Columnist: Bail Bond Industry Thrives on Draconian Domestic Violence Arrest Policies
May 20th, 2009 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & FamiliesAn interesting perspective on domestic violence arrest polices from columnist Scott Herhold. In Bail bonds offices draw neighbors' ire in San Jose (San Jose Mercury News, 5/19/09) he writes:
As the bail bond fight in San Jose erupted over the last week, I was intrigued by one fact: In the mile-long First Street corridor between Jackson Street and Highway 880, there are 20 bail bond establishments.
Bad Boys Bail Bonds. Aladdin Bail Bonds. Latino Bail Bonds. Pacific Coast Bail Bonds. Reliable Bail Bonds, and on and on. An accused criminal has a greater swath of choices for getting sprung than grabbing a late-night meal.
To the neighbors, this is a nightmarish proliferation of an undesirable class of business. To me, it invokes a simpler question: Why is business doing so well that we've got so many bail bond operators?...
Not surprisingly, the answer to that question touches on what drives a big part of this debate — money.
Even though bail bondsmen are not immune from recession, there are quirks in California law and judgment calls by police and court officials that make San Jose an attractive place to do business. And the monetary power of the bail bond industry can be translated into political influence.
Begin with the cops. With the increased spotlight on domestic violence, San Jose police have concluded that if they get a call of spouse-battering, someone is going to jail. It's that simple.
Those cases are almost invariably booked as felonies — though they are usually reduced to misdemeanors in court. That means bail can be $25,000 or more.
Typically, the accused person puts up 10 percent of that sum with the bail bondsman, who guarantees that the defendant will show up in court. It doesn't take too many transactions of $2,500 to make a decent business.
"The bail schedule here is one of the highest in the nation,'' says Tedd Wallace, a veteran bail bondsman in the county. "So there is money to be made.''
In fact, the bail bond industry has a long-range plan for increasing its business in Santa Clara County: The bail bondsmen have suggested to county officials that they could do a better job than the Office of Pre-Trial services, which now releases people on their own recognizance (OR) if they are judged to be no risk to flee.
Tom Saggau, the lobbyist for Bad Boys Bail Bonds, says studies have shown that people are more likely to return to court if they put up a bond. Of course, this is an argument in the industry's interest: Fewer OR releases mean more money for bail bondsmen.
I mean all this by way of explaining why the bail bondsmen might find the First Street corridor inviting. They've got the money to spend on the rent...
I understand...the interplay between politics and money. And it is worth noting that Supervisor George Shirakawa, who has become a standard-bearer for the bail bondsmen, has received more than $2,000 in campaign contributions from Bad Boys CEO Jeff Stanley and his relatives.
For that matter, the lobbying firm of Saggau-DeRollo and their clients have given generously to council members: As a group, they gave $10,100 to helping Madison Nguyen beat recall, $3,400 to help elect Rose Herrera, and another $8,900 to Shirakawa.
To write a Letter to the Editor of the San Jose Mercury News, click on letters@mercurynews.com.
"));
19 queries. 0.333 seconds.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
re: Begin with the cops. With the increased spotlight on domestic violence, San Jose police have concluded that if they get a call of spouse-battering, someone is going to jail. It's that simple.
...Wow. I live within minutes of all the places noted here and one night I had local cops show up at my house re: a report of domestic violence. Turned out they had the wrong house. Good thing the house was dark and quiet when they showed up. They did apologize.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
"Bail Bond Industry Thrives on Draconian Domestic Violence Arrest Policies"
You call... We haul... That's the police mentality..
May 20th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Santa Clara County has a Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Death Review Committee that has over two dozen that produce a DV death report each year."
" ...we did not lose a single victim to domestic violence homicide."
The report lists a half a dozen walk in DV help centers for women.
http://www.sccgov.org/SCC/docs%2FPublic%20Health%20Department%20%28DEP%29%2Fattachments%2FDeathReview2008.pdf
157 men committed suicide in the same period in the same county. No word if Santa Clara County will establish a Divorce Suicide Review Committee.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
“The contempt process can be very effective in collecting child support, but by setting high bail bonds there is a disincentive for obligors to come forward to take care of business; instead they run and hide,” said Pete Dever, Santa Clara County’s DCSS director.
'...over 800 arrest warrants remain outstanding. The warrants call for the arrest of child
support obligors who have failed to appear in court to show cause why they should not be held in contempt for not paying child support."
