Chattanooga Police Say Low Bond Fee Puts Public At Risk

Senator Pushes Regulation

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – “We’re not concerned about our job being easier, we’re concerned about people we put in jail who are a danger to the community staying in jail,” says Chattanooga Police Public Information Officer Sergeant Jeremy Eames.

Chattanooga Police have strong words about a bond system they say can put the public in danger. Zachary Smith was arrested on January 27th for the News Year’s Day murder of Ladarius Howard on Wilcox Boulevard. Smith was captured in Alabama with the help of several different agencies.

A judge set Smith’s bond at $700,000. Local bail bond companies set his bond fee at an extremely low percentage of that, which Smith was able to pay. Smith is now free, awaiting his trial.

“When you put a violent individual in jail and a family or community can breathe a little easier, there’s some satisfaction in that and now there’s people who can’t breathe as easy,” says Sergeant Eames.

Authorities say there’s no regulation over the minimum requirement a bond company can charge.

“If a judge thinks that the bond he sets is going to require a defendant to pay ten percent but in reality it’s going to be five percent or three percent or maybe even lower, then that undercuts the whole rational for setting a bond in the first place,” says Hamilton County Assistant Public Defender Boyd Patterson.

Senator Ferrell Haile of Sumner County, Tennessee is proposing legislation that will regulate bond company fees.