When you started off in the fugitve recovery business

Would like to hear members inputs on when they first started off in the business and what they expected and hardships.

Myself, my family was in law enforcement, my Father in particular. He was a assistant prosecutor for many decades. He told me that this line of work is extremely difficult and can be dangerous at times, if not full time. I am located in NWNJ, recently moved out this way. Was living in Union County for most of my life, and bail bonds / fugitive recovery agents had plenty of them near the big cities.

Myself, I was always curious about fugitive recovery and enjoyed watching real life series and movies about it. I have recently decided to become involved in it and perhaps invest a portion of my spare time to do it. I am not looking to make a career out of it as some of you may be successful in what you do, I am a business owner at current (independent contractor) but would like to become a fugitive recovery agent.

So for all you experienced and sucessful agents that frequent this ever so insightful forum, what would you suggest as a start to getting my feet wet in the business?

I have no per say formal training, what i know right now is what I see on tv and read online, but i know there is a hell of alot more to it.

Dave

Most of us are not like the Dog he is a joke some on here love him . but the way he goes about it will get you killed. go in to law enforcment then when you ret then look at doing this.

When I retire I look at relaxing and kicking back and enjoying retirement the way it should be. I prefer to get into this at a young age and using my prime to my advantage. Something about being seasoned doesnt mix with so well with me when it comes to physical strength and young conditioning to work to my advantage doing fugitive recovery now. Though making some extra cash off of it sounds good, I own and operate a business now that I fiancially rely on.

I for one and I am sure that most would agree, will take a seasoned veteran over any young strong inexperienced individual any day of the week. By the sounds of your post I would probably wait to even let you tag along until you became more "seasoned". Physical strength is not a required trait of this industry as a rule of thumb, using your head is the most important tool available which is why a "Seasoned" BEA would be my required back up instead of a young inexperienced physically strong individual. You see what I take from your post, you think that being physically strong so you can muscle people around is what it takes to get the job done.

I do not know you or your intentions, I am just replying to what I read and my advice would be to keep doing your business and we will keep doing ours. We do not need more individuals in this industry that think kicking doors and kicking butt is FUN and legal.

If I wanted to kick down doors for fun I'd do it at one of the several abandonded buildings on the investment property I purchased last year, there's plenty of doors left to kick down.actually beemn using those old buildings as targets, they look like swiss cheese pretty much now.

I do agree with you, experience is a must have in this line of work, but being physically fit also plays a role. What if one is over weight? What is the suspect decides to elude? Does being over weight play a role in capturing him?

I am not hear to get into a stupid debate over age, you have your opinions i have mine, and mine is age does matter, its plays a very important role. I happened to spent many years working out and achieving a goal and I can safely say I succeded in doing it. I dont know how young you think I am but if you want to know I am in my 30's.

Now if we can pass all this and get to the point.

Where did you get your start? Does most members here work all for bondsman? Or do some just go after people on most wanted lists? How does the reward process work for fugitves?Do you bring a fugitive into any police station and say here, can i please collect my reward?

"By the sounds of your post I would probably wait to even let you tag along until you became more "seasoned". "

Houndog, I agree, I never did this before, I am here to find out how the process works. I am seeking out training and classes in the near future and getting certified if laws permit it. We all have to start somewhere. For me this is an interest, and if by any means I can profit from it I''ll take it. I just want to know more about it, that is why I came to this forum.

Ok I got my start from my father in law who was ill and needed help with his Bail Bonding company. I started writing bonds for him and working in the office and then my first skip missed court. I had to do the tracking on my own and found that I liked it much better than writing bail. I had some that were very difficult to find because of my lack of information but, I eventually found all of my skips. After about a year of hunting for my own skips the wife of the Chief of police where I lived tagged me with the name Hounddog and made a comment about how I never quit until I bring them and the skips never had anything bad to say about the way they were treated.

So to be honest with you I kinda fell into this line of work and found out that I really liked it better than any other job and I was pretty good at it also. This job found me I did not find it which, is kinda strange but, so is life. My father in law taught me everything I needed to get started and he was well respected by the industry here in Arkansas. I really think that if someone else had taught me and taught me a different way I would be dead or would have probably been in jail by now. After I left his company (I hated writing bail) I went to work for a man that owns 2 bail bonding companies as his full time Fugitive Investigator.

In Arkansas you have to be a Licensed Bail Bondsman, Licensed Private Investigator or Certified Law Enforcement to ba able to do Fugitive Recovery. When I was with my father in law I was a licensed Bail Bondsman and since I have also obtained my Private Investigators license to better help me with my job. I help and train our bail bond agents on the proper information gathering and then use them to assist me on their skips. I learned how to do this as I went along and kept in mind what I had been taught, Treat a man like a man and he will go like a man, treat a man like an animal and you will have a fight on your hands, I never cause a scene in front of children, they might cause a scene but, I do not participate in that game, kids are innocent even if the parents are scum bags, I prefer to surveil my subject and catch them out in the open, I prefer trying to talk to them and get them to do the right thing instead of running aroung the country after them, I never display my weapons or gear they are hidden from view so the subject is not automatically on the defensive.

These are just a few things since you asked, I hope it helps. In your state they are trying to make some changes in the laws which could affect how you would be licensed or certified but, at this point and time it is pretty much open for anyone to pursue. As far as schools go you would have to get a response from others since I have not seen any of them for myself on how they operate but, I would trust a few of them and one being taught by Lance and Hadley of this forum.

So what your saying HoundDog is you to also started out as a "young strong inexperienced individual" yourself. Alot of people coming on to this site are looking for experience. Everyone has got to start somewhere. It seems like the only information they get from the veterans on this site is what not to do. Like not to be like DOG, not to take those BS Courses, etc. Which are fine and very good advice but they also should be helped out with what TO DO. All you veterans on this site are very experienced and very good at what you do. That is why everyone is coming to you for help. Just my two sense. Thanks for your time.

Adam Groff
NSIN# AG0305

Adam to tell you the truth, I started out in this business pretty much as an old fart that learned how to use my head first. If I had started out young I know that I would not be here today but, that is just me and allot of young guys and gals have a good head on their shoulders and would be a credit to this business, I would not have been good for the business as a young man who used fists instead of my noggin.

I can definatley say for myself that I use my head way more then my fists which always works out in the long run. I find that if you treat your skip and his family with respect they will return that respect. I was just out these past few hours looking for a skip in York, Pa and I got the exact address he was living at from his mother who was hiding him from the bondsman the whole time. Her exact words were "I'm only telling you this cause your a very respectful young man and I want what's best for my son". I respect you "veterans" and understand exactly how you feel with us younger people coming into the buisness. I started out working with a "DOG" type you might say but I stopped working with him after one skip cause he was very un-professional. I guess all I'm trying to say is that some of us could be the future to this buisness and we all want to learn from the best. Which in my eyes would be you "veterans"/"old people". LOL. Thanks again to all.

Adam Groff
NSIN# AG0305