In late October there was an incident in Oklahoma City which occurred when bail bondsmen were apparently trying to serve a warrant for drug and robbery offences on Anthony Bruce. During the process, guns were fired and luckily no one was injured, but the suspect locked himself inside his home.
The police arrived and secured the area and eventually the suspect was taken into custody, both for the outstanding warrant and for the events that took place leading up to his arrest. He is currently being held without bond.
However the police also wanted to talk to the bounty hunters involved, as they had not followed correct procedure by informing police that they would be serving the warrant.
In addition, it used to be the case that anyone could say they were a bounty hunter, but a new law which came into effect a year ago, now states that all bail bonds recovery agents must be licensed through The Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, known as CLEET.
During the police investigations into the supposed bounty hunters, it was revealed that a man who said he was a bondsman asking for their assistance in finding Bruce contacted them. They were not, in fact, bona fide bounty hunters, and had actually arrived at the location in a vehicle that was later found to be stolen and which also had a meth pipe and other drug items inside. Police also discovered bounty hunter badges and clothes as well as firearms inside the vehicle. Police then took the two men in for questioning.
Oklahoma City bail bondsman Ken Boyer, who has been working with bounty hunters for around 40 years, confirmed that working as a bounty hunter could be not only complex but also dangerous and that there had been a few incidents which had led to the introduction of the new law requiring bounty hunters to be licensed.