Colorado voters are faced with having to make a decision on Proposition 102 which advocates defining who may be considered for release from jail on an unsecured release. One of the arguments in opposition comes from the Pretrial Service people who say that it will lead to jail overcrowding. Pretrial service says that they get people out of jail and save the county money by reducing jail overcrowding. My personal experience is that is not really accurate.

This past Saturday I received a call from a woman who’s son was in jail. He had been there for a few weeks and the judge had recently reduced his bond to a level that she could afford. I called the jail to make arrangements to post the bond and they informed me that the defendant could only post bond Monday through Friday between the hours of 8am and 3pm. I asked why and they told me that the defendant was to report to pretrial services for supervision and they only work Monday – Friday, 8am to 3pm.

This individual had to spend the weekend in jail and wait for pretrial to come back to work. This helps reduce jail overcrowding?

Pretrial will argue that they are providing a higher level of supervision because they put a GPS monitor on the defendant. I will respond that I also have the ability to utilize GPS monitoring and my vendor has a monitor that is superior to the one used by Pretrial Services.  In addition, I’ve got skin in the game. If the defendant fails to appear in court, I will have to pay. If a defendant on unsecured release at pretrial services fails to appear, it cost’s them nothing. They just wait for the defendant to be apprehended by the police.

Welcome to my world.

Colorado voters have before them a proposition that will define the criteria that must be met in order for persons to be released from jail via unsecured releases. The proposition states that only non-violent, first-time offenders should be released on their word to appear in court. Others must post some sort of financial security in order to obtain their release. Advocates of the proposition say that people are more likely to return to court when there is a financial incentive to do so. Opponents say that the proposition will lead to jail over-crowding and cost the tax payer more money. Opponents are using all sorts of wild numbers to say what the cost to the tax payer will be. Proponents point out that the pretrial services program are also taxpayer funded and are less reliable at getting people back to jail.

I was going to write about this matter in more detail until I became aware of an article on another blog. It’s written better than I can do and the author is clearly more intelligent than I. Here is a link to the article  Colorado Proposition 102. In the interest of full disclosure, and personal pride, the article is written by my son. It’s well worth the read.

Here is a stupid criminal story reported in the Independent Record in Helena, Montana. Unbelievably, this guy mistakenly send a text to the Sheriff seeking to buy dope. Is this further evidence that marijuana might contribute to stupidity?

“A Helena teen sent out a text message last week looking to buy marijuana, only instead of texting the drug dealer, he hit a wrong number.

Who received it?

The Lewis and Clark County sheriff.

The text message said: “Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?”

Sheriff Leo Dutton initially thought someone was playing a joke on him, but quickly realized it was a real request for a drug exchange.

“I’m thinking, ‘Hey this is odd,’ ” Dutton said. “I was looking around to see if there was someone outside my window playing a prank.”

He played along as if it were legitimate. “How much we talking?” Dutton replied to the teen.

The sender said he was close to the dealer’s house, so Dutton got the Missouri River Drug Task Force involved. A detective pretending to be the dealer agreed to meet the sender at a business at the north end of town at 6 p.m. last Wednesday, Dutton said.

Inside the business the detective spotted two male juveniles with an adult male. To ensure it was the right person, the detective called the number three times, Dutton said.

The detective called the teens over and showed them his badge. Dutton said the young boys turned white and their knees began to wobble. The group went outside to discuss the issue further and one of the teens passed out.

“Was it divine intervention or just bad luck?” Dutton said.

The adult male with the group turned out to be the father of one of the teens. He was a big, military-looking guy and he wasn’t happy, Dutton said. The drug detective got both of the teens’ parents involved and decided not to issue any citations.

“When the detective saw there were parents that wanted to be involved he took the right action and I’m really proud of the deputy,” Dutton said. “Trying to buy drugs is a crime, but it’s probably worse that they had to face their parents”.”

I am pleased to report that fugitives Bojan and Srdjan Vuckovic are in custody. They fled the State of Colorado and thought that they had found a safe haven in Minneapolis, Mn. Wrong!

Bojan Vuckovic

I employed some innovative investigative techniques and was fortunate to have received some very valuable tips from several confidential informants as well as the cooperation of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota and the Weld and Larimer County Sheriff’s Offices in Colorado. Together, we were able to get these individuals in custody rather quickly. It’s good that the Colorado victims of the crimes that these two committed will get their day in court.

Srdjan Vuckovic

Bojan Milutan Vuckovic

Bojan Milutan Vuckovic, AKA “BO”, is wanted by authorities in Larimer and Clear Creek Counties, Colorado. He is facing charges of fraud and theft. He is described as 6’1″ tall, 255lbs., with Blond Hair and Hazel Eyes. His last known address was 736 Columbine St., Ft. Collins, Colorado.  Bojan is the older brother of Srdjan Vuckovic, who is also wanted by the Weld and Clear Creek County authorities on similar charges. A reward is being offered for information on the whereabouts of both subjects. Call 720-284-9764.

