Your Neighboor to the North...

I am not sure how many Canadian Agents you have listed here, but we are a recoverty agency from Ontario, Canada (Toronto) and catch alot of US fugitives hiding up here. Maybe you should add a canadian section?

If you do got someone in ontario you need caught, give us a call

416-509-0965 or PM

Just for fun, here's a pic of an arrest!

OK, now I am really confused. I have been told all of my BEA career that Canada was a no bounty hunting country. So how are you allowed to do this legally ?

_________________
River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

I don't know about this...no where is it mentioned about bounty hunting..also check out the picture of the guy at the computer....

Look what I found:
Bounty hunting is illegal in Canada (back during the Reagan Administration, Canada recalled their Ambassador over a bounty-hunting incident when one of their nationals was grabbed in Montreal for trial in Florida), but Canada and Mexico do have an extradition treaty
http://mexfiles.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/woof/

Are There Any Limits to Bounty Hunting?

There are some limits to what a bounty hunter can do. Bounty hunters can only enter the home of the suspect, not the homes of friends or family members. Also, they cannot act outside of the U.S. If a suspect flees to Mexico or Canada, bounty hunters cannot bring them back without facing charges of kidnapping or false arrest.
http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/a ... nters.html

I can go on and on.....

Ruffin
A while back, a Bondsman friend of mine from VA got arrested and jailed in the US, and was extradited to CA for going up there and making an arrest and bringing the guy back here. He did jail time in CA for it. The fugitive then came after him civilly in the US and it was thrown out of court. There is no commercial bail in CA, therefore no re-arrest authority since there was no transfer of authority from a bondsman to an agent since it never existed.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong.

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

Bounty hunting the way it is in the US is illigal, but there is something called a "Court Appointed Bailiff" and we have a licensed Court Appointed Bailiff for the Province of Ontario as part of our team. He has the right to arrest with a warrent, and the rest of our guys are legally allowed to assist him under the canadian criminal code of canada.

This "Bailiff" does have Peace Officer status, but is employed by a private organization. But yes, the laws here are very complicated, and a PIA.


We have recently been Repossessing vehicles and finding /arresting criminals wanted by local police with a reward.

Under the Canadian Criminal Code it is illigal to citizens arrest someone with a warrent, but anyone can help a person who is beleived to have authority to arrest the person. Something like that, sorry, its 6am.

If anyone has more information, or correction please feel free, as this whole this is new to me aswell, and only recently we have began this service.

I really have my doubts...where are your credentials??

If you are arresting individuals and getting paid for doing so by someone other than the official court, you are a Bounty Hunter. If you are re-arresting someone, based on a contractual agent relationship with a person, company or corporation that possesses that re-arrest authority due to a surety relationship, you are a bail enforcement agent.
the way you have described your relationship, rather loosely to be polite, with a court appointed bailiff, does not give you the right to put your hands on anybody. let alone conduct an investigation to locate that individual. If you are getting paid for these work efforts, that would eliminate the "assisting citizen" scenario. I would consult a Barrister or Solicitor immediately, in fact, I would actually recommend that you look up Peter Shone in Toronto. He would be in a position to advise you properly. Pay him now, because most assuredly, you will pay him later.

Lastly, any person that puts his hands on another individual for money, had better be able to quote applicable statute by chapter and verse, and you sir, cannot.

This is not meant to offend, but educate you before your actions land you in jail facing criminal and civil liability. Acting as you are on a vague belief of authority to do so could be a very expensive assumption. I do not presume to know CA law, however, by your presentation here, neither do you.

Acquire the knowledge and come back here and teach us, then you will be our CA expert.

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

Another thing... that picture you posted on here might be considered evidence...protect yourself.

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

Seems to me you guys have found a "Legal Loophole" to actually bounty hunt in Canada. You guys are playing both sides of the fence.

You find out if someone has both criminal warrants and surety warrants; you then surrender the criminal to your Canadian jail for possible extradition to the USA while at the same time contacting the Surety or Bail Bonds Company and requesting payment for locating and capturing thier skip.

You "cloak" yourselves in appearances of being totally legal and compliant with your national/local laws as well by aligning yourselves with Canadian Peace Officers.

Pretty ingenious.

Aside from the other flaws and irregularities that my esteamed colleagues have already voiced, I have a few more of my own.

Here in the USA, we have a legal principle or practice called the "Colour of Law". I'll not go into it's definitions and parameters here, you can research it for yourself. However, if you are using a law enforcement type of officer who is also doubling as a bounty hunter, then his mere presence on site negates your apprehension and exoneration of the bond. The apprehension is basically null and void based on its illegality.

Now Colour of Law may not be an issue in Canada, but it is here. So if it is an American Bail skip, the defendant's attorney could call into question the circumstances around his client's arrest which involved Canadian's who are non-law enforcement types as well as Canadian peace officer's.

In other words, in my humble opinion, it seems to me that any surety who would hire your team is engaging in an illegal act and therefore jeopardizing thier exoneration.

Now I am not so well versed in Canadian Law as some other's here. In fact I am basing this on American Law. But since that is where the end case comes to rest, the old addage of the "ends justifies the means" is a dangerous position for a surety to put themselves into.

1 other liability issue is for the actual law enforcement agency who is providing man power, resources, intel, and any other assistance to non-law enforcement personnel for the purposes of a civil contract. Here this practice is highly illegal.

Earlier last year we had a case in NJ where bounty hunter's went to a house to arrest a Hispanic female with similar looks, name, etc to thier defendant. They even enlisted the aid of the local PD. A veteran Sgt. even agreed the woman the bounty hunter's were detaining was in fact the criminal.

She kept protesting her innocence. So they took her to the PD for fingerprinting. Turns out she wasn't thier skip. Everyone walked away from her then. No apologies, no ride home, nothing...as a result of that case of mistaken identity the Sgt was fired, the surety and agents were sued as well as the PD. That case was also 1 of many that caused statewide regulation of the industry to be passed into law.

My point is that using local law enforcement personnel for the enforcement of civil contracts is, for the most part, illegal here in the USA.

In America we have an oversight organization for the training of Law Enforcement OffIcer's called P.O.S.T. = Peace officer's standard's and training commission. Each state has its own chapter. Generally speaking, in most state's, a person has to complete a minimum course within 12 mos. of being hired by a department before being deployed as a LEO. Now this organization/law enforcement agencies prohibit it's officer's by various state law's, ordinance's or even departmental policies from engaging in bounty hunting. It's classified as a "Conflict of Interest".

These restrictions mitigate a dpt's liability to a certain point from lawsuits stemming from mistaken identity, false arrest, property damage, shooting incidents, etc. caused by bounty hunter's.

So I question the practice that your team is engaging in of working through a commissioned peace officer and the court that he is assigned to.

Perhaps you can clarify or reassure us, as my colleague requested, chapter and verse, that allows you to perform these services 100% legally ? Give us the links to your Canadian laws so we can read them for ourselves.

Once we can establish that you are indeed an asset and not a liability, then we can entertain your offer of services with full confidence.

Take care and God Bless.

_________________
River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

See Scott...I paid attention in class....

_________________
River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601