"Under usual circumstances, these obligors could expect to be arrested and sit in jail for a
couple of days before they are brought before the Court or, after arrest, they could post an appearance bond for a quicker release. In most cases, the appearance bonds are $25,000 or more. Many obligors who want to be released from jail prior to their hearing obtain the services of bail bonds companies that charge 10% of the bond amount for their services."
http://www.sccgov.org/SCC/docs%2FSCC%20Public%20Portal%2Fattachments%2F348550ChildSupportAwareness.pdf
800 X $25,000 X 10% = $2,000,000
There's money to be made in the divorce industry. It seems many make money off of men. ex-wives, government has their fees plus interest, attorneys, bail bonds, collection agencies, jailers get money per day for deadbeats, the county gets money from Social Security fund. No wonder false accusations and inaccuracies are common - many people make a living off this. There are a lot of mouths to feed.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Is this the line were I lose my children, 18 years of income, most of my sh1t, get an order of protection against me, and thrown jail for missing a few payments? Great. The line is moving.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
#5
Terri Says:
May 20th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
"..., and thrown jail for missing a few payments?"
Deadbeat!
May 20th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
The United States is a deadbeat nation. Why they throw me in jail? Throw yourselves in jail.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Everyone wants a piece of this lucrative pie and so they greedily line up to gorge on the spoils at the expense of mostly men and consequently children!
I consider all these people who turn a profit on the misery and avails of others to be beneath bottom feeding scum!!!
Attila
May 20th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Another delightful industry supported by, and in favor of, our morally, ethically, and financially corrupt family court system.
Welcome to Sickmerica
May 21st, 2009 at 1:06 am
Will "Doc" be getting into the bail bond industry now? Sounds like it is ethically right up his alley.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:14 am
This reminds me of when I lived in Tampa - a guy named Redner owned a bunch of strip clubs and porn shops, and i think he had some kind of influence on a few politicians, via businessmen who were interested in the money his businesses created for neighboring restaurants and the like.
May 21st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Pat says;
"157 men committed suicide in the same period in the same county. No word if Santa Clara County will establish a Divorce Suicide Review Committee."
Word
I wonder how many of these men had been neutered in family court before going hari kari?
May 21st, 2009 at 3:27 pm
hmm, the guy is behind on his child support because he's broke, so we're going to make him pay a non-refundable 2,500 fee to a third party, none of which actually goes to his kids.
Yes! That's solving the problem! It works as well as your credit card company charging you extra fees when you can't make a payment. It just starts a downward spiral that's difficult to escape.
Well, he must have done *something* to deserve it, right?
Sign him up for Big Brothers while he's there. I'll cynically note that there's no "motor voter" cards in the lockup or family courtroom.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I think simply industry regulation could fix this. Not unlike pawn brokers are limited by law in what they can charge in interest, if you passed a bill that allowed these places to collect 10% of the bond but as soon as that person appeared in court they could only keep 10% of what was paid. Thus the 10% bond is $2,500 and the agency has to give all but $250 back. Without all that money to be made most of these places would dry up, as would another questionable industry: bounty hunting.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
This is interesting. It's the same in the city of Long Beach CA. Bail bonds agencys line the streets outside the LB courthouse. Only in the LBC the domestic violence 'gang" is run by a corrupt Prosecutor named Sharon Panian. and her cohort Judge Deborah B. Andrews. It would be interesting to find out they are both profiting from some of these bail bonds agencys. Panian demands $100,000 bail for DV case that have NOTHING to do with DV. Just more FALSE accusations by a jilted lover out for revenge. Judge Andrews is too quick to slap anyone Man or woman with DVROS and if violated- in one case the guy who got it against his former GF sent himself an email and falsely accused the x gf, Andrews threw her in jail to the tune of $250,000. Yes, a quarter million dollars because the guy sent himself an EMAIL! The DV cop who was helping the guy, Detective Donald Wood, Lied through his teeth to the judge, who asked for NO PROOF whatsoever. She just revoked first bail and put out a warrant. Its unbelievably corrupt in the city of Long Beach. Now Sharon Panian the DV prosecutor is being touted as a Stalker, while cheating on her cop boyfriend she's stalking another married cop with 4 kids and calling him relentlessly at all hours including during 'work" hours. The irony.