I had an attorney friend call me the other day asking if his client had to check in with his bail company. I said that it is standard practice to have clients check in weekly. He then asked me if it was standard practice to force clients to check in with their bail agency in person every Sunday. Mind you this defendant is only accused of misdemeanor DUI charges and has a retained attorney. I was appalled when I heard this. This is just an abuse of power in my opinion.
The number one responsibility of a bail agency is to ensure their clients appearance at all of their court dates. One of the ways we do this is to have good communication with our clientele. The main tool we use to ensure good communication is weekly check-ins. Usually these check-ins consist of a call either to an automated line or a call/text to the bail bonds agency. What this tells us is that people who are checking in on a regular basis are most likely going to go to court. If someone is not checking in then the bail bonds company is going to have to take some corrective action to make sure they go to court. Not only does this protect the bail agency, it also protects any co-signers that have put up collateral or promissory notes.
So when I heard that this particular bail agency was making their clients come to downtown San Diego on a Sunday to check-in, I was flabbergasted. This bail agency has a reputation for shady business practices as is, so after my initial shock I wasn’t too surprised to hear they were exerting such excessive control. One or two missed check-ins can result in the bail bonds company returning the defendant to jail. A person who is accused of a misdemeanor DUI with a retained attorney is going to go to court. Actually, they don’t even need to attend court if their attorney is present. So requiring them to show up to a bail bonds office on a Sunday is excessive.
Our clients are going through a hard enough time in their life as it is. It’s the bail bonds company’s job to provide them with freedom, not to make life even tougher for them.