Srdjan Milutin Vuckovic

Srdjan Vuckovic is wanted for failure to appear on fraud and theft charges in Weld County, Colorado. He is described as 6′ tall, 176lbs with brown hair and hazel eyes and a large tattoo on the left side of his neck. His date of birth is 1/20/1990. Vuckovic’s last known address is 736 Columbine St., Ft. Collins, Colorado. Vuckovic is also wanted for failure to appear on fraud and theft charges in Clear Creek County, Colorado. A reward is being offered for information leading to his apprehension. Call 720-284-9764.

This next image offers a different view of the subject. It appears to be a self portrait taken in a mirror.

About four months ago, I received a call from a woman who wanted to bond her husband out of jail. She said that she had a sensitive situation and had been given my name by her attorney. Her husband was in jail, was terminally ill and not expected to live much longer. She wanted to get him out as soon as possible.

I met with her and did the bond. I didn’t give it much thought until he called me later that week. He was extremely grateful and assured me that he would make every court appearance. He said “I’m just so glad that I don’t have to die in jail.” That comment left me speechless. I didn’t know how to respond to him.

We had several conversations over the months regarding court dates and his appearances. He called me last month and told me that he wanted to take one last trip to visit family out of state and needed my consent. Again he assured me that he would make all of his court dates and would keep me informed of his whereabouts at all times. I told him that I would consent to the trip and would provide the appropriate document to the court.

He called me two weeks ago and said that the trip was planned and he needed the document for the court. Again, he repeated his itinerary and gave me contact numbers for those he would be visiting. He ended the call by saying that he wanted to have lunch when he returned from the trip. He wanted to meet me because I was one of the few people in the system that he met who cared about his situation. I told him that I would very much like to meet him and that he should call me when he was rested after his trip.

His wife called me…he died while on the trip. I won’t get that chance to meet him. He was a man facing a certain death and was concerned about making his court appearances and reassuring me.  I wish I had others who cared half as much.

This week, I learned that my high school football coach passed away. No finer man ever paced the sidelines of a football game. He coached football and life at the same time. We were a small school and won a lot of games that we had no business winning. He made the best of our limited talent by installing innovative game plans each week. You hear about the pros doing zone blocking on offense and zone blitzes on defense today. We were doing it in the 60′s. I was privileged to have played for him for the four years I was in high school.

Another client once told me that in life we are all running a race that we cannot win…the most we can hope for is style points. I think about that everyday.

Part of the image problem that bail agents face stems from the fact that the general public doesn’t understand the differing roles of the bail agent and the “bounty hunter” or fugitive recovery agent. In their minds, the roles are one and the same. Many people have never required the services of a bail agent nor encountered a bounty hunter so the confusion is understandable.

In Colorado, a bail agent “means any person who furnishers bail for compensation in any court or courts in this state and who is appointed by an insurer by ‘Power of Attorney’ to execute or countersign bail bonds…” They are also called “Insurance Producers” in that they bind policies of insurance for risk in this state. Insurance producers are licensed by the state and make their living selling insurance policies.

A bounty hunter is a person employed by the bail agent to take a person into custody who has failed to abide by the conditions of the bond.

As a bail agent, I am authorized to recover my own “clients” who fail to appear in court. However, I choose to employ recovery agents for the task and devote my time to bail agent activities. The recovery agents I employ must meet standards of professionalism that I learned as a law enforcement officer. The task must be completed quickly, efficiently and in a professional manner. The person will be returned to jail in a business-like manner with as much dignity as the situation permits.

My duties involve answering the phone and responding to questions from family members who are trying to help someone who has gotten into trouble. I meet with the family, complete bond applications, contracts and post bonds at the jails in order to secure the release of the family member in custody.

When not responding to phone calls, I’m tracking appearances in court and the progress of cases. I deal with attorneys and the courts regarding court appearances and the disposition of cases. Many times, I have been able to stop problems from happening by avoiding communication errors and confusion over court appearance dates. Much of my time is spent in the role of counselor in helping people through the system and in dealing with personal issues.

In my view, the role of bail agent is that of a trusted advisor, a friend who can help good people who want to help those in trouble. Image is important because the family of the defendant has a choice as to which bail agent they use to purchase the bond. The bail agent is in a sales and service capacity and must provide good customer service at a competitive price in order to survive.

The bounty hunter comes into play when things go wrong. Image isn’t as important to them because the defendant does not choose which bounty hunter is going to take them back to jail. The only person that they have to persuade is the bail agent who hires them.

A bail agent helps people get people out of jail and ensures that the victim and defendant each get their day in court. The bounty hunter just puts them back in jail when things go wrong.