Blog

“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…

Discretion – the quality of having or showing discernment or good judgment. – Merriam- Webster Dictionary   An article was recently posted to the on-line issue of the Daily Report, a publication serving Greenfield, Indiana, which reported 95% of the bonds set by Judge Terry Snow were full cash bonds. Essentially, Judge Snow of Hancock County Superior Court 1 is ignoring the recent Indiana Supreme Court ruling in Sneed v. State where Indiana’s highest court ruled that a judge abused his discretion by not permitting a bail bond to be posted in lieu of cash.   The purpose of bail is to provide a guarantee of appearance by a criminal defendant at all required court appearances up to and including trial. In the State of Indiana bail bonds are executed by licensed…

It’s been six months since Governor Brown signed into law AB 109, part of California’s criminal justice realignment agenda. AB 109 purportedly will help ease prison overcrowding by retaining lower-level offenders and parole violators with short term sentences in the county jails and releasing from custody qualifying pretrial detainees with only a GPS monitor to ensure appearance. Counties are to be paid by the state for housing convicted felons.   AB 109 could dramatically impact the use of commercial bail as county jail officials will be releasing pretrial detainees by any means possible to make room for the paying customers; convicted felons. Under AB 109, a pretrial detainee is not eligible for release on a GPS monitor until after they have been in custody for 30 days, therefore we will see an increase…

Bail agents of The Buckeye State met in Columbus on September 22-24 for the 6th Annual Meeting of the Ohio Bail Agents Association. The OBAA has been quietly trying to improve conditions for commercial bail in that state.   Senator Bill Seitz was on hand to speak about his 309 page Sentence Bill (HB 86) which became effective September 27. The bill includes an amendment from the bail industry which provides for the clerk to mail a notice to the surety within 15 days after the declaration of the forfeiture. The show cause period has also been increased from a minimum of 20 days to 45 days.   Senator Seitz is an enthusiastic and loyal supporter of commercial bail and the role it plays in the criminal justice system. Senator Seitz fought hard to…

I’m happy to be home in Indianapolis for a few weeks before embarking on the fall swing of state association meetings which begin next month.  While home, I was able to help get our three girls back to school and our son off to his first year of college. Go WKU Hilltoppers! How’s that? Back to the job and stark reality, a defendant was charged in Los Angeles recently for engaging in sodomy with another consenting adult, while sodomy is illegal in California, arrests are rare.   His bond was set and posted at one million dollars.  Conversely, in South Bend, Indiana a two time sex offender charged with yet another sex related crime involving a six year old boy was released on a $3000 cash bond by a St. Joseph County…

North Richland Hills,TX - Camp Esperanza is an annual summer camp for kids ages six to 18 who are battling cancer. The camp with its staff of volunteers of doctors, nurses and layman can handle 140 kids. There’s a waiting list. Former camp kid and current camp counselor Diana Garcia, who spoke during awards ceremony said the kids are laughing and giggling with excitement on the bus trip to camp and teary eyed on the trip back, they don’t want to leave.  It’s a slice of Heaven one week a year for these kids to interact with other kids who can identify with their health issues and medical needs. The Steven G. Whitlock Memorial Golf Tournament held its 22nd annual event this week at the Iron Horse Golf Course in North Richland Hills,…

There is a character in the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, who dons a t-shirt with the slogan ARMAGEDDON WAS YESTERDAY – TODAY WE HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM. I laughed out loud knowing how germane this was to the state of the commercial bail industry. I vividly recall participating in a panel discussion at the 2006 PBUS Winter Conference, it was the year Dog and Beth Chapman made their first appearance. During this discussion I spoke about the expanding use of deposit bail and its threat to the commercial bail industry.   Dave Stuckman of Kansas receives certfificate for sponsorship. It was my opinion then as now deposit bail is a greater threat to the commercial bail industry than taxpayer funded pretrial service agencies.   Why? Because where public funded pretrial release…

Biloxi, MS – The Mississippi Bail Agents Association held its Annual Assembly and Membership Meeting at the IP Resort and Casino in Biloxi earlier this week. It was a two day meeting July 11-12 consisting of a board meeting on the first day with the general meeting held the following day.   The MBAA is very good about making each bail agent and guest feel welcome. At registration you’re provide an agenda, copy of the By-Laws, current balance sheet and an updated copy of the MBAA Bail Bond Court Procedures Manual, all this and a cool t-shirt to boot.   Each Mississippi bail agent must obtain 16 hours of continuing education prior to license renewal which occurs every two years. The MBAA has made it to where their members can earn eight hours…

Benjamin Franklin was known to have said, the only things certain in life are death and taxes.  So, while we believed the return of commercial bail to Wisconsin was certain, alas it was not to be, yet.  The amendment to the Wisconsin State Budget that would have returned the use of commercial bail bonds back to the State was stripped from the budget by Gov. Walker.   Reinstituting commercial bail would have resulted in improved appearance rates, millions of dollars in annual revenues generated from license fees, premium taxes and bond forfeiture revenue and more than 1000 new jobs.     Gov. Scott Walker stated in his Veto Message, " ...this (bail) provision..does not provide sufficient time to properly evaluate the proposal and to plan for appropriate regulation of this industry prior to the…

Then there were three.  Wisconsin is one of four states that currently does not permit money bail.  This may change as early as today.  The Wisconsin legislature approved the budget yesterday and shipped it off to Governor Walker for his signature.  The budget includes the reinstatement of commercial bail in Wisconsin which has been outlawed in this state since 1979.   The American Bail Coalition, of which American Surety Company is a proud member, has been behind the effort to bring commercial bail back to Wisconsin.  While ABC has been working the last three years to bring bail bonds back to Oregon, the process in Wisconsin has been significantly different.  With the Republicans winning control of both the House and Senate after the 2010 Mid-Term Elections, the state has been in a private sector fervor ever since. …