How The System Works

HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS - EIGHT BASIC STEPS

  1. Someone reports a crime OR the police see someone committing a crime.
  2. Police investigate the crime.
  3. Police have a suspect in the crime.
  4. Police have probable cause to arrest the suspect.
  5. Police arrest the suspect, either on the scene or they later find him/her.
  6. The suspect, now called Defendant, gets arrested and goes to jail
  7. Bond is set

    Defendant either bonds out with a bail bond agency or waits to see a judge within 24 hours. (If the Defendant cannot afford to bond out of jail immediately – he/she will be brought before a judge for FIRST APPEARANCE/ADVISORY HEARING – AT THAT TIME THE JUDGE WILL EITHER:

    • RELEASE THE DEFENDANT ON THEIR OWN RECOGNIZANCE
    • LOWER THE BOND
    • LEAVE THE BOND AS IT IS
  1. Defendant is Released on their own Recognizance, pays the bond, pays a bondsman to pay the bond, or can’t afford the bond and stays in jail.