In any major metropolitan city the mental process of making bail bonds by a bail bondsman is quite different than it is in smaller cities.
Houston is a very large city and the prospect of getting someone out of jail holds many different scenarios. In smaller cities the local bail bondsmen or in some cases the only bail bondsman in town is doing day to day business with locals who live and work in the area and in most cases have lived in the same community their whole life.
Houston is a melting pot of people from all over the world which makes it difficult sometimes to find that comfort zone needed for a bail bondsman to want to help. When a person is bonded out of jail through a bail bond company the bondsman is responsible for all of that persons court appearances until the case is finally disposed.
Because of the wide range of possibilities that exist in a large city a Houston bail bondsman must enquire about many things in order to evaluate risk. Bondsmen require a co-signer, (a third party) to sign paperwork making this person legally responsible financially for the defendants court appearances along with the bondsman.
The most important factor is the financial strength of the person co-signing to guarantee the bail bond, if the person has solid stable employment and longevity on the job, owns real estate, and has savings and investments then the financial risk is minimal.
The next factor is what glues a person to this area, family ties. If a person has grown up in the Houston area and all of their family lives here then the flight risk is substantially less. The idea is that even if a person absconds they will still remain in the area and can be apprehended very quickly.
A bail bondsman in Houston will look at the defendants prior criminal record and determine if the defendant has ever forfeited a bail bond in the past, and if they have then they will find out how long the defendant was a fugitive before being apprehended.
These are just a few of the things that go through the mind of a bail bondsman in Houston.
The reason for this post is simply to give a little understanding. We have people who come to our office all the time and have a difficult understanding why so much information is required. Houston is a large city and people live here and come here from all over the country and all over the world. And, if a person fails to appear in court the bondsman either has to find the fugitive or pay the full amount of the bond, and that’s why we are such nosy people.