“I want to be a bounty hunter.”
In my 20-plus year career as a bail bond agent and current company owner, I must have heard that phrase at least a hundred times over the years.
When an individual walks into my office and makes that statement, the first thing I ask is “why do you want to be a bounty hunter?”
Most of the time, the response is “because I watch D** and think he is really cool. I love D**. Man, to kick a** and get paid for it at the same time would be a real cool way to make a living.”
The second most common response is, “because I’m big and bad and can kick the sh** out of anybody.”
Wrong, on both counts. If you were to give me either response, I’d answer a few of your questions and then politely show you the door.
The truth is, bounty hunting is much more difficult then movies and television portray. One has to enter the profession for all the right reasons. The wrong ones can and do get people killed.
In the old days, when I first started working in this business, most owners believed it took a criminal mind to find one. Some bounty hunters were convicted felons, fresh out of prison. They waved guns in innocent people’s faces, bashed in cars, shook down defendants for their money and/or dope; beat them up on the way to jail; male or female, it didn’t matter.
Thank God, those days are over.
Thanks largely to my bounty hunter, new legislation was passed in 2005. These regulations require individuals to have a clean police record, undergo training in baton and pepper spray, learn the proper escalation of force—when it is and isn’t—appropriate to pull your weapon and become certified in firearms. Then they have to pass a state test and become officially licensed with the state.
For more information on bounty hunter qualifications in Washington State, check out the Department of Licensing website at:
http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/bailbonds/bbra.html
Just so you know, D** couldn’t work in this state as a bounty hunter. As a convicted felon, he’d be prohibited from obtaining a license.
So, as a bail bond company owner, what am I looking for in a bounty hunter?
I’m not looking for big and bad; I’m not interested in one that’s all brawn and no brains. I’m looking for smart—and hard working.
A good percentage of the job is desk work. The bounty hunter has to verify the warrants with the courts, then spend hours on the phone, trying to locate the defendant’s whereabouts. Sometimes the latter can take days, weeks or even months.
It’s also a good idea to be—or become—computer literate. Most bounty hunters use the computer a great deal of the time. If you’re internet savvy, so much the better. Bounty hunters use a wide variety of tools to locate defendants. The more programs and databases you’re familiar with, the easier defendants are to find.
If you’re looking to get rich, forget it. There’s not a lot of money in this field. If you divide all the hours spent working on a case with the actual paycheck, sometimes it pays less than minimum wage. Most bounty hunters get paid 10% of the forfeited bail, and only if they make an arrest. That means one can spend a great deal of time trying to locate a defendant—without success. And that means despite all the hours you spent working on the case, if you don’t arrest, you don’t get paid.
It’s really not a 9 to 5 job, either. If the bounty hunter is looking for someone, s/he can get calls at all hours of the day or night, with vital information from informants. If you’ve limited your working hours, guess what. Rule no 1 is: if you don’t arrest the defendant, you don’t get paid. Rule no. 2 is: if you don’t obtain the information you need to locate them, you can’t arrest. Most bounty hunters, out of necessity, sometimes work round the clock on large dollar cases. If you’re not willing to devote that much time, maybe you’d better look for work in another profession.
So, you ask, if you don’t get rich and you don’t have stable working hours, why do it?
Good question.
I’m sure my bounty hunter asks himself that, nearly every day. Especially when he’s been chasing a large forfeiture—without success.
Being a bounty hunter doesn’t give you prestige. You won’t be world renown, won’t have your picture in the newspaper nor will you be offered your own television series. In real life, those things just don’t happen.
What it does mean, is you’re working on the right side of the law.
The bail agent’s job is to bail individuals out of jail, pending the outcome of their court case. We don’t make any judgments. We can’t. We weren’t there. We don’t know all the facts. What we can do, is ensure their appearance in court so a judge and jury can decide guilt or innocence. Right or wrong, good or bad, if I bail them, they have to go to court. That’s the deal.
Sometimes I have clients that just don’t go to court. On purpose. The court issues a warrant for their arrest then gives us a limited time to produce them back in court or we forfeit the bail money. That’s where the bounty hunter comes in. The police are too busy to purposely look for these individuals—but we’re not. Not only am I trying to save myself from losing the bail money, but I’m also interested in justice. I don’t want my clients avoiding court, and committing new crimes as they’re running “from the law”. If my bounty hunter can find them, arrest them and return them to custody, they’ll be produced in court and will be forced to face the consequences of their own actions. In that way, we protect the general public, our communities and society in general. We work with the police to get these criminals off the streets. In a very real way, we help promote public safety—and that’s why we do what we do. We’re needed. We’re valuable. We can and do make a difference
So, do you still want to be a bounty hunter?
If so, look me up after you’re licensed.
I’m not making any promises but I'll see what I can do.
