After someone has been arrested for a probable cause arrest or warrant, they are immediately taken to the booking facility. This facility can either be a city jail, or county jail. This process is commonly referred to is the booking process and can usually take 1 up to 8 hours. The time it takes to go through the booking process depends on several factors, including the size of the police department, workload, and of course the detainees cooperation. Part of the booking process includes ones bail, which several factors are taken into consideration when its set.
This factors include current offense for which one was arrested, prior arrest, current probation and an officers request at increasing the bail. However each county in California has a set bail schedule for felony and misdemeanor offenses, which assist the booking agency in setting bail. These bail schedules are adopt by each county Superior Court Judges, and reviewed at least ever year to determine if changes should be made per California Penal Code 1269(b)Pursuant to California Penal Code 1269(b).
During the booking process, the detainee will be given an opportunity to call a family member or friend, but restrictions to calling out can be a challenge. One of those most common problems is your family or friend not memorizing any phone numbers due to our high tech use of cell phone directory. This poses a problem, and to remedy, one should always memorize 3 phone numbers in the event of an arrest or detention by law enforcement agencies. Another problem one has in communicating to family or friends is the collect calls.
Many times when one who has been given the opportunity by the arresting agency to call a family or friend collect, the calls do not go through due to restrictions on cell phones. In order to accept collect calls from someone in custody, one would need to inquiry on the managing phone company for that facility. Second, you will need to call the phone company in charge of the jail phone system, and request that you be authorized to accept calls from the jail. This can approved, but you will need to provide a credit card for funds to be deposited into the account, which can range from as little as $25 dollars and up. Many times if you do not use your deposit, it is automatically lost, which can become very frustrating to many families and friends of the detained individual.
In brief, one who is a law abiding citizen would never expect to be arrested, but because bad things can go wrong to even the best of us, preparation is common sense. Here are some things to share with your family and friends.
1. Memorize 3 phone numbers of family and friends
2. If you are arrested, just cooperating during the booking process may make a difference between getting released in 2 hours or 24 hours.
The five most common methods of being released after an arrest are:
1. Citation Release – Law Enforcement agency will issue a citation upon your signature, indicating the name of the court and date and time for your appearance. This is a common practice on moving violations, and other offenses that do not require you to complete jail time, but fines only.
2. Own Recognizance (O.R.) – This Involves a pre-trial release program administered by a county or police jail. The arrestee background is taken into consideration along with the offense to determine release without any form of bail. This mostly occurs in many misdemeanor offenses and non-violent felony offenses. If the booking facility has a pre-trial release program, they will attempt to contact relatives to obtain information about your likely hood of failing to appear for court.
3. Cash Bail – This release involves posting the full face amount of the bail in cash. In doing so, the booking facility will take cash or deposit with a cashiers check from a verifiable bank. These funds will be returned in full after the arrested individual has made all appearances in court until there adjudication. This process can take a while after the bail bond has been discharged, up to several months, before your cash deposit is returned.
4. Property Bond – Upon courts acceptance, a lien is recorded on one’s property to secure release of an arrestee. Courts will request an appraisal and title search prior to posting a property bond, but keep in mind that most jurisdictions require 2 to 3 times equity for the bond being posted.
5. Surety Bond (Bail Bond) – Most common method used involving a legal contract between an indemnitor, most commonly explained by bail bonds companies as the cosigner and bail agency. This means that the cosigner accepts the financial liability of the face amount of the bond if the defendant fails to return to court prior to there adjudication. This can be stressful, since if one decides to post a bail bond of $10,000 for a family after paying the initial premium, but they fail to return to court, the cosigner is liable for that $10,000, plus bounty hunter fees.
Deciding to post bail is in important financial decision, and WE are here to explain the process fully. Call Now toll free 818-980-2245
If you need Superior Bail Bonds for posting bail for a family or friend give us a call. We will walk you through the process over the phone, and finish by posting the bond in a timely manner so your family or friend do not have to spend much time in jail.
Bail postings include in the following city jails, but not limited to: Culver City, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo , Malibu, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Tustin, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Beverly Hills, Glendale, Hawthorne, Pasadena, Torrance, Oceanside, San Diego, Escondido, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Imperial Beach, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Chino, Rialto, Oceanside, San Luis Obispo, Atascadero and other local city and county jails throughout Southern California.
