Are you worried that your worst nightmare is right and your loved one might currently be behind bars? Keep reading for information on how to find out if someone was arrested along with advice on how to get your dear love out of jail as quickly as possible.
Finding someone in jail
One of the most heartrending things that can happen in many families, other than severe sickness and injury, is the incarceration of a member of the family. In some ways, not knowing if someone is actually in jail is almost worse than learning that it is indeed true. Fortunately, we live in a country with a transparent criminal justice system, and it’s not difficult to find out if someone you love is locked up.
The simplest way to find out about an arrest is to wait for a phone call from the county lockup. While such a phone call is a welcome indicator that your family member is physically well, it’s essential that you never forget that these phone calls are always subject to being tape recorded. Indeed, many defendants are convicted based on large part to jailhouse phone calls.
If you think that someone is in jail and you’re too anxious to wait for a phone call, you can usually get an immediate answer by phoning the police department and local jail. CrimeWire notes that jails typically maintain unique phone numbers to use for inquiring about inmates at the facility. You can never go wrong in placing a phone call when you’re worried about how to find out if someone was arrested.
Next steps
Although it’s natural to want to help a loved one who is behind bars, it’s also smart to take a deep breath and calm down before you make any decisions. Chances are, your loved one will need to come up with enough money to meet the cost of a bail bond before walking out the front door of the county lockup.
Here’s how you can assist in helping your family member make bail.
- Cash – Do you have access to enough money to cover the entire bail amount? If you do, it’s a straight-forward process to post bail. You’ll get the money back at the end of the criminal case as long as the defendant appears at all court proceedings.
- Property – Another option is to temporarily sign over the title to something like your house or automobile to meet the total bail amount. Make sure that you trust that the defendant won’t skip out on the bail because you could end up losing your property while your loved one vacations in some foreign destination that doesn’t have an extradition agreement with the United States.
- Bail bondsman – What happens when you can’t cover the entire cost of the bail up front? The best answer is to contact a licensed bail bonds company in your area. The bail bondsman will post the bond in exchange for a non-refundable fee known as the bail bond premium. The cost typically amounts to somewhere between five and ten percent of the total bail amount.
Lastly, when you need to know how to find out if someone was arrested you don’t want to face an endless variety of bureaucratic hoops.
Luckily, a few quick phone calls to your local police station and jail will usually yield the relevant information. If you end up needing help with a bail bond, give Szar Bail Bonds a call, and we’ll get right to work bailing your loved one out of jail.
