They are people who are out on bail. Bail bonds companies put up the money that the court requires for a person to get out and not have to sit in jail the entire wait up to their trial. In exchange for this, whoever is asking the bailbond company to loan them the money has to give the bailbonds company a fee (usually 10% of the bail amount) and sometimes even collateral. So lets say you get arrested, the court sets a trial date for you a month for now and they say your bail is $30,000. Well, you call your wife and tell her to come bail you out, but yall don't have the 30k to hand over to the jail, so you go to the bail bonds company and gives them 3k and promises that you will go to trial.
Now, if you show up to court on your trial date, everything is fine. The bailbonds company has made 3k (reason that Dog and his family has so many new tahoes and surburband to ride around in) and they get their money back from the court that they put up for your bail.
But, if you don't show up for court, well, then a warrant is issued for your arrest. They will notify the bail bonds company that you dind't show and tell them that if you aren't found, they forfeit the 30k they put up to get you out. That is where bounty hunters come in. They are hired by the bail bonds company (or in Dog's case, they are the bail bond company, although if you watch his show, you will see that he also handles bounties for other companies) to track down the person who has "jumped bail" and to bring them in so that the bail bonds company can get its money back. Of course the cops are made aware of the warrant, and if they happen to get the person before the bounty hunter (as sometimes happens on Dog) then they will take the person in.
I'm sure there are limits and laws that vary slightly from state to state on what qualifications a bounty hunter needs to practice and what he is allowed to do. Most of them do carry guns. Dog doesn't carry a gun because Dog is a convicted felon and it is therefore a felony for him to have a gun. Also, Dog can't just go into someone's house without their consent. If you watch the show, you'll notice that whenever someone refuses to back down from him and just let him in, yet he feels strongly like the fugitive is in the place, he has to call the police and wait for them to arrive. However, he does try to trick and fool people into thinking they have to let him in to search by saying "We have a warrant!". It pisses me off a little bit. Yes he does have a court issued warrant, but it's a warrant for a person's arrest, not a search warrant, and it doestn't give him permission to enter a 3rd parties residence without their consent.
As far as him helping them with their jail time and stuff, alot of that is just talk. He can put in a good word for you, and it might help since he is who he is, but that's about it. He sometimes tells people that if they cooperate and give up contacts in the ice industry, that they will get reduced time, but it's not like the police aren't going to make that offer to them regardless.
It's a job that you can make alot of money in. Usually the bail bonds makes the person bailing you out sign something saying they agree to pay all expenses in case of a bail jump, and alot of the times, the company will simply pay the bounty hunter the 10% if they can bring the person in. So you hunt down 15 guys with 30k bonds and bring them in and you've made 45k. But it's also dangerous because you are hunting down criminals, and you are not the police, and chances are, they are going to view you as just another normal guy who for some reason thinks he's bad enough to take you in. It's best to do it with a team that try to do it alone.
I don't like that Tim guy. I'd like to see someone just beat the shit out of him in one episode.
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