As the nation’s capital city, Washington, DC has some of the most unique regulations and statutes in regards to bail bondsman and bounty hunters. The laws regarding these career fields are very restrictive, and in practice bail bondsman have very limited authority to recover outstanding bails, but are still allowed to open and operate a bail bonds business. However, when there are discrepancies in a bail bondsman’s operation, the courts tend to refer back to common law, which grants bail bondsman the authority to make arrests and to recover bail bonds from people that are fleeing from the law.
Typically, bounty hunters are hired by bail bondsman in order to track down the people that have violated their bail bonds and recover the funds if possible. Since bail bondsmen operate as insurers, their salaries are derived from a percentage of the bond that they issue (typically around 10-percent,) while bounty hunters derive all of their income from a percentage per capture. Thus, the salary ranges for both professions can fluctuate dramatically from region to region.
Bounty Hunter Salary in Washington, DC
In the District of Columbia, a bounty hunter can expect to earn an annual average salary of $58,000, according to Indeed.com, which aggregates average job salaries based on job postings and other information specific to municipal areas.
Bail Bondsman Salary in Washington, DC
In Washington D.C., a bail bondsman can expect to make an average yearly salary of $24,000, according to Indeed.com. While the bail bondsman salary seems very low, the salary figures do not factor in what can be made from recovered bail bonds, which can double or even triple the average salary.