You have probably heard of bail bondsmen. After all, they play a vital role in the court proceedings of a criminal defendant. Without a bail bondsman, most people under arrest will not see the outside of a jail cell during their court proceedings. It is no surprise that bail bondsmen are necessary. Most people are also aware of how the bail bonds business works. On the other hand, not many people are aware of how a bail bondsman lives day-by-day.
While most of us get to enjoy the wonderful life of 8 – 5 PM living, Laurie Poole, a bail bondsman working in Oklahoma City, explains that (most of the time) a bail bondsman does not fit under that criteria. That being said, as a responsible and organized bail bondsman, Laurie does make it a point to stick to a somewhat daily routine. Despite having the advantage of flexibility, bail bondsmen also have a variety of different tasks to accomplish each day. That does not mean, however, that they do not take advantage of their flexibility by sometimes arriving at the office at 10 AM instead of 8.
When spending time at their office, a bail bondsman might sort their incoming money from their bills, check their email, follow up with any clients requesting information or services, or update their social media profiles. Furthermore, working as a bail bondsman requires attention to detail and the utmost organization. While working as a bail bondsman for her Oklahoma business, Asset Bail Bonds, Laurie Poole has gotten familiar with the process of organization. With several file cabinets, Laurie separates her clients into three general categories: payments pending, case pending, and acquitted.
As a basic idea, the payments pending category refers to a bond that was written and is still active; referring to the defendant that is still paying off the fee charged for bail bond services. Moving forward, case pending refers to a defendant that is still going through their court proceedings and is “out on bail”. Finally, acquitted refers to a defendant that is no longer associated with the bond via a judge’s ruling. This can mean that the case has been dismissed or it can mean the case has concluded and the defendant has been incarcerated.
Getting back on track, a bail bondsman spends a lot of their time dealing with the paperwork necessary for all of the above listed situations. On top of filling out the paperwork, a bail bondsman is also responsible for filing and keeping up to date on the paperwork. As a bail bondsman working in OKC, Laurie Poole could spend her day in the office catching up on paperwork, out in the field filing paperwork and/or touching base with clients, or a mix of the two. Regardless, a day in the life of a bail bondsman is usually not referred to as “easy”. Bail bonds is a very busy business that requires patience, time, and effort. Luckily, Laurie has plenty of all three!