The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

Senator Pete Flores is the Chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.  This committee has jurisdiction over all bail related legislation filed in the Texas Senate.  It is referred to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.  Senator Flores was named chair of the committee after former Senator John Whitmire retired to run for Mayor of Houston.   Chairman Flores will participate on a panel discussion at the upcoming annual meeting to discuss anticipated bail issues and other criminal justice matters that may arise in the next Texas Legislative Session beginning in January 2025. PBT will be presenting Chairman Flores with a contribution from the Texas Bail PAC.  We ask that you consider making donations to this powerful Senator as well.  Contributions by check can be made directly to the Pete Flores Campaign and cash contributions can be made to the Texas Bail PAC to increase the contribution made to the senator.  Bring your checkbooks and let'...

The district clerk wears many hats.  As we have seen the expansion of the digital formats and e-filing, the hats that the district clerk has to wear has only expanded.  As many counties have overseen the conversion of old software systems to new over the last couple of years, some have experienced more problems that others.  Our guest on this episode of The Bail Post is the District Clerk of McLennan County.  Mr. Gimble has overseen software conversion, has been appointed to state committees and commissions and is in the forefront of planning for the future (think central statewide database).  Join us and all the many things that you never even knew the district clerk took care of in your county.  Audio Podcast- Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE Google Podcasts-   ...

  Are you thinking about or in the process of getting approved to write bail in a bail bond board?  What are the top mistakes in getting approved to write a bail bond board county? Find out more at the Annual Meeting of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas. Early registrations has closed, but you can still register on site on November 6, 2024.  SEE YOU THERE!!!

Let’s have a look at crime and punishment. Most of us know that crimes have changed over the years. So have enforcement, the criminal justice system and our prisons. There seems to be more and more lawlessness reported every day. I know some say that communication and reporting techniques have made it simply look like there’s more crime, and we all know that statistics can be presented in such a way to favor one side of an argument or another. We hear that crime is up in one area, down in another; higher in cities; better or worse than last year. I’m not talking about a poor family that desperately shoplifted food to try to survive, or the youngster who lifts a pack of gum. This is more directed to the “smash and grab” gangsters who are destroying the fabric of our neighborhoods. I dislike going to my local drug and convenience stores, because I have to summon a clerk several times just to unlock shaving cream or aspirin. I find it very hard to believe that everything needs to be locke...

Is crime going up or down.  We have been told for months that according to the FBI crime statistics, crime is going down and that it is only the perception of crime increasing that is the problem.  This dispute has come into full focus this week when it was discovered that the FBI had updated its crime statistics incredible results. * * * RealClearInvestigations dug into the FBI’s data and found that the law enforcement agency had been criminally misreporting crime statistics in a way that just happened to help Biden-Harris look like it’s been tough on crime. Last fall, for example, the FBI reported that violent crime had dropped by 2.1% in 2022. That number was celebrated by Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the press, which said it was proof that Donald Trump was lying about a crime wave. RealClearInvestigations discovered that the FBI had secretly updated its crime statistitics, and instead of showing a 2.1% drop in violent crime, there was a 4.5% increase in 2022.   ...

We are planning for the next Texas Legislative Session.  We need you to get involved.  Find out what you can do to join us in this fight. Find out more at the Annual Meeting of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas. You can register by  CLICKING HERE .  

PBT's Annual Skeet Shoot is November 6, 2024.  Revisit the fun of last year's event-  

There are two types of counties in Texas regarding the writing of bail.  There are bail bond board counties that regulate bail in counties with a population over 110,000.  In smaller counties, bail is regulated by the local sheriff.   At the annual meeting on November 6-8, 2024, there will be a panel of criminal code county sheriffs who will discuss the process of getting approved to write bail in their county. You can register by  CLICKING HERE .

  Rising Crime:  Undermining Safety, Creating Chaos & Harming City Tax Bases-  Why Is It So Political? by Ken W. Good This article was published in the Attorney at Law Magazine October 7, 2024 Crime has become a political football, kicked back and forth across the electoral playing field. The public is receiving conflicting narratives about crime. One side argues that crime is increasing, while the other claims crime is on the decline — and that any belief to the contrary is driven by mere perception rather than reality. “People will use crime data to say whatever they want,” said Jeff Asher, a criminologist and co-founder of AH Datalytics. “When you don’t have that certainty of having nearly every agency reporting data, it means that you need a lot of literacy to be able to combat items that are being stated in bad faith.” In 2014, California passed Prop. 47, reclassifying a list of felony crimes as misdemeanors. The idea was that defendants would still face accounta...

Six years after California legalized marijuana, the bodies keep piling up. Earlier this year, six men were murdered in the Mojave Desert. Four of the men had been burned after being shot with rifles. In 2020, seven people were killed at an illegal pot operation in Riverside County. Violence like this was supposed to disappear after legalization. Legalization advocates argued that making the drug trade legal would end the grip of the cartels. Instead, the legal market has failed, and the cartels are taking over sizable parts of California and the rest of the country. California's legal drug revenues have fallen consistently, as have those in other legal drug states including Colorado, whose model helped sell the idea that drug money would fix everything. Despite falling revenues, Colorado legislators brag about $282 million in drug revenue. That number may sound high, but it's a drop in the bucket considering the money that the state and cities like Denver are spending on homele...

  Jim VanBrederode, a former Gates Police Chief, pointed to the  current state of security measures in stores as an example that things have  gone too far.   “We now have concrete barriers in front of all of our stores, we have blue light  cameras in the parking lots, we have security guards at the front door. You go  to get toothpaste and you’ve got to get the associate to unlock the toothpaste.   This is what we face every day now because we’ve gone way too far on not  being able to take off the streets those that are not going to stop re-offending, ”   VanBrederode says. VanBrederode believes many of the criminal justice reforms that went into place  in 2021 have had a negative impact on the community.   “They (democratic majority) literally went through the whole criminal justice  system and made massive radical changes to create a restorative justice model,  they literally touched everything from t...

The PBT Annual Meeting is November 6-8, 2024.  One of the topics to be presented at this year's annual meeting will address the issues that come up when a bondsman is seeking to sell his business.  This topic will include issues related to how should the sale be addressed with the local bail bond board, or the sheriff.  Other issues will include such things the run off of the existing bonds still open that were written by the seller at the time of sale. This topic should also include the topic of the things that you should discuss with your attorney if you are in the middle of estate planning.  Some suggestions that an estate planning attorney may propose are inconsistent with what is permissible for a bail bond company in Texas.   If you are in thinking of selling your business or contemplating estate planning, joing us at the Annual Meeting of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas.  The meeting is November 6-8, 2024. You can register by CLICKING HERE .

Jim Alexander, 91, went to be with our Lord on Tuesday October 1st, 2024 in Bowie, Texas. The funeral will be at 3 pm Saturday October 5, 2024 at Hawkins Funeral Home in Boyd with burial at Boyd Cemetery. The family will receive friends an hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Jim's sons Kevin Alexander and David Montgomery will officiate. Pallbearers are Michael Montgomery, Randy Montgomery, Jason Montgomery, Brandon Alexander, Jacob Verdin and Cody Tedrow Honorary pallbearers are Cameron Hurd and Lucas Bayer Jim was born August 27, 1933 to Emmett and Flosie (Flemming) Alexander in Brownwood, Texas. In Fort Worth, Texas 33 years ago, he married Joyce Sinclair Montgomery. Family was very important to Jim, he enjoyed spending time with his sons, and grandchildren. If you knew Jim you knew he wore many hats, from insurance sales, to bail bonds, running a carnival, hauling hay, anything cowboy, or whatever he saw fit that needed done. He was a son, father, brother, uncle, gra...