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| Virginia's ongoing soap opera https://ftp.fugitiverecovery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6858 |
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| Author: | speezack [ Fri 29 Feb 2008 09:59 ] |
| Post subject: | Virginia's ongoing soap opera |
Well, it seems another can of worms has surfaced within the bonding industry in “the ole Dominion” state. Got a call from one of my associates in northern Virginia yesterday. It seems there is a move related to credit card availability inside the jails and/or magistrates offices allowing defendants and/or indemnitors to bond. Initially my source seemed to think that a move toward removing the bonding industry in Virginia was becoming a reality and the 10% would be charged by the jurisdiction and placed in a central fund used by the judiciary just as the bonding community does now. For your information there are at least 4 states that have no bondsmen or at least have much different systems now… I believe (without confirmation of this) they are Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Oregon and you might as well say Massachusetts. I would appreciate any input on this data. I have a very good attorney in Hampton that I called and ran this by him and he called one of his sources in the legislature to run this by him. The report he got back was as follows: The legislature could find NO, I repeat NO bill in committee or proposed that would do away with the bonding industry in Virginia… however, there is a move by the credit card industry to place credit card access inside the jails and/or magistrates offices to allow the “FULL” payment of the cash bond by the defendant or indemnitor… a procedure that is not available now… cash only at this time. As bondsman, we generally take credit cards/debit cards for payment but this is for the premium generally… although I have fully collateralized bonds using cards. I don’t believe putting the card availability in the jails is going to provide too much competition but it will certainly start the move toward allowing the 10% payment which will effectively remove the bondman from the mix. At present, my attorney’s legislative source says that the credit card placement would be controlled by the sheriff of the particular jurisdiction and would not be a statewide blanket placement. That at least might be somewhat of a deterrent in the matter. As a foot note I might mention that there are many in our industry that can see major ongoing problems related to the judicial system as a whole and the bonding/fugitive recovery community. Ongoing problems have existed with attitudes on both sides and it seems to be more prevalent in the urban areas of northern and eastern Virginia. I don’t know where it is going but I can tell you that without constructive positive change on both sides… we as an industry in this state are doomed. I strive to be positive and upbeat in my business dealing with the judicial system but there are a lot of people in this business that are giving us a bad name and causing a lot of problems. I think we need to get our heads out of the sand and start working toward improving our industry. I welcome comments and solutions. |
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