PBUS

Oklahoma Bail Agents Association Annual Conference: A Tremendous Success

Last week, I had the honor of attending the Oklahoma Bail Agents Association Annual Conference, and I can confidently say it was one of the finest state association conferences I have attended in recent years.

From start to finish, the event was exceptionally well organized and professionally executed. The conference featured outstanding educational sessions, excellent networking opportunities, great food, and a strong sense of camaraderie among members of the bail bond profession. With approximately 300 attendees, I would guess, the conference demonstrated the strength and vitality of Oklahoma's bail community.

A great deal of credit belongs to the Association's new Executive Director, Devon Dotson. Having only been hired in April, Devon faced the enormous challenge of organizing a major statewide conference in a very short period of time. She rose to that challenge brilliantly. Her professionalism, attention to detail, and dedication were evident throughout the event. Considering the limited time she had to prepare, the conference was an extraordinary accomplishment and a testament to her leadership abilities.

The speaker lineup was exceptional. Every presenter brought valuable information and insight to the attendees. The educational content was relevant, engaging, and beneficial to both new and experienced bail agents. During the conference, Devon asked me which speaker I enjoyed the most. While there were many outstanding presentations to choose from, I jokingly replied that my favorite speaker was the one I got to hear the most: Jon Eckols the Attorney General candidate. In reality, the quality of the speakers across the board made it difficult to choose a single favorite.

Beyond the educational sessions, one of the conference's greatest strengths was the opportunity for networking and collaboration. Bail agents from across Oklahoma came together to share ideas, discuss challenges facing our profession, and build relationships that will strengthen our industry for years to come.

On behalf of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS), I want to thank the Oklahoma Bail Agents Association for their hospitality and leadership. It was a privilege to participate in this outstanding event and to spend time with so many dedicated professionals who work every day to protect public safety and ensure accountability within our justice system.

Congratulations to Devon Dotson, the Oklahoma Bail Agents Association leadership team, and everyone who worked behind the scenes to make this conference such a tremendous success. We look forward to continuing our partnership and supporting the important work being done in Oklahoma.

David Stuckman
President
Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS)

This weekend, PBUS delivered.

Bail scams are targeting American families at their most vulnerable moment — and this profession is the only one sounding the alarm and leading the fight to stop them. These scams do not just steal money. They steal hope from families who are already desperate, and they do it by exploiting the very system designed to protect the accused. Professional bail agents are the line of defense standing between those families and the predators who prey on them.

The surety bail industry needs a national strategic plan and it needs one now. State associations are doing the work — showing up at state capitals, making donations, fighting bill by bill — but without coordinated national strategy, consistent messaging, and working agents driving the conversation, this profession will keep reacting while bail reform continues writing the rules. Politicians do not understand commercial surety bail. Court clerks do not understand it. And that ignorance is being weaponized against this industry every single day. That changes when we get proactive, get organized, and get unified behind a plan that has teeth.

Connie Allbritton has been in this profession for over thirty years. She owns and operates Big Red Bail Bonds, serves as PBUS Treasurer, and has built her entire career on professionalism, reliability, and genuine compassion for the people she serves. She is a mother of three sons and a grandmother of three. She did not build that legacy by accident — she built it by showing up every single day with integrity and purpose. That is what leadership in this profession looks like.

The pretrial release debate is not complicated — the data already decided it. The Yolo County District Attorney's Office put it in writing. Washington D.C. lived the consequences of abandoning surety bail and paid for it in skyrocketing rearrest rates and taxpayer costs that never stop climbing. Surety bail protects the presumption of innocence, costs taxpayers nothing, and holds the criminal justice system accountable in ways no government program has ever come close to matching. This is not opinion. This is the documented record.

PBUS was on the road in Oklahoma this weekend — board members standing side by side with agents, building the relationships and the unity that this profession runs on. National support for this industry is not a talking point. It showed up in person.

We have had a lot of powerful content to share this weekend, and every single piece of it matters. Content is only as good as the actions that result from us discussing these topics openly — and that means this work does not stop when the weekend ends.

Monday is upon us, and each and every one of us must share positive content so that others learn of our mission and the direction we are leading in. The people who need to understand what professional bail agents stand for are not going to find that information on their own. We have to put it in front of them — on every platform, in every conversation, with every share.

Your input and ideas are welcome here. The content from this weekend comes from a team of bail agents who want to make a difference, and that team grows every time someone new joins this conversation. You have ideas and we have time to listen. This profession wins when every voice in it is heard and every agent who cares enough to engage is given a seat at the table.

Together is how we win — not just this Monday, but every single day that follows.

The Bail Profession Needs a Strategic Plan — And We Need It Now

Let me be clear about where we stand. State associations across this country are already doing important work. They are showing up at their state capitals. They are attending political functions. Some are making political donations to candidates who support our profession. That effort matters and I want to acknowledge the leaders who are putting in that work.

But here is the hard truth. As a united profession, we are missing a strategic plan. We are operating without a coordinated direction that benefits bail agents nationally. Every state is working hard in its own corner, fighting the same battles, making the same arguments, without the benefit of a unified strategy behind them. That is not good enough anymore.

Politicians Are Voting on Laws They Don't Understand

Let's be blunt. Most politicians do not understand bail and how it benefits public safety. This is not an accusation — it is simply the reality of where we are. Accountability is a word that gets used constantly in political discussions, but it remains just a word until someone connects it to what it actually means — having people held responsible for their behavior in the court system, with real consequences when they are not.

We have talked for years about how court clerks are expected to understand bail laws they have never been exposed to. For many clerks, the only time they seriously think about bail law is when one of us is standing at a podium as a guest speaker at their conference. We show up, we speak, and then we leave. Nothing changes because nothing was ever built to make change happen.

The exact same problem exists with our legislators. The politicians who are voting on bail laws, writing bail legislation, and shaping pretrial policy in this country are largely operating without a real education on how commercial bail works, why it works, and what happens to public safety when it is removed. We have allowed that knowledge gap to exist. The bail reform movement has been more than happy to fill it with their narrative.
We have been mostly silent while they have been consistently loud.

What Silence Has Cost Us

The bail reform movement did not win legislative battles in state after state because their arguments were stronger. They won because they were organized, they were present, and they built relationships with legislators long before any vote was called. They educated. They advocated. They showed up not just at conferences but in offices, in committee rooms, and at campaign events.

Meanwhile, our profession has largely shown up after the damage was done — reacting to bad legislation instead of preventing it, defending our existence instead of advancing our position.

While others have tried to build this kind of political strategy before, the working bail agent's voice was intentionally left out. The strength behind this profession has always been the hard working bail agent. Any strategy that leaves that person out is not built to last.

That is the cost of operating without a strategy.

What We Are Proposing

The Professional Bail Agents of the United States wants to take the lead and change this. We are proposing a series of serious discussions — and a dedicated breakout session at the upcoming conference — focused specifically on how to strengthen our state associations and build a real, unified political voice across all 50 states.

This is not about forming a political organization. This is about the surety bail profession getting organized around a common strategy so that every state association is pulling in the same direction.

PBUS has the membership and the leadership to pull this strategy off. What has been missing is not the talent or the will — it is the plan.

That strategy has to address three things directly. First, how do we educate politicians about bail before they are voting on legislation that affects us — not after. Second, how do we identify and support pro-bail candidates at the state level, early, before they become decision makers. Third, how do we build a consistent message that the entire profession uses, so that what a bail agent says in Mississippi matches what a bail agent says in California.

The Conference Is the Starting Line

The breakout session at the upcoming conference needs to produce something real. Not a conversation. Not a summary of what was discussed. A plan — with leadership assigned, timelines set, and a commitment from state associations to execute it together.

We have the knowledge. We have the presence. We have the relationships in our communities. What we have been missing is the coordination to turn all of that into a political voice that legislators actually hear and respond to.

That changes now.

WOMEN LEADERS IN THE BAIL PROFESSION
Featuring Connie Allbritton
Owner, Big Red Bail Bonds | Treasurer, PBUS

Connie Allbritton has spent more than 30 years as a respected and dedicated bondsman, building a reputation grounded in professionalism, reliability, and genuine compassion. Throughout her career, she has helped countless families navigate some of the most difficult moments of their lives — always with understanding and integrity at the forefront of everything she does.

Since the early 2000s, Connie has successfully owned and operated Big Red Bail Bonds, earning the trust of clients and peers alike through her unwavering commitment to dependable service and strong community relationships. Her extensive knowledge of the bail industry, combined with her genuine care for the people she serves, has made her a well-known and trusted name in the field.

National Leadership: Treasurer of PBUS

Beyond her work in the field, Connie serves her fellow bail professionals at the national level as Treasurer of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS). In this role, she dedicates a significant amount of time to carefully balancing the organization's books, ensuring the financial integrity that PBUS members depend upon.

Connie also serves on the Multi-Briefs Committee, where she continues to demonstrate the work ethic and dedication that have defined her entire career. She is known among her colleagues as a hard worker who gives her full effort to every responsibility she takes on — a true servant leader in every sense of the word.

Family: The Heart of It All

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Connie is a proud mother of three sons and a loving grandmother to three grandchildren. Family has always been and remains at the very center of her life — and it is that love that continues to inspire the hard work and dedication she brings to both her business and her community each and every day.