How Local Search Puts Your Bail Business on the Map

You may have heard the term “local search” recently and wondered what it is and how it can help bail agents market their businesses. Local search basically ensures that people can find your business online when searching for local terms such as “Bail Bonds Denver” or wherever your business may be located. This is accomplished through optimizing your Google Places, Yahoo! Local and Bing Local profiles, and then submitting your business to Superpages, YellowPages, DexKnows, 411.com, WhitePages and more than 100 other sites. So when people search for your key terms, your business shows up.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how local search benefits your business and how the submission process works.

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Proposed ‘Alternative Bond Program’ Threatens to Eliminate Colorado Bail Industry

Although the private bail industry in Colorado suspected that trouble was brewing, most everyone was still blindsided by the swift introduction of Senate Bill 11-186, a bill that could potentially do major damage to the livelihood of Colorado bail agents.

Simply put, SB 11-186 would likely put around 485 Colorado bail agents out of business, as well as eliminate the need for the eight surety companies that insure the bail agents. Those numbers are according to a recent article in the Denver Post.

Read more here on how SB 11-186 could affect the Colorado bail industry.

Florida Pretrial Release Legislation Advances for 2011 Session

According to recent statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, violent crime is down nationwide and fewer arrests by law enforcement are being made. A 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found that local jail populations dropped by 2.3 percent from 2008 to 2009. This is the first decline in the U.S. jail population since the DOJ implemented the annual survey of jails in 1982. Large jails led the trend with Florida counties Miami-Dade and Orange leading the nation in overall decline of jail populations.


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Learn How to Grow Your Bail Agency in Challenging Times

If you weren’t able to make it to the PBUS 30th Anniversary Winter Conference, you can still benefit from the knowledge that was shared there. Adam Camras, AboutBail.com CEO, gave a presentation to a business-minded group of bail agents titled “Succeeding Where Others Fail: Growing Your Bail Agency in Challenging Times.” During the talk, Camras discussed important topics such as professionalism, intelligent marketing strategies and operational efficiency. As part of his focus on marketing for bail agents - an area of expertise for AboutBail.com - Camras covered the importance of building bail agency websites, submitting your agency to local search engines and marketing your bail business with Facebook and other social media sites.


To gain some valuable tips for how to market your business and improve your operations, click here to read the full story on AboutBail.com.

The Bail Bonds Industry Should Learn From The Banking Industry

Many in the bail bonds industry are happy to start a new year after a difficult 2010. The average bail bondsman faced pressure from things such as a harsh economic climate, increased regulatory scrutiny and unpopular pretrial release programs.

The issues are only compounded when the public and regulators read stories that portray bail bonds in a negative light. In 2010, there were quite a few. Last year headlines included everything from bondsmen changing bail bonds records at the courthouse to multiple instances of bail agents being arrested for improper solicitation. In one of the more shocking stories, a federal judge was removed from the bench by the U.S. Senate because he allegedly increased bail amounts to help a bail bondsman. In return the judge accepted trips, gifts and meals from the bondsman. This past year has given the industry some tough PR challenges to say the least.

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County Approves Bail Bond Board

Titus County Commissioners, after an hours' worth of discussion and deliberation Monday, unanimously voted to implement a county bail bonds board, effective Oct. 1, 2011.

A county bail bond board is responsible for licensing and regulating bail bond companies operating in a county, in accordance with Chapter 1704, Regulation of Bail Bond Sureties, of the Texas Occupations Code.

Bail bondsmen must be licensed in their county before they can secure bail for any person incarcerated in the county jail.Under current state legislation, bail bond boards are mandatory in counties with a population of over 110,000, but voluntary in smaller counties.

County Judge Brian Lee opened the item on Monday's agenda by noting the county had been presented with a petition signed by almost all county officials who are involved in the criminal justice system.

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In Defense of Bounty Hunting

Bounty hunters and bail bondsmen have a bad rap: The American Bar Association calls their line of work "tawdry," and Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun declared it "odorous." But bounty hunters have an unlikely ally: Alex Tabarrok, an economist at George Mason University, who argues in The Wilson Quarterly that bounty hunters are "unsung" heroes of an overbooked justice system.

Bail and bounty hunters have a long history. In medieval England, suspected criminals often had to stew for months until a traveling judge arrived to conduct a trial; in the meantime, the court would release the defendant to a "surety," often a friend or brother, who would guarantee that he would show up in court. "If the accused failed to show," Tabarrok explains, "the surety would take his place and be judged as if he were the offender." Sureties were, unsurprisingly, given broad powers to chase down their charges; today's bounty hunters have inherited them (they can legally break into the houses of their targets, search their property without probable cause, and pursue them across state lines).

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Bail Bonds Advocates Fined in Colo. for Campaign Finance Violation

DENVER (AP) — A political group that pushed unsuccessfully to require bail bonds in more criminal cases in Colorado has been fined for campaign finance violations.

Safe Streets Colorado was fined $12,200 for improper reporting before raising money to put the bonds question on ballots last year.

The proposal would have made it harder for people awaiting criminal trials to be released under supervision without having to post bail.

Critics called the measure a kickback to help the bail bonds industry. The measure failed by a wide margin.


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ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa Released on Bail; Says Ready for Talks

ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa today walked free from jail on bail and declared his readiness for an "unconditional" peace dialogue with the Assam Government, which hinted that the ban on the outfit may be lifted ahead of the talks.

"We are committed to peace in Assam and take the peace process forward. We are ready for unconditional peace talks," the 54-year-old ULFA leader told his supporters outside the Gauhati Central Jail, where he was lodged for over a year.

He was released two days after a designated TADA court ordered his release on bail.

Rajkhowa asked ULFA cadres not to create divisions in the ranks and appealed to people not to be "restless" over the issue of peace talks.

He, however, appealed for the release of ULFA central council members Sasha Choudhury and Chitraban Hazarika as well to enable them to participate in a meeting to decide on the peace talks.

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New Year's Eve, Big For The Bail Bond Business

Unfortunately many kick off their new year in trouble. Last night was no exception. And while some raked in the new year in jail, workers at Lederman Bail Bonds raked in the business.

For many Siouxlanders New Year's Eve just isn't complete without a little bubbly or a lot of it. And unfortunately getting a good buzz gets many arrested. Just ask the workers at Lederman Bail Bonds.

"The majority of the bonds that we do are DUI's or simple misdemeanor possession of drugs," said Justin Boyd, the manager of Lederman Bail Bonds.

After midnight phones were ringing off the hook. Eleven calls were made from people in the Siouxland area requesting bail–out loans for them or for someone else.

"There's two ways you can get out of jail in Iowa. You can either pay 10% to a bail bonds men or you can pay the courts the money directly cash," said Boyd.

Since bad weather conditions usually keep people close to home and off the roads, last night's 11 cases was more than expected. But still disappointing for New Year's eve.

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