President's Message

Hello and welcome to the Indiana Surety Bail Agents Association website. As the newly elected president of ISBAA I will endeavor to provide the leadership necessary to guide the professional bail agents of Indiana to a place where we can hold our heads high as an instrumental component of public safety in this state.

During my twenty years as a licensed bail agent I have seen our profession come under attack from various areas of state and local government. Judges who want to be bail agents and third part entities who want to write bail without licenses have risen up in recent years to become our primary competitors to the detriment of public interest.

There are a fortunate few whose business has not been impacted by these liberal release schemes; you've been lucky. The majority of the bail agents in Indiana have lost a tremendous amount of business to ten percent deposit bonds. And it's not just the bail agents who have suffered, the citizens of Indiana have been placed at risk due to the high failure to appear rate on ten percent deposit bonds resulting in increased warrants, higher crime and overburdened law enforcement. It’s time to say, "That's enough".

For those in our profession who are comfortable with their situation, it is easy to understand your desire to not "rock the boat". And, you certainly don't want anyone else messing things up for you. Fortunately, your county has recognized that requiring a corporate surety bail bond posted by a licensed bail agent is the best way to ensure a defendant's appearance in court.

In 1988, corporate surety bail was the preferred method of releasing criminal defendants from jail. Many of you may remember when we were able to post surety bonds throughout the state. Today, if you were to take an Indiana map and color in those counties accepting only ten percent cash bonds, you would have a very dark map. Over fifty percent of Indiana counties have stopped accepting bail bonds. What will the next twenty years look like?

The future may look bleak but we have made progress in the last twelve months.

The continuing education requirement helped to increase the education and professionalism of Indiana bail agents.
The ISBAA increased its membership to include more than sixty percent of Indiana’s licensed bail agents by offering free continuing education classes to all members.
ISBAA fully funded the cost of a lobbying firm this past legislative session.
S.B. 317 which restricts the use of ten percent bonds on offenders charged with an aggravated offense was introduced in 2008. While S.B. 317 made it through the Senate we were unable to get a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.
The Indiana Department of Insurance is a tremendous supporter of the commercial bail industry with key staff members regularly attending ISBAA meetings including Commissioner Jim Atterholt who spoke at the ISBAA Spring Meeting.
Governor Mitch Daniels spoke at the ISBAA Spring Meeting in May and voiced his support for the private sector, the bail industry doing whatever it can to help with jail crowding and seeing offenders charged with crimes appear in court.

We have the support of our industry leaders offering their expertise and asking for nothing in return. Their motives are only to better the profession as a whole. We have tools at our disposal to make the changes we need to get our judicial system back to basics. A system where they are more concerned with producing the criminal defendant in court instead of finding quick ways to finance the courts thru cash bail.

The mission of our association is to "Inform, Educate, Dedication and Sensible Legislation".

Information: We must collect substantial data with respect to statistics on the failure of cash bonds. More importantly, collect information on our successes.
Education: We must arm ourselves with the knowledge collected and share it, not only the elected officials, but the public at large who elects those officials. We must also educate ourselves with the latest laws governing our profession to resonate our professional image.
Dedication: Persistence, unity, structure, communication and a willingness to give of our time and resources to our profession will be the cornerstone of our success.
Legislation: Draft legislation that not only reinforces the effectiveness of commercial surety bail bonds but also restores the integrity and confidence of the criminal justice system among the citizens of Indiana. When we have all pulled together and shared our experiences to create the right bill, we cannot lose.

I believe it is important to remember, our purpose should be not only to our profession but to the criminal justice system, the noncriminal taxpayer and the victims of crimes we serve. We must tell our story to the public and be a part of the solution and not part of the problem. We must stay motivated and keep a positive image. No one in the criminal justice system wants to hear us complain about how bad business may be. They don’t care. Why should they? We must be above that.

In closing, I would like to thank Past President, Lee Sexton, for taking the association to its' current level of professionalism and respect. He accomplished many great things to get us where we are today. I will do my best to stay the path he has directed us for so many years. I encourage all of you, members or non members, to give me your thoughts relative to our professions current and future status. Your input is much appreciated. Working together, we can make a difference.

Sincerely,

Anthony O. Widgery, CBA
President
Indiana Surety Bail Agents Association