Women in Bail Enforcement

Amanda Fertig
Fairfax, Virginia

How often are females found in the line of work of bondsman and "Bounty Hunting?" I have been looked down upon by family and friends for wanting to get into this line of work. A friend has just recently completed classes and seminars in Fairfax, Virginia and is now a licensed bondsman. Is that all it takes to get licensed and if so what further training would I need to start with "Bounty Hunting?"
Thanks for your time.
I look forward to your response.
Thanks,
Amanda

*******************************************************************************

Amanda,

There are many more bail bondswomen than female "bounty hunters" but they certainly exist; I employ 2 of them out of a total of 8 investigators. They are definitely better at many aspects of bail enforcement that the guys are, i.e.- skiptracing and are a huge asset to my company.

Many people do not understand the value of either bail bonding or bail enforcement and have had their opinions formed by the oftentimes negative pictures painted of us in the media. That's a sad reality but is something that you will have to accept and work to change in either profession.

Licensing and education requirements are vastly different for bail bondsmen and bail enforcement- bail bondsmen (and women) provide a service of getting people out of jail, bail enforcers (or bounty hunters) put these same people back in jail at the request of the bondsman when they have failed to return to court as promised. They are two different fields, though many people work in both simultaneously.

My understanding is that VA still does not regulate bail enforcement (though they have tried in the past) but I am not an expert in VA law either. Everything I looked up this morning would indicate that it remains unregulated.