The Burlington Free Press online Sunday had a two paragraph article (more details added by Monday) with a headline and image that grabbed my attention; Bondsman subdues suspect in Old North End.
The image (you can only see it here, Gannett and Free Press don’t share) shows two men, both in street clothes; first man, his face bloodied, appears to have had his hands bound and has been forced headfirst into the pavement by second man, who is atop with his knee jammed into the upper back and neck of bloodied first man. Second man is a “fugitive recovery agent” from Northeast Fugitive Recovery who was himself captured on camera in the act of forcibly “recovering” a fugitive (alleged fugitive?). What if he didn’t have the correct person?
An employee with the Northeast Fugitive Recovery Task Force holds down a bloodied suspect at Walnut and Archibald streets. They [sic] were in search of a suspect who did not make a court appearance.
They found a man at a pay phone. Burlington police arrived at the scene, and the suspect was placed in a squad car. Police at the scene gave out no iinformation about the individual.
Just visible in the second man’s (the agent’s) right hand is something that might be a weapon, perhaps a taser. The Northeast Recovery webpage says that the term “fugitive recovery agent” is preferred over what they say is the derogatory term, “bounty hunter” also included is this: 213 Fugitives Apprehended in 2009!
I assume towns, cities and the state having to cope with ever tighter budget resources no longer readily pursue accused persons for what might be considered minor things such as failure to make a court appearance. However a for-profit recovery agency with a financial incentive and focus on recapturing their bail bond money – not public safety – will step in to accomplish the task. The guy has a price on his head: basically his recovery was monetized. So it’s just a little violent free-enterprise based drama playing out on a Vermont street. Nothing to see here, just keep moving.
Pretty convenient that the Freeps knew about the hunt and just happened to be there when they nabbed their man…
Maybe the Gov can hire these guys to reign in the prescription drug epidemic?
Or we can send them down to Brattleboro and help out the police investigating that Entergy fire?
The article claimed it took about 60 man hours to find their man. How big is the payout for this type of thing?
Also, whats up with the ‘Buy this image’ tag on the Freeps photos? Are they that desperate for $$? Hmm, honey, this would look great above the couch. They artist’s use of color in the tattoo really accentuates our window treatments…
I assume towns, cities and the state having to cope with ever tighter budget resources no longer readily pursue what might be considered minor things such as failure to make a court appearance.
Bail bondsmen go back over a hundred years in the US. When one of the folks they’ve bonded fail to appear, they want to apprehend them to recover their money, and in most states the use of bounty hunters is still legal (as are bonding agents). I’m not wild about the system, but it’s nothing really new.
The best part about privatization is that Civil Rights do not apply! Because bounty hunters are NOT police, the Constitution doesn’t apply to them. It is decades old, settled law that the law doesn’t apply to bounty hunters. They can beat, maim and kill whomever they want to and no one can stop them.
If a bounty hunter breaks into your home gunning down everyone in sight, your wife and children dead before your eyes, only for them to discover they have the wrong address, well, too bad for you. Not only are prosecutors as reluctant to prosecute bounty hunters as they are real police, they are protected by law from prosecution. At worst the bounty hunter’s company might have to pay a small fine. And that’s only if you have the money to sue them in civil court.
I am more cynical when I first awake in the morning…
In other words, the Fugitive Squad pepper-sprayed themselves. Bwahahahahaha!
“Calling Agent Howard, Agent Fine, Agent Howard.”
read the comments. The ‘bondsman’ is there win the FB comments…
I know this is slightly off topic, since we’re not talking about police, and no law enforcement officer was included in the photograph being discussed. But even so, it seems like a related point.
The ACLU has quite a bit to say about the right to photograph events in public, public buildings, and law enforcement in action.
According to one web page:
[emphasis added]
Further, according to the ACLU:
It seems to me (although I can’t quite capture the short-term memory) that in recent days I read in a news publication or heard on NPR or maybe got an email about the increasing propensity of police forces to arrest anyone photographing them as they carry out their duties, a violation of the Constitution they are sworn to uphold.
NanuqFC
No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, none ever will. ~ Thomas Jefferson
It’s causes positional asphyxia, a well-known problem in people who are handcuffed, placed face down, and knelt upon. The way the muscles align, the chest and diaphragm are compressed, and all too often they are compressed to the point at which the lungs collapse.
It should be illegal – even police should not be allowed to use that hold. I’m not sure about the US, but in other countries, police are trained not to kneel on the back of a prone, handcuffed suspect.
http://thebroadside.freedomblo…
http://www.thelocal.se/22486/2…
http://www.aabtraining.co.uk/t…