Tweeker Seeker

I get asked a lot about what it takes to be a Bounty Hunter. I get everything from the legal requirements, work experience and physical requirements. In California it’s pretty simple. You must be a least 18 years old and can’t have any felony convictions . You must also do the following:

• Complete a 40-hour “power of arrest” course certified by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
• Complete a “power of arrest” course certified by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.
• Complete a 12 hour of education relating to the duties and responsibilities of a Bail Licensee certified by the Department of Insurance.

All of these requirements can be found here. Okay, so that’s the legal requirements which are fairly easy to complete since no testing is required. Now let’s list the physical and mental requirements. If you’re okay with the following then you should have no problem doing the job.

• Can you sit in your car for 10, 12 or 18 hours staring at a house?
• Are you okay with peeing in a big gulp cup in your car?
• Are okay with eating 2 day old fast food?
• Are you okay with being spit on, punched, kicked, screamed at, pepper sprayed or tasered?
• Do you like to fight?
• Are you comfortable touching homeless people or searching homeless encampments (which may include walking through human feces)?
• Are you okay with someone pointing a loaded gun at you? This includes cops, criminals and parents or friends of criminals.
• Are you okay with being awaken at 3 in the morning by annoying phone calls from informants, defendants or parents / friends of defendants?

If you said no to any of the above questions then this job is probably not for you. However, if you said yes to the above then you may want to seek mental help.

Well if you do and it’s for a non-violent, misdemeanor crime then December is your lucky month. Santa Clara County is running and amnesty program this month that will allow you to stay out of jail. I used the program last year to convince a few fugitives to themselves in. All you have to do is get down to the Sheriff’s office on Younger Ave in San Jose and they will take your finger prints and issue you a new court date. The process normally takes about an hour depending on how busy they are. Under normal circumstances, if your warrant is over $5,000.00, the Police will take you to jail and you will either have to post bond or wait and see a Judge. Under this program it does not matter how big your warrant is as long as it’s not for a felony or for any type of violent crime (assault, domestic violence, etc.)

Here is a link to the press release if you want more information.