This is a case of “you better be goddamned certain before you pull the trigger.”
Frederick Randle Jr., owner of UMMC Investigations of Cypress, Texas, is a PI and a bounty hunter. Randle was arrested for a shootout in which he and his crew mistook a homeowner for a fugitive pedophile who had a warrant for his arrest.
“…the night before the shootout Private Investigator Randle was hired to arrest a fugitive child predator. After running surveillance and confirming with a neighbor the man lived there, Randle and his two employees went to the Cypress home, finding the homeowner outside.
“We saw him by the driveway. Then he went into the garage. My employee followed him in and my other employee followed him in and all of a sudden the garage closed on them and it trapped them inside. Then from that point, I heard gunshots,” Randle explains.
Randle says the homeowner opened fire on his two employees, Licensed Private Investigators Frederic Siddique and Angel Galvan. He says Siddique ultimately shot back. Galvan was shot in the arm.
“They were behaving in a manner in relation to their training and policy provided to them by the state of Texas,” says Carter.
The bounty hunters thought they were in a shootout with their fugitive but the ‘wanted man’ actually no longer lives there and the homeowner thought he was being robbed.
Stupid is as stupid does. I like it when ‘stand your ground’ meets ‘I am a bail enforcement agent’.
It appears that the problem with this Randle incident is one of incompetence/sloppy procedure, perhaps even one of a perfect storm of misunderstandings on both sides.
Without knowing too much else, I would side with the homeowner (as apparently local law enforcement has done). You have three scary looking dudes showing up with guns and no idea why they’re there, let alone by which rights they entered your garage. You have your family in the house. I would shoot too to keep them out of the house and away from my family.
Meanwhile, Randle’s attorney claims-that his clients followed proper procedure and local law. Of course, it’s his job to say so; time will tell. Although the local sheriff’s office claims that “the bail enforcement company did not notify law enforcement agencies that they would be conducting a bail jumping warrant, though it is standard practice to do so. “Of course, it is anyone’s guess what good such a notification would have done. Had this indeed been handled properly by the PIs, would uniformed sheriffs have assisted and maybe helped prevent this escalation? Or would they just have considered themselves “notified” and done nothing further, assuring a similar outcome?
So is this on Randle, or is this a failure of a system that would in fact enable incidents such as this one?
Additionally, stories are common of PIs being used for purposes of harassment and intimidation such as setting up outside a person’s home for days on end and tailing them. Apparently, this is legal as long as the claim is made that this is done in the course of litigation. Or even “pre-litigation” which provides carte blanche to do this to anyone they please.
I would like to propose a story suggestion: You’re a PI. Your typical readers are not. Some education may be in order. What are the qualifications and licensing procedures to become a PI? Is a license readily available to all comers who can pass a background check, or are formal training and/or supervision required? Does a PI license provide any advantages in obtaining a carry permit, or is a PI essentially a civilian who may or may not be allowed to carry based on local laws applicable to us all?
Perhaps most importantly: What kind of law enforcement privileges does a PI license bestow on its holder? For example, if I were to follow a person around claiming that I may sue them at some point in the indeterminate future for something yet to be determined, I’m fairly certain that the police would run me off and threaten me with prosecution. A restraining order would be all but assured. If I were a PI, it seems that would give me license to do so.
Or in this case, how aggressively is a PI allowed to violate the sanctity of a person’s home–even if they are in fact a bail jumper? It would be great to get a little context to your reporting. Thanks!