Bounty Hunter Training

Bounty hunters go through a substantial amount of training before they are truly qualified to handle their jobs. You must have knowledge of and be experienced in skip tracing, surveillance, and state and federal legal policies. Fortunately there are many ways to get the bounty hunter training you will need.

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  • Law Enforcement Education & Training

    This is probably the best way to train to become a bounty hunter. Law enforcement officers learn everything a bounty hunter needs to know and also have mandatory physical training to get in shape for their job. In short, police officers and bounty hunters use all of the same skills, which makes it an easy way to accrue necessary experience.

  • Assist a Private Investigator

    Since private investigation and bounty hunter training overlap significantly, working with an experienced private investigator is a good way to pick up many useful bounty hunting skills and legal knowledge.

  • Bail agency training

    If you are lucky, you may be able to convince a bail agency to take you on as a trainee bounty hunter. If the bail agency chooses to do this, they will pair you up with a more experienced bail recovery agent or bounty hunter and let them train you. Once you have been trained by the bail agency, in most cases you will be asked to work exclusively for that agency.

  • Self-defense Courses

    An important part of bounty hunter training is being able to protect yourself, which makes it necessary to be trained in some method of self-defense. Some take Taekwondo while others take kick boxing or Krav Maga, but the outcome is still the same, bounty hunters must get physical training to defend themselves.

  • Miscellaneous Skills

    It takes many other skills to be a bounty hunter including: networking, thinking outside the box, perseverance, ability to communicate and work well with others, and deception skills. Deception skills, in this context, means being able to go undetected in a hostile environment (stealth) and gaining cooperation of fugitives or relatives and friends of fugitives. Undercover cops also undergo deception skills training.

Degree Recommendations For Bounty Hunter Jobs

While bounty hunting does not require a degree, like so many other jobs, formal education and degrees will make you a much more desirable candidate to employers and provide you with the knowledge and skill you will need to succeed.

We’ve compiled a list of degree recommendations for those seeking a career as a bounty hunter:

  • Criminal Justice Degrees

    It’s hard to go wrong with a criminal justice degree because as a bounty hunter, you are technically part of the criminal justice system. Having a degree in criminal justice or law enforcement will provide you with the fundamentals of crime prevention, apprehending criminals, investigating, tracing, as well as legal aspects of dealing with criminals. A criminal justice degree will act as the formal educational foundation; adding supplemental training such as self defense and firearm training to a criminal justice program is an excellent pairing for those seeking bounty hunter careers.

  • Private Investigation Programs

    A private investigation certificate or diploma program proves that you have all the necessary education and skills of a private investigator (tracking, skip tracing, fugitive apprehension, etc.) and most of the same skills apply in bounty hunting. Due to the vast amount of overlap in skill sets, this is a highly popular option for the aspiring bounty hunter.

  • Business Education

    The business aspect is less obvious but could be vitally important to your success as a bounty hunter. Most bounty hunters work as independent contractors for the bail bond agencies and are usually self-employed. If you fall into this category, you’ll have to manage your own finances, attract your own customers, figure out networking, effectively market yourself, and handle the hiring and firing of employees, and various other business related tasks. Taking some business courses or certificates for entrepreneurs will help you set up and build a successful operation.

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