Hidalgo County bail bondsmen are available 24/7/265 to provide jail release to defendants once a judge sets a bond amount. Bail Bondsmen do this at no cost to the taxpayer as they use their own money and collateral.
First, the bondsman interviews defendants to determine their flight risk. Then, they use electronic tools to verify defendant information, and work with their family and friends to ensure compliance and supervise them as they await trial.
The Hidalgo County bail bondsman remains in constant communication with the defendant to ensure they show up for court. Bondsmen are financially responsible if a defendant fails to appear. If the defendant does not appear in court, licensed investigators are hired to track them down.
Only a small fraction of Texas counties can afford to monitor defendants while they are out on PR bond (Personal Recognizance). In those cases, there is no mointoring of the defendant and no incentive for them to appear in court. This abdication of justice has led to tens of thousands of outstanding warrants costing taxpayers millions.
Local taxpayers must then pay to track down and return the defendant to court. This costs MONEY and MANPOWER that could benefit some other local resource. Local law enforcement should not be put in harms way and forced to do this. Taxpayers should not have to pay for this as bail bondsmen have been doing that job, freely, for over a hundred years.
Studies have shown that Fail To Appear (FTA) rates have grown when defendants are given a PR (Personal Recognizance) bond. Criminals are simply not showing up to court, forcing the bondsman, law enforcement, and new victims, to discover them. Not only is this an increase in costs to taxpayers, but also an increase in crime in the community.
Most Texan's don't really know that the Hidalgo County bail bonds system, which has operated since our country was founded, if eliminated, government will then be in charge of tracking defendants, leaving taxpayers responsible for the cost of returning them to justice. If bail is eliminated, Hidalgo County will be replacing private industry with a new bureaucracy, increase in taxes and crime.
Since when has government ever done anything better than private industry?