the Air Sandwich Theory we have initiated an effort to…

MSNBC.com reported November 14, former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys, was released on a $100,000 unsecured bond or more accurately described as being released on his own recognizance. Sandusky was not required to pledged collateral to the court, obtain a bail bond or call friends or family to stand up for him. The only call he had to make was to a taxi service to ask for a ride, “because they’re letting me go”.   Pennsylvania District Court Judge Leslie A. Dutchcot, the judge who ordered Sandusky released on a free bond, has come under fire for her decision.  Questions have been raised as to her impartiality and her ties to Sandusky through The Second Mile, a charitable…

A bail industry meeting took place on the 2nd floor of the Crown Plaza Hotel down the street from LAX on November 2, 2011. The meeting was organized by the American Bail Coalition and included representatives of not only the members of ABC, but California’s two bail agent associations, California Bail Agents Association and The Golden State Bail Agents Association and representatives of Aladdin Bail Bonds, the state’s largest retailer. This cooperative was named the California Bail Coalition (CBC).   The purpose of the meeting was to gather stakeholders operating within the California commercial bail community to discuss ways the bail industry can better involve itself in the process of moving thousands of criminal offenders from the state’s prison system to local county jails brought about by the passing of AB109. Specific focus…

Last week’s annual meeting of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas marked the end of John McCluskey’s run as the Association’s President. John was at the helm for four years and I believe most would agree he was an effective leader. John was tireless in his efforts to have a positive impact on commercial bail in Texas. As part of the Legislative Committee he spent a significant amount of time in Austin promoting the bail industry and derailing legislation like S498 that would have introduced deposit bail in Texas. John was also key supporter in creating a partnership with the Steven G. Whitlock Memorial Golf Tournament, raising nearly $100,000 for Camp Esperanza in the last three years. PBT had not been formally affiliated with a charity prior to John’s tenure. John turned over the…

“Where in the world is Mike?” is a common refrain I hear as I travel around the country meeting with bail agents. I guess I brought this on myself.   I recently attended a meeting of the Georgia Association of Professional Bondsmen in Savannah. Ironically, it was following a fall meeting of the GAPB in 2004 I had written my first blog. That blog proved to be the impetus for what would become my Where in the World is Mike Whitlock online articles.     American Surety Company had been producing a premier industry newsletter for years but it had become clear the information being disseminated was often dated and stale by the time it reached the reader. While I’m no Steve Jobs, we do try to be innovative in our thinking and…