LAWRENCEVILLE — From outside, the house was mostly dark, save a faint lamp or two — perhaps a television — dimmed by blinds and curtains. Room by room, overhead lights clicked on for a few seconds, then off.

Beams from high-powered flashlights swept across the darkness in the backyard, chasing shadows away, illuminating bushes and other possible hiding places.

Finally, satisfied that their target wasn’t on the premises, the agents returned to their vehicles.

Tonight, the hunt is over. Tomorrow, it continues.

Bounty hunting is a decades old profession that is legal only in the United States and the Republic of the Philippines.

For many, the term conjures up visions of armed vigilantes kicking down doors and hauling off accused criminals. Or, perhaps, tattered “wanted” posters tacked to a saloon and a posse of men, shotguns in hand, saddling up to bring an outlaw to justice — dead or alive.

Modern-day bounty hunters, often going by preferred industry names such as bail enforcement agents or fugitive recovery agents, may bear some resemblance to their predecessors, but are often highly trained and licensed.

In Georgia, the last decade has brought about much change in an evolving industry that the public, and even some law enforcement, labeled renegade.

Another misconception, bondsmen say, is that television reality shows — guns blazing and cars chasing — are reality.

Charles Shaw, owner of AA Professional Bail Bonding, said 90 percent of a bounty hunter’s job is mental.

“There are sometimes guns and chases, but we try to outthink people,” Shaw said. “For instance, I like doing raids between 4 and 7 in the morning. You have the cover of darkness and the partiers are just coming home. The folks who have legitimate jobs are likely asleep.”

The element of surprise is great, but the proper hardware can play a big role in personal safety, too.

Two men who track bail jumpers for Shaw, Chris Howard and Anthony “Smitty” Smith, take their personal safety seriously. Each man has invested in top-of-the-line protective equipment and state-of-the-art weapons they hope they never have to use.

During a fugitive search Monday evening, the pair roamed Gwinnett in a blacked-out Excursion, as vigilant as cops on patrol, as equipped as SWAT members ready to make entry.

Bulletproof vests are mandatory, they said, whether looking for an alleged scam artist or murderer. So are the two handguns strapped to each man and the AR-15 rifle resting nearby.

What some may see as overkill, they see as necessary precautions.

“The way I see it, an FTA (failure to appear) is an FTA,” Smith said. “You never know what’s going through someone’s mind, and I want to go home every night. Plus, if you get used to using (the gear) you have, it becomes automatic.”

“You can never underestimate the person you’re going after,” Howard added.

With being a bounty hunter comes great responsibility — and great potential liability. While armed with arrest warrants for bail skippers, Georgia law says that any bail recovery agent who “enters the wrong property, causes damage to said property or causes injury thereon is liable for all damages.”

Recovery agents are not exempt from criminal charges, either, and stories of excessive force and false arrests are not uncommon. Without the legal protection afforded to law enforcement personnel against injuries, bounty hunters have to be extra careful.

Ultimately, that liability lies with the professional bondsman employing the bounty hunters, whether as employees or contractors.

Shaw and Mike McNeal, of Joe Ray Bonding, said they have to be very careful about the types of personalities they grant arrest powers to.

“You have to use all precautions to make sure you stay in business,” McNeal said.

Some bounty hunters, doubling as private investigators, have numerous sources of information, from jail records to credit reports.

Of all the tools available to them, Howard and Smith agree on the most valuable.

“The streets are the best tool you can have,” Howard said. “Knowing the streets and earning the respect of people. Sometimes we’ll meet a (confidential informant) and they’ll be like, ‘Yeah, he’s staying at such and such place,’ or ‘Nah, I haven’t seen him but I’ll call you if I do.’”

In the worlds of bounty hunting and professional bail bonding, the two are often intertwined. Different aspects of the same industry.

“The backbone of the bonding company is good recovery,” said Howard, a 13-year veteran who once wrote bonds but prefers the thrill of rounding up fugitives.

Shaw has been in the business more than 28 years and has done his fair share of tracking. Between his bounty hunting duties and time spent with the Fulton County Marshal’s Department, he has put plenty of people in jail.

Nowadays he’d prefer to help them get out while serving the community.

“The business is challenging and exciting and lucrative, but we are serving a community purpose,” he said. “It eases jail overcrowding. We are like an extension of the jail with less constraint. Our return rate is better than any pretrial program.”

McNeal agrees.

“If not for the bonding process, taxes would be higher for building a bigger jail,” he said. “We aid and assist the judicial system.”

In Georgia, the bonding industry is regulated by the local sheriff. Bondsmen work at the discretion of the county’s top lawman, who must also approve all bounty hunters.

The bonding process itself is relatively simple, little more than a contractual agreement. When a person is incarcerated, if bond is granted, the court will allow that person to post a percentage of the total bond amount in exchange for their release.

If the defendant can’t put up cash or property to secure his or her own release, a bondsman can help. In Gwinnett, a bondsman will typically charge 12 to 15 percent of the bond, a nonrefundable fee for services rendered.

By doing so, the bondsman is essentially promising the court that the defendant will appear at all future court proceedings.

To help protect his investment, in addition to court stipulations, the bondsman can serve as a sort of pretrial probation officer, placing restrictions on the defendant ranging from weekly check-ins to GPS monitoring.

In Shaw’s words, “Our primary purpose is to see them to court.”

If the defendant skips, the bonding company is responsible for 100 percent of the bond. When the time comes, the agent needs to present a defendant or a check.

Shaw said his biggest payout was $24,000. Not pleasant, he said, but he’s seen worse.

McNeal once paid the courts $57,000 for a defendant he bonded out on burglary charges.

“He went to the neighboring county and was wanted for murder,” McNeal said. “So, he wasn’t running from the burglary charge, but he was my bond.”

Fortunately, McNeal apprehended the man about a month later and was able to petition the court, getting most of his money back.

In deciding who to bond out and who not to, both men said it’s a “risk versus reward” system. At any given time, both companies have a short list of violators, though many aren’t true absconders, just absent-