BEHIND THE PAPER WITH ERIC GRANOF
The Power of Public/Private Cooperation: Improving Criminal Justice for Everyone
This past week the AIA Team spent some time in Raleigh, North Carolina. This trip, however, was different than previous ones. We weren’t there to meet with agents or attend a North Carolina Bail Agents Association Meeting. We were there along with several other sureties to meet with the North Carolina Department of Insurance’s Bail Bondsmen Regulatory Department…at their request. About a month ago we received an email from the NCDOI/BBRD requesting that we attend a meeting in Raleigh. Now first, you need to understand that when a state regulatory department sends you a meeting request, it is never a good thing. This rarely, if ever, happens, so when it does it raises some red flags. Did we do something wrong? Did an agent do something wrong? Did they implement a new rule or regulation that was going to negatively impact the bail profession? So many questions, and no real clue to what we were going to be walking into. So, we booked our tickets and packed our bags hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
Well, we were pleasantly surprised. The NCDOI called the meeting because they wanted the input of the bail sureties. Yes, hard to believe, they were actually asking for our opinion on some new programs that they were thinking of pursuing. Programs that were designed to strengthen and improve the bail process in North Carolina. We can’t tell you how refreshing it was to be having an open, candid, and transparent sharing of ideas with a state regulator. The deputy director of NCDOI, John Cable, started the meeting by saying that he and his entire team appreciate the work that bail agents do in the state. He even went so far as to say that he fully understands and supports the role that bail agents play in the criminal justice system and how he does not agree with any sort of bail reform effort that would negatively impact the bail profession. Finally, someone in the system was reaching out to bail for their experience and expertise. Like we said previously, a much needed and refreshing idea.
But the more you think about it, why is this concept so foreign to the key players in the criminal justice system? Why don’t more stakeholders see our industry’s value? We operate in such a unique and important area of the criminal justice system. Not only do we bring a private sector perspective to the public sector world, but we have the fortunate circumstance that we operate and interact with multiple stakeholders simultaneously. We interact with defendants. We interact with their families. We interact with law enforcement, the courts, the prosecution, judges, and so many other players. Our insights are truly multi-dimensional and encompass a wide range of needs and expectations. But why have we never been asked for our opinion before? It is truly a baffling question.
For the last decade we have seen legislators seek the help from university professors, pretrial service employees, civil rights organizations, and many other groups, but never do they ask for help from the very operators within the profession they are looking to reform…bail bondsmen. Why is that? Is it because they don’t understand what we do? Is it because they fear us? Is it because they have ill intentions? Or does it not even cross their minds that we might be capable of providing valuable insights and experience? I am not sure what the answer is, but I can tell you in those rare instances where we are included, the results have been fantastic. Places like Washington State where members of the Washington State Bail Agents Association along with surety members were included in a special bail reform task force. The results, a solution that strengthened the pretrial process for everyone. A solution that was good for victims, defendants, judges, law enforcement and bail agents. It was a solution that was proof positive that when the right groups are included in the process, you get a better result.
We sure hope that this effort by the NCDOI is one that more regulators and even legislators start taking. If you want to make improvements to any operation or business, you have to include those that work within that system to land on a solution that works. We look forward to working with any criminal justice stakeholder who wants to better understand how surety bail works and why it is so effective. We are available and our phones are waiting.
Eric Granof is the Vice President of Corporate Communications for AIA Surety.