We’ve all seen the TV court drama where the accused criminal “jumps bail,” failing to return to court for their hearing or trial. They’ve skipped town to avoid facing the music, and someone is going to forfeit a good chunk of money unless they are found.
Cue the bounty hunters.
These investigators have one job: Find and return the defendant, so the court can give back the bail, or bond, money to those who paid it—usually some combination of the accused, their family, friends and a professional network of third-party lenders and insurers. Most bounty hunters work on a contingency basis for a flat fee or a percentage of the bail amount.
Bail, a right guaranteed by the U.S. constitution, allows the accused the privilege of staying out of jail until their justice proceedings begin, by paying an often-hefty sum to the court. It’s meant as both a carrot and a stick: Return for those proceedings and the money will be returned; pull a no-show and feel some real financial pain.
There are a number of popular misconceptions about bounty hunters—and that includes what to call them. Scott Bernstein, a fugitive hunting veteran with more than 30 years in the business, prefers the title “international apprehension operative.” Jeff Clayton, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, says acceptable terms include “fugitive recovery agent” or “bail recovery agent.”
Another mistaken belief is that the confrontation between bail jumper and recovery agent is often violent, which Clayton says is generally not the case. The real issue is actually finding the person.
“Once they are located, they go into custody peacefully—usually,” says Clayton. “Certainly, there are cases where the suspect will shoot and kill bounty hunters, such as the shootout in Dallas in May, where two bounty hunters and the fugitive they were looking for were killed. It does happen. But a lot of time folks will just surrender.”
Another popular conception of bounty hunters is that they can bash open a jail-jumper’s door willy-nilly, and snatch them up. Is there any truth to that? Actually, yes.
“In some states, there is a process to verify the person’s house, that they own it and they’re not a renter, in order to do an entry,” Clayton says. “The reality is they don’t need warrant. The law lays out what common-law powers of bail agents are, and states can modify that.”
Fugitive recovery agents usually have the power to arrest, even by force—because it is basically a re-arrest, such as a law-enforcement officer would do of an escaped prisoner. “We don’t need an invitation,” Bernstein says.
When things go terribly wrong in fugitive retrieval, it may be because, surprisingly, there is no national standard or certification for bounty hunters in the United States.
“The contract between the agent and the third party or the person out on bail is generally covered by state law,” says Clayton. “There’s no federal regulation of any kind, and that’s a problem.”
Different states have different laws covering fugitive retrieval. For example, Kentucky, Illinois, and Oregon don’t give bounty hunters the power to arrest. In Idaho and Colorado there is no regulation. “There’s no background check [on bounty hunters]—there’s nothing.” says Clayton.
The American Bail Coalition has supported legislation to make sure agents get appropriate training. “Most [agents] are professional and retired law-enforcement agents,” says Clayton. “We need to set a bar in a lot of states where there is no regulation.”
Seeing how few are actually trained, Bernstein founded the Bounty Hunter Training Academy, which has courses nationwide.
The course includes Krav Maga (the Israeli Defense Force martial art of self-defense), booking procedures and liability, criminal profiling, knife and gun disarmament, intelligence gathering, structuring a bounty hunter business plan, and what Bernstein calls “pretext art,” or being able to talk your way in and out of any situation. “You have to be able to get into the psyche of the criminal mindset,” Bernstein says. “A pedophile will not react the same on the run as a bank robber who has pulled heists before.”
With such a patchwork of regulations plus possibilities for profit, bounty hunting may seem like a tempting career. But Bernstein has a caveat: Don’t do it unless you’re serious. “You’ve got to be smart. It’s not for the Rambo guys who go to the gym and pound weights and only have brawn,” says Bernstein. “My credo is that the greatest weapons are your mind and hands, not your gun and your muscle.”
(Image: Dave Yoder / Aurora Photos)