I would like to start this bail bond industry blog by taking my hat off to the hard working bail agents in Virginia and the work of Virginians for the Preservation of Bail. They set a new standard in our industry for getting bail agents to rally and fight together for a cause…something that historically has been sort of an achilles heel for our industry. I also was impressed by their creative use of both traditional and online communications, especially the utilization of social media in getting people to participate in the conversation and keeping them informed. Even the bail bond insurance companies all seem to be in alignment around this particular fight. It was actually really exciting to watch everything unfold. Unfortunately, with the Senate voting 8-7 against HB 728, the momentum has been interrupted. While this may seem like a roadblock, it really needs to be seen simply as a bump in the road. There will be more opportunities to continue the fight and I urge our friends in Virginia to keep their heads up and not to go away in defeat. The progress that has been made should be seen as a way to go back to the drawing board and come out again stronger. In fact we are seeing other states like Florida rallying off of Virginia’s efforts and energy. My guess is that this is only the beginning.
Virginia on My Mind…the Importance of Education in the Fight Against Pretrial Service Agencies
Upon hearing the results out of Virginia, our executive team got together last Tuesday to discuss Virginia as well as other pretrial services hot spots around the country. What came out of this meeting was a lot of new ideas and strategies, but there was one consistent and important tactic that everyone thought was paramount to having success in the fight against Pretrial Services, and that is education. While the Virginia effort did a fantastic job of educating and informing the public (proven by their recent survey citing 75% of consumers prefer private surety bail bond agents…
Click the following link to read the full blog post on the Virginia Bail Bond Industry and Pretrial Service Agencies.