Payment plans for bonds are a concern, the chief said, because offenders that are forced to scrape together money for the bail bondsman sometimes commit more crimes to gather funds.
Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerAccounts of defendants leaving jail on the lowest of bail fees only for some to then be on the hook for costly payment plans concerns Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.
“It makes no sense when judges are doing the right thing,” Finner said. “They set the proper bail and then you get to a bail bonding company and they say, ‘I’m going to set up a payment program — I’m going to let you out with 1 or 2 percent.’ That’s just not right and it’s not helping us fight violent crime.”
County officials in March tried to require local bail bondsmen to collect a 10 percent minimum from defendants accused of violent crimes — butfrom two Harris County Bail Bond Board members. Three judges were absent from the vote, and a justice of the peace and a Harris County District Attorney’s Office representative abstained.
He suggested for more plea bargains on some offenses to alleviate the number of pending cases, which in February stood at nearly 49,000 felonies, according to county records. That number has dropped from the more than 52,600 pending cases last July.