Bail Enforcement

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Tyrod

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A few days ago there was a discussion on concealed weapons permit badges. Most agreed that folks using them were posers and there were few upsides and many downsides. I agree with that assessment.

Today, I was binging on the MENTALIST and I saw a man brandishing a bounty hunter badge. I feel any unsworn person brandishing a badge could be in deep do do. How do you feel about this?
 
They always look like impersonating an officer to me .. seems they imply that to the average citizen that is not conceal carry informed .. at a glance they look like official badges and which at a distance can't be distinguished whether its fake or not !!

Leo's I have heard discuss the question say its a very bad idea .. including the sheriff and deputy sheriff who gave the CCL course I took ..
 
I would think legally it would be hard to actually prosecute some one for pulling a piece of stamped metal out of their pocket. The why and what you say when you do it would be a big part. I could have a shield shaped object in my pocket that proclaimed me an official US Tax Payer, I am.

How smart is it? Not very. Kind of like pulling out a piece of plastic shaped kind of like a gun. Might work out fine, most places perfectly legal. BUT, it could go really bad and doing it while saying "stick em up" is a crime.

In the case of a "bounty hunter" I don't see where it would do that much good, cops would not be impressed and the criminal fled the courts in the first place after several badges and a judge etc. Don't think another badge is going to make that much of an impression on the real bad ones. The idiot criminals who know what will work with them. Might just as well show em your Driver license and yell criminal apprehension.

Mostly for their own ego I think.
 
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(Background: been working in criminal law for a quarter century.) In our state, the question of whether a person was "pretending to be a peace officer with the intent to deceive another person" would be a question for a factfinder (judge or jury) to determine, upon examination of the totality of the circumstances.

It would be a chickenscratch sort of write-up, but as a prosecutor I've seen officers write complaints for less. (Honestly, carrying a badge that implies more than ordinary authority is just the sort of thing that would irritate a lot of cops . . . who are issued badges to imply more than ordinary authority.) It wouldn't be at all hard to prosecute - it just probably wouldn't be worth the prosecutor's time. However, since this is usually a misdemeanor, it's the kind of thing that the officer himself can prosecute in a lot of places . . . and if someone irritated him in the first place . . . well, why not have a go?

Yeah, I could totally see someone getting prosecuted for waving around a badge that he bought at a flea market, no matter what the badge says.
 
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Hollywood is so stupid. There was one episode of Bones with Bail Enforcement. Its was a female bounty hunter and she broke law after law including carrying a shot gun in a hospital and obstructing an FBI agent.
I forgot, she killed another bounty hunter.
 
When I lived in CT a friend gave me a NYPD Lieutenant's Assn. courtesy shield. It's about the size of a quarter but looks just like the real thing & we carried them pinned inside our wallets above our driver's license. In case we got stopped (I never did) you casually let it be seen while digging for your license. It was sort of an "I hope I get out of jail card" but now it's sitting in a box along with a bunch of other mementos. Maybe I'll put it on eBay.

I think guys with Concealed Weapons Holder badges are asking for trouble if they show it while trying to "enforce" something.
 
It would be crazy to flash a badge that you bought for yourself (Bail Enforcement, CCW Permit Holder, Junior G-Man, whatever). Even if you made a carefully worded statement explaining your position, how do you know what registers in the recipient's mind? They may later say "He told me he was a cop." So now it's your word against theirs.
 
As far as getting into the "deep do do", that would depend, in general, on whether or not you tried to pass yourself off as LEO. Your local laws may have some specific stuff spelled out as well.

As far as the bail enforcement types, to my mind it's mostly to cut down on third party interference and/or calling the real police. It might cause the subject in question to pause before figuring it out, and maybe that's worth it to some folks.

I spent about ten years doing repos, bill collecting, and occasional skip tracing, and as you can guess we didn't get a lot of business in upscale neighborhoods. For the most part, just being mostly white looking and not acting like somebody who got lost after the Raiders game was enough for everybody in the hood to think you were a cop. No that's not prejudiced, that's factual reporting.

Some quotes from the people on the street after seeing me in my vehicle:

- "Haiiii, Mr. Decoy!"
- "Alright, move out the way & let the po-po through."
- "This here is the undercover po-leece right here!"
Screamed at the top of her lungs while pointing out me & my driver in my 15 year old Celica.
 
Ya know, its time I go digging around. Somewhere I've got a few. One is "official brothel Inspector" and another is "Certified liquor inspector". I wear that last one on occasion when drinking with my buddies. Badges don't mean squat unless you can back them up.
 
Other than the junior G-Man type, I believe badges for non-law enforcement officers are a real bad idea. Very surprisingly to me, I discovered that some highly placed non-LE people in the large Dept. I worked for, I won't call them "civilians" because I know that term upsets some people, were issued badges. After retiring once, then going back into LE at a smaller Dept., I learned that city councilmen there were also issued badges. I heard that ended when one of the councilmen flashed his badge inappropriately in some kind of situation. Anyway, anytime the subject came up among the officers I worked with, the response was VERY negative........ymmv

PS, Some may recall the mental giant of a "Bail Recovery Agent" that raided the Phoenix Police Chief's house one night a couple years ago. If he had a badge,and I'd bet he did, I doubt it helped him and his crew much afterwards.......
 
Just to play devil's advocate, where did the idea come from that only LE can have badges? Security guards wear them, and now even TSA agents wear badges, and generally speaking neither are police. I'd argue a badge means nothing unless the badge says police / sheriff etc, or the wearer in some additional way infers that he's police.
 
I think that brandishing a badge would imply the wearer is armed. Whereas brandishing a firearm, even by CCW holders, in unwarranted situations would illegal. It certainly would be in my home state, Florida.
 
I'm NY state so this might not be true all over. A couple of my cop buddies have told me that only LEO badges have a number on them. So if you get a quick look at a badge and no number its not that important. I have seen a bunch of security type badges and ones like building inspector, water department and they have no numbers on them.

Found that out years back when we had a man walking around flashing tin saying he was a "investigator" and asking all sorts of questions of people in my neighborhood. His badge had no number and he did a lighting fast "showing " of the badge and would not give my wife a good look. She asked him twice to show the badge slowly.

He walked away and she called the cop shop and the real LEOs came up and took the person away. He was down a couple more houses and they arrested him Never heard no more about that situation!
 
I think it comes down to how you use your badge or present yourself. That being said, even if you display a "non-LEO badge" and don't present yourself as a LEO, I will still think you're a "tool". I mean, if you're a security guard and are working, then that is one thing. If you're wearing a CCW badge and going about your business, I'll probably just think of a sarcastic comment in my head and go about my business.

When I am off duty, I keep my badge and credentials in a leather case, separate from my front pocket wallet. I really don't want anybody to know I'm a LEO unless a situation occurs where I need to let people know I am a LEO. I try to be a very low key person off duty.
 
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NYlakesider said:
I'm NY state so this might not be true all over. A couple of my cop buddies have told me that only LEO badges have a number on them. So if you get a quick look at a badge and no number its not that important. I have seen a bunch of security type badges and ones like building inspector, water department and they have no numbers on them.

Found that out years back when we had a man walking around flashing tin saying he was a "investigator" and asking all sorts of questions of people in my neighborhood. His badge had no number and he did a lighting fast "showing " of the badge and would not give my wife a good look. She asked him twice to show the badge slowly.

He walked away and she called the cop shop and the real LEOs came up and took the person away. He was down a couple more houses and they arrested him Never heard no more about that situation!
Click to expand...

That may be the rule for official issue, but that doesn't mean yer average ex-con can't go online and order up a badge with a number on it.

I just went and checked and Gall's still has custom badges for sale, you can fill in the blanks with whatever you want & they'll sell it to you.

Blackinton's Design-a-Badge at Galls


Come to think of it, maybe I'll get one to go with my State of Jefferson BORDER PATROL hat.

Or the t-shirt I got at Walmart that says CTU. :p
 
The other night, I couldn't sleep and woke up around 3 AM (usually get up about 4:30), so I turned on "Dog the Bounty Hunter" for a laugh. They were charging into people's houses looking for a felon (without permission) and telling the people they were going to arrest them if they found the culprit there.

Sometimes, I think I only watch it to see them go into the wrong house unannounced!==I do notice they are more careful when entering property in Colorado, than Hawaii.

BTW: I watch about once every 3 months, so I expect I'll never see them get their due!
 
wanta-bee's yes...I mean really...think about it..what purpose would a cc badge serve...you got it...none.....but I am sure there are persons who cc who can not be LE but wanted so bad to be LE that the badge is their pacifier and makes them feel somehow special.....

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQW_4kowyZ4[/ame]
 
In my area, most bail agents are just a step above the felons they're hunting, even ran across one or two felons working as bail agents in my career. One in particular I did arrest, he not only had a prior felony conviction, he posed as an INS agent and threatened deportation to a woman and kids while looking for her brother.

Too bad for him that she was already naturalized and wasn't intimidated at all. She lived in my patrol ward and often acted as a translator for me and my partners, she dropped a dime on him toot sweet. We notified the feds of his actions and they picked him up the second he bonded out of the county lockup. Who says law enforcement can't be fun? :D

As to the original question, here it would depend on how they portrayed themselves. If they in any way indicated they were sworn law enforcement, they'd be cuffed and stuffed. Misdemeanor, but as the old saying goes, you may beat the rap but you can't beat the ride.
 
chopshopcop said:
In my area, most bail agents are just a step above the felons they're hunting, even ran across one or two felons working as bail agents in my career. One in particular I did arrest, he not only had a prior felony conviction, he posed as an INS agent and threatened deportation to a woman and kids while looking for her brother.

Too bad for him that she was already naturalized and wasn't intimidated at all. She lived in my patrol ward and often acted as a translator for me and my partners, she dropped a dime on him toot sweet. We notified the feds of his actions and they picked him up the second he bonded out of the county lockup. Who says law enforcement can't be fun? :D

As to the original question, here it would depend on how they portrayed themselves. If they in any way indicated they were sworn law enforcement, they'd be cuffed and stuffed. Misdemeanor, but as the old saying goes, you may beat the rap but you can't beat the ride.
Click to expand...

yessir_zps0tsqcaos.gif


One of my favorite cop quotes is "We may only catch the dumb ones, but we sure catch a lot of 'em."

I've interacted with a few "bounty hunters" and I'm on record as stating that, even more so than repossessors, they tend to be cannibalistic scumbags.
 
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