Many people who write to me asking how one should get started in the bail bond enforcement industry often include their martial arts background as a guide to the question at hand. I often laugh at that, but one email for hire asked the question, “How will my martial arts background apply to bounty hunting?”
Bounty Hunters, I prefer Bail Enforcement Agents or Bail Investigators, by definition face dangerous situations every day they go to work. We often stick our heads in the proverbial lion’s mouth whenever we attempt to detain a defendant on secured bail by enforcing a civil bail forfeiture order attached to a capias criminal failure to appear. It’s easy to forget that what we do on a daily basis, often alone and poorly armed, is a MAJOR EVENT that requires highly trained SWAT teams within most law enforcement departments.
In my experience, which is longer and more varied than most in the bail recovery business, 1 in 100 people I’ve taken to jail for a bail bondsman will react violently to the apprehension, but the violence varies widely from simply resisting someone trying to shoot me with a firearm of some kind. Fortunately, 97% of these violent encounters do not require any use of force beyond the simple application of some “conformity pain” methods. Fortunately, I only had to use an Air-Taser once and point my firearm at a defender or co-actor once.
What happens in these violent situations is that we must immediately apply the continued use of force, which clearly states that bail executors must use only that force which is reasonable and lawful, given the facts and circumstances known at the time of the bail bond. done to effectively bring an incident under control. The “reasonableness” of the use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable investigator on the scene at the time of the incident. A bail bond enforcement officer, who is authorized by the bail bond on a bail piece, who makes or attempts to make an arrest need not back down or desist from efforts by resisting or threatening to resist by the arrested person; nor will said investigator be considered an aggressor or forfeit his or her right to self-defense for the use of reasonable force to affect arrest or to prevent escape or overcome resistance.
I cannot reasonably shoot a defender for resisting handcuffing if he does not pose an imminent threat to my own life. This is where pain compliance techniques that can be learned through many styles of martial arts or a system known as CDT® (Compliance, Direction and Takedown) are most appropriately applied. In a nutshell, these techniques consist of low-level stuns, trigger points, escorts, and compliance techniques that can be used to control another person without causing permanent damage; hostility management, anger diffusion, and escape should also be applied where appropriate.
“Standing Ju Jitsu”, Aikido and Judo are martial arts that are outstanding in their real world application in the typical scenarios one would encounter in most bail enforcement actions. They are my choice of techniques to use, but it can take a lifetime to master the nuances and intricacies of each art; this may not be practical for the new or aspiring fugitive recovery investigator. Perhaps the next best thing for most should be CDT®, which is a personal protection system and not a martial art. Its creators claim that you can learn quickly and effectively regardless of your gender or size. Most importantly, the CDT® techniques can be learned and mastered through a properly structured training course in a limited amount of time and have been shown to work effectively against any gender and body size. However, I’ve heard good things from my friends in law enforcement, when creators make dubious claims like “the world’s most effective non-lethal force system,” I have to stop and pause.
Either way, when a bail bondsman needs to use less-than-deadly force through empty-handed tactics, that person must be able to do so quickly, skillfully, and with reduced risk and liability for all involved. The longer the investigator has to be engaged with a defendant or those trying to avoid her arrest, the greater the risk of injury or even death. Also, depending on the defendant’s actions or the situation, the BEA may have to increase or decrease the amount of force used. The techniques discussed allow for the escalation and reduction of legal force without causing serious or fatal injury and that is a big plus in my book when it comes to reducing the liability that often comes with being “hands on” with someone.
This is the nexus between the martial arts, their real-world application as combat arts, and the modern day bounty hunter.