# The bail industry may be about to be over? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 22, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bail-industry-may-be-about-to-be-over/755345 "2016-05-22T01:42:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bail-industry-may-be-about-to-be-over/755345/61 "2016-06-04T22:18:05Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > You don’t get a bench warrant for unpaid parking tickets. You do in Saskatchewan! ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bail-industry-may-be-about-to-be-over/755345/62 "2016-06-07T07:27:21Z")
I don’t have time to comment as I’m busy but these two videos explain the bail industry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS5mwymTIJU ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bail-industry-may-be-about-to-be-over/755345/63 "2016-06-07T09:05:52Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Again, other countries and even some States have bails but neither bail bonds nor bounty hunters. The people scratching our heads aren’t amazed by the existence of bails, but by the other parts. Yep have no idea why this is necessary. Does any other country do this? It’s the 21st century already. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bail-industry-may-be-about-to-be-over/755345/64 "2016-06-10T08:16:08Z")
Is not another issue here that the police in the US are organised at too local a level? If they were organised on a state-wide basis rather than municipality by municipality, then a micro focus on costs would be less of a reason to have poor communities underserviced. And it would also avoid the problem in small communities of the same police coming up before the same judge over and over, and those regrettably cozy relationships that tend to emerge. If the police in Toad Suck, Arkansas came from anywhere in the State and were regularly rotated, that seems to me to be a Good Thing ™. There might be grumbles about police not wanting to move from home towns, but elsewhere that is manageable. My state (Queensland, Australia) has a whole-of-state police force (and there are no cute distinctions to be drawn as between local and state police because there are no local police), and the Queensland is bigger than Alaska. Now I understand the politics of the history of all this and claims of powergrabs, but that doesn’t address the issue of whether it is a better idea. Fixes lack of co-ordination and jurisdiction problems and provides the flexibility that larger scale brings to address bail-jumpers. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bail-industry-may-be-about-to-be-over/755345/65 "2016-06-12T12:59:51Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Is not another issue here that the police in the US are organised at too local a level? If they were organised on a state-wide basis rather than municipality by municipality, then a micro focus on costs would be less of a reason to have poor communities underserviced. And it would also avoid the problem in small communities of the same police coming up before the same judge over and over, and those regrettably cozy relationships that tend to emerge. If the police in Toad Suck, Arkansas came from anywhere in the State and were regularly rotated, that seems to me to be a Good Thing ™ > > . There are other issues as well. In my state (and I’m sure others ) the law is not the same statewide. There are local ordinances and there are even a fair number of state laws that treat “municipalities with a population of one million” differently from smaller populations. And the mere fact of having police (or any other agency) organized on a statewide level doesn’t imply any sort of regular rotation , so that you might end up with someone from Phoenix being assigned to Toad Suck (because thats where the opening was at the time of hiring ) and working there for twenty years. In fact, I work for a state agency and transfers further than commuting distance are voluntary. None of that means it can’t be done, but it does mean that not only would a major cultural change be needed, but there would also be training costs when transferring officers around the state. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bail-industry-may-be-about-to-be-over/755345.md?page=3)