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NJ: bounty hunters get to keep guns
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
State bounty hunters get to keep guns
By Peggy Wright, Daily Record
Sidestepping deep debate over whether bounty hunters should be allowed to capture fugitives in New Jersey, an appeals court on Wednesday ruled that their right to carry a handgun on the job should continue to be granted on a case-by-case basis.
The prelude to the ruling - eagerly awaited by fugitive recovery agents, the so-called bounty hunters - were decisions in 2002 by judges in Morris and Cumberland counties on whether five agents met the criteria of "justifiable need" to carry a concealed weapon in picking up bail jumpers.
In January 2002, now-retired Superior Court Assignment Judge Reginald Stanton in Morris County created a furor when he denied Chester Township resident Charles P. Borinsky's bid to carry a gun as a fugitive recovery agent for a Newark firm. Later, in April 2002, Stanton denied a similar request from Joseph W. Haffner Jr., who worked for Affordable Bail Bonds in Morristown.
The judge found that both men satisfied statutory requirements - good character and thorough ability to handle a gun - but denied the permits, saying that trained law enforcement officers who are accountable to the public, and not bounty hunters, should be responsible for rounding up fugitives.
Stanton denounced as "bad law" an 1872 U.S. Supreme Court case, Taylor v. Taintor, which is regularly cited by bail agents as the authority for the nearly unfettered latitude they have in performing their jobs, with or without weapons.
New Jersey's appellate judges on Wednesday denied carry permits for the two Morris County applicants and three others in Cumberland County, but they refused to adopt Stanton's view that fugitive recovery agents, as a class, ought not be granted permits, saying the Legislature has never adopted such a broad disqualification. Likewise, the appeals court also refused to adopt the Cumberland County judge's view that recovery agents should receive permits because of dangers inherent in their jobs.
The court said the right to carry a weapon would continue to be assessed case-by-case and found that all five applicants had not met the "justifiable need" criteria.
Bob Burton, training director of the Chicago-based National Institute of Bail Enforcement, said the ruling appears to preserve the status quo. Burton said he believes bounty hunters will never be eliminated because their apprehensions cost taxpayers nothing and already stretched police departments do not have manpower to chase bail jumpers.
Evan Nappen, the lawyer for Borinsky, was disappointed by the ruling. He said he expected clearer guidelines on the overall authority of bounty hunters. Right now, the state has no law directly addressing the rights of bail enforcement officers to carry weapons, so existing gun laws that require scrutiny of character, gun-handling ability and justifiable need are applied.
To protect the bonds they underwrite, bail bondsmen hire bounty hunters or fugitive recovery agents to track down defendants who have "jumped bail" by failing to appear in court when required or flouted other bail conditions.
"It's disappointing because I think the appellate division ducked the issue. Judge Stanton had gone on the line and said they don't have a right to make an apprehension. We want to know what these guys have a right to do," Nappen said.
The Morris County Prosecutor's Office and the state Attorney General's Office had pushed for an end to the historic practice of bounty hunting, arguing that it poses a risk to public safety and that decisions on permits are inconsistent across the state, depending on which Superior Court judge rules on an application.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Connor called the boundaries of bounty hunting "an area ripe for examination." Right now, New Jersey has no minimum training requirements for bounty hunters.
"What do they have the right to do, what powers of arrest should they have?" Connor said, adding that the Legislature may have to address the role and training of bounty hunters.
Bail bondsman Tim Medini, owner of Affordable Bail Bonds in Morristown, said he believes a gun is a necessity to a fugitive recovery agent, who may not necessarily ever draw or point his weapon, but needs it to protect himself on the job. But, he said, he could live with the case-by-case ruling of the appellate division, since the industry does attract some unfit people or wannabe "cowboys or police" seeking what they view as an exciting job.
Without outright stating whether bounty hunting is safe or not for society, the appellate division did say "it is not inappropriate that the applicants should be discouraged from their private pursuit of armed and dangerous fugitives . and relegated to the need to seek police assistance."
Peggy Wright can be reached at pwright@gannett.com or (973) 267-1142.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news2-Bountyhunters.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
By Peggy Wright, Daily Record
Sidestepping deep debate over whether bounty hunters should be allowed to capture fugitives in New Jersey, an appeals court on Wednesday ruled that their right to carry a handgun on the job should continue to be granted on a case-by-case basis.
The prelude to the ruling - eagerly awaited by fugitive recovery agents, the so-called bounty hunters - were decisions in 2002 by judges in Morris and Cumberland counties on whether five agents met the criteria of "justifiable need" to carry a concealed weapon in picking up bail jumpers.
In January 2002, now-retired Superior Court Assignment Judge Reginald Stanton in Morris County created a furor when he denied Chester Township resident Charles P. Borinsky's bid to carry a gun as a fugitive recovery agent for a Newark firm. Later, in April 2002, Stanton denied a similar request from Joseph W. Haffner Jr., who worked for Affordable Bail Bonds in Morristown.
The judge found that both men satisfied statutory requirements - good character and thorough ability to handle a gun - but denied the permits, saying that trained law enforcement officers who are accountable to the public, and not bounty hunters, should be responsible for rounding up fugitives.
Stanton denounced as "bad law" an 1872 U.S. Supreme Court case, Taylor v. Taintor, which is regularly cited by bail agents as the authority for the nearly unfettered latitude they have in performing their jobs, with or without weapons.
New Jersey's appellate judges on Wednesday denied carry permits for the two Morris County applicants and three others in Cumberland County, but they refused to adopt Stanton's view that fugitive recovery agents, as a class, ought not be granted permits, saying the Legislature has never adopted such a broad disqualification. Likewise, the appeals court also refused to adopt the Cumberland County judge's view that recovery agents should receive permits because of dangers inherent in their jobs.
The court said the right to carry a weapon would continue to be assessed case-by-case and found that all five applicants had not met the "justifiable need" criteria.
Bob Burton, training director of the Chicago-based National Institute of Bail Enforcement, said the ruling appears to preserve the status quo. Burton said he believes bounty hunters will never be eliminated because their apprehensions cost taxpayers nothing and already stretched police departments do not have manpower to chase bail jumpers.
Evan Nappen, the lawyer for Borinsky, was disappointed by the ruling. He said he expected clearer guidelines on the overall authority of bounty hunters. Right now, the state has no law directly addressing the rights of bail enforcement officers to carry weapons, so existing gun laws that require scrutiny of character, gun-handling ability and justifiable need are applied.
To protect the bonds they underwrite, bail bondsmen hire bounty hunters or fugitive recovery agents to track down defendants who have "jumped bail" by failing to appear in court when required or flouted other bail conditions.
"It's disappointing because I think the appellate division ducked the issue. Judge Stanton had gone on the line and said they don't have a right to make an apprehension. We want to know what these guys have a right to do," Nappen said.
The Morris County Prosecutor's Office and the state Attorney General's Office had pushed for an end to the historic practice of bounty hunting, arguing that it poses a risk to public safety and that decisions on permits are inconsistent across the state, depending on which Superior Court judge rules on an application.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Connor called the boundaries of bounty hunting "an area ripe for examination." Right now, New Jersey has no minimum training requirements for bounty hunters.
"What do they have the right to do, what powers of arrest should they have?" Connor said, adding that the Legislature may have to address the role and training of bounty hunters.
Bail bondsman Tim Medini, owner of Affordable Bail Bonds in Morristown, said he believes a gun is a necessity to a fugitive recovery agent, who may not necessarily ever draw or point his weapon, but needs it to protect himself on the job. But, he said, he could live with the case-by-case ruling of the appellate division, since the industry does attract some unfit people or wannabe "cowboys or police" seeking what they view as an exciting job.
Without outright stating whether bounty hunting is safe or not for society, the appellate division did say "it is not inappropriate that the applicants should be discouraged from their private pursuit of armed and dangerous fugitives . and relegated to the need to seek police assistance."
Peggy Wright can be reached at pwright@gannett.com or (973) 267-1142.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news2-Bountyhunters.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Comments
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australian gun maker Metal Storm Ltd. and the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the United States said Friday they had signed an agreement to manufacture a ``smart gun'' that can only be fired by its owner.
In a joint statement the company and the New Jersey Institute, which is based in Hoboken, N.J., said under the agreement they would combine Metal Storm's electronic handgun known as the O'Dwyer Vle, with the institute's ``dynamic grip recognition'' technology.
The institute's vice president for research and development, Donald H. Sebastian, said Metal Storm's electronic handgun is ``the most viable option'' for using its smart gun technology.
He said the gun would meet standards under New Jersey laws passed last year which require smart gun technology to be used in all new handguns sold three years after the state attorney general determines a smart gun prototype is safe and commercially available.
The owner would have his or her grip programmed at a gun shop or police range by practice-firing the weapon. A microchip in the weapon would remember the grip and determine in an instant whether the authorized user was holding the weapon. If not, the gun would not fire.
Metal Storm's Australian general manager Ian Gillespie said the new handgun would go into production in the next couple of years.
``It is it a very robust system that can work in all kinds of extreme conditions, left or right hand, whether you are wearing gloves or not, and even whether you are in muddy or wet conditions,'' he said. ``It can also be programmed for multiple users if required.''
Metal Storm shares climbed 41 percent to 60 Australian cents (38.4 cents) on the Australian Stock Exchange following the announcement.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/6650043.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Typos and profanity, oh my! http://www.funky-town.org