Getting Started: Bounty Huntersby
Staff Writer Hope Hamashige
NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - No matter how many times he pulls the old "Jack in
the box" trick, it still makes Damien Scott smile. Permit me to explain in
case you're not familiar with this ploy.
It involves a rented truck, a man in a phony delivery company uniform, and
one very large, very heavy cardboard box. The truck pulls up in front of a
house. The guy in the uniform goes to the back of the truck and struggles to
get the box onto a dolly. He takes it to the front door, knocks, says he has
a delivery, and asks to see a piece of identification.
At that point, a large man hidden inside the box jumps out and informs the
duped recipient that he is being placed under arrest for jumping bail and is
about to be turned over to the cops.
"One of the good things about this job is you get to come up with creative
tricks," said Scott, a bounty hunter in Las Vegas.
Every arrest is a sale
Purge your mind of the image of a gun-toting rogue engaged in a high-speed
chase pursuing criminals whose faces appear on wanted posters. The
modern-day bounty hunter spends more time in front of a computer and on the
phone, locating bail jumpers and setting elaborate traps like these to catch
them off guard.
That is not to say there isn't an element of the old-style bounty hunter in
the modern world. Yes, they get to carry guns. Yes, they can kick down
doors. Most say, however, that violence of any kind has to be the last
resort and carried out only in self-defense.
Discourteous behavior and outright violence makes for lousy customer service
and modern-day bounty hunters, like Scott, put quality customer relations at
the top of their business agenda.
"We take just about everyone we pick up out for a steak dinner before we
turn them in," said Scott. "We are polite and courteous and make sure we
take care of these people."
Scott knows that may sound slightly off-kilter to the casual observer. But
he insists it makes good business sense. Bounty hunting is both a referral
business and a volume business.
Bounty hunters are contracted by bail bondsmen to bring in people who posted
bail and then failed to appear on their court date. Getting these people
back, without incident, is important to the bail bondsman, and Scott
theorizes that if a criminal relates to his bondsman that he had a good
experience with a particular bounty hunter, that bondsman may use those
services again and again.
"Every arrest is a sale," said Scott.
Bounty hunters get a percentage of the bond for their captures. In most
cases, the bondsman gives them 10 percent for the safe return of a bail
skipper. In cases where they have to travel to a different state to hunt
someone down, they usually get 20 percent of the bond.
The average bond, however, is pretty small. According to the National
Association of Bail Enforcement Agents, most outstanding bonds are worth
less than $5,000, which works out to $500 for the bounty hunter who finds
the violator.
The good news for anyone wanting to become a bounty hunter is there is
plenty of work. There are more than 1.2 million outstanding bench warrants
in Los Angeles County alone, according to the NABEA.
Gotta earn a rep
Lots of skills go into bounty hunting. One has to know how to locate people
who don't want to be found. Much of that work can be done through research
on the computer. Like police work, it also involves extensive interviewing,
over the phone and in person. Sometimes, bounty hunters set up elaborate
lures to get the person they are looking for to come out of hiding.
The hardest part about getting started in the business is establishing a
reputation. Bondsmen want to hire bounty hunters who have a long history of
safely delivering felons back to the court.
Scott MacLean, a bounty hunter in Upper Marlboro, Md., said he earned his
stripes by taking on cases that bondsmen had already written off.
"I went to a bail bondsman and said give me all the cases you can't find,"
said MacLean. "There was no risk for them in me going after them. We ended
up finding them all."
A lot of people who work in the field are also private investigators or,
like Scott, are former law enforcement officials who learned a lot of the
tricks of the trade through their prior professions.
Until recently, experience was just about the only way to learn to become a
bounty hunter. Now, at least one college in the United States, Truckee
Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, has a certification program for
bail enforcement. Most of the bail enforcement groups in the nation also
conduct seminars and courses at different locations in the country.
Reward is not always the cash
Many start in the business as part-timers until they start taking in enough
work to make bail enforcement a full-time job. Yet, even someone like Scott,
who has a stellar reputation in the state of Nevada and has been in the
business since 1992, said the work is sporadic.
"There are always spikes in cash flow," he said. "There may be a month when
I make $20,000, and others I make minimum wage."
To supplement their business, many bounty hunters also work as private
investigators and provide high-level security services. Some even supplement
incomes by becoming bail bondsmen and going after their own truant felons.
In three years, MacLean's complement of bail bonds, bail enforcement and
private investigation work has gone from zero to $1.7 million in revenue.
Like Scott, MacLean attributes much of his financial success has to do with
operating his business with smarts, courage and courtesy.
He extends that courtesy to the men and women he captures as well as to his
10 employees.
"In this business you get exactly what you're asking for. If you confront
someone, you are going to get a confrontation," he said. "If you treat them
with respect you are going to have a lot less confrontations."
Yet, in the careers of most bounty hunters there are going to be occasions
when they face truly violent criminals and, in spite of the premium so many
place on treating their captures well, they also have to be willing to stand
up and play hardball when the situation demands it.
Most hope to avoid such situations. But guys like Scott make sure they are
prepared. Most of his employees are trained emergency medical technicians
just in case someone gets hurt on the job.
The talk of violence on the job also brings up a sore point with some bounty
hunters: Some don't like to be called bounty hunters. Many feel the name has
been sullied by popular notions of rogue criminal chasers riding around on
motor cycles strapped with double-barreled shotguns.
Bounty hunters these days, although many still use the term, prefer to be
called bail enforcement agents. It hints at a professionalism they aspire to
and a level of respect they feel the public owes them.
"Very few counties have the money to spend to go after open warrants," said
MacLean. "We don't do these cowboy antics. We go after people who are
supposed to be in court."
