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Al Estes, Sr. Government Payment EXP
(formerly known as Government Payment Services) accepts
credit cards from arrestees, and/or other people for bail
bonds, fines, costs, commissary expenses, and then guarantees payment to the
law enforcement or government entity.
They are allowed to advertise this service inside the holding facility. This service is marketed as a convenience. We all know that
convenience does not come without costs.
FSAA is opposed to this means of bail because of the resulting costs
to the tax paying public and to the individuals who will end up incurring substantial
debt by utilizing credit cards to obtain loans. The counties allowing this form of bail will end up with higher costs due to the increase in people failing to appear in court. Failures to appear result in warrants for arrest that increase the work load of our law enforcement officials. The result is an overtaxed public safety system that is bogged down by having to go out and arrest those failing to appear and putting them through the courts again. More policemen/ deputies are needed on the streets and more judicial officials are needed in the courts to handle the problems caused by this form of pre-trial release. FSAA can say that this type of program results in decrease public safety and increased government expenses (more tax money needed) because the U.S. Department of Justice has just produced a report that proves that individuals released on secured bond were more likely to appear in court than those released through any other method. That report is titled “Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, State Court Processing Statistics, 1990-2004, Pretrial Release of Felony Defendants in State Courts.” The report is available in its entirety on our Web site’s News Page. Individuals utilizing a credit card to post their bail incur the following costs; a processing fee charged by Government Payment EXP to handle the
payment transfer and the monthly charges on the unpaid
principal of the charge. Of course,
since this is viewed by the court as a monetary payment any outstanding court costs and/or fines will be deducted from the payment when the individual does make his or her court date and the bail is returned (minus those deducted funds), but the individual will still owe the full bail amount to the credit card company. If the individual does end up incarcerated how will those credit card charges get paid off? Remember, those citizens with good credit see their rates rise to pay for those losses by the credit companies. During the Florida
Sheriff's Association Convention held this past summer, our Law
Enforcement Liaison Committee lobbied against Government Payment
EXP. That lobbying effort continued when
Steve Roberts, Marvin Steiding and I represented FSAA at the Florida Sheriffs
Association 2007 Annual Jail Conference and Tradeshow that was held in
January 3 – 6 in Our lobbyist prepared a
letter addressing the negatives of that company’s operations
that was to be sent to postponed sending the
letter because an FSAA representative spoke at an advisory committee meeting
called by At dinner on the first
evening of the Jail Conference the CEO of Government Payment EXP
stopped by the table occupied by our representatives and made a
point to inform me that he had not been in individual who introduced
himself to me during the last Summer Sheriffs Conference and
then attempted to convince several sheriffs FSAA had no objections to his
company doing business in Sheriffs suspicious of the
CEO asked me about his assertion about FSAA and I made it clear that FSAA was
completely against the operations of Government Payment EXP. The very next evening we discovered the CEO
had lied again because the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office made it known that
it intended to sign a contract with the company. Upon discovering that
Government Payment EXP now has a lobbyist and has made
preliminary agreements with four counties your
representatives went into action and, with the help of our Law Enforcement
Liaison Jamie Adams and lobbyist Frank Messersmith, managed to reach several sheriffs
to present our case and to show them a copy we obtained of a legal opinion
written in 2000 that stated that credit card bail was illegal. This is not the end of the fight,
FSAA has only fired its first salvo in this battle. We must continue to meet this threat head
on. FSAA and the Law Enforcement
Liaison Committee are working for you and bail in |
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Last Updated on December 14, 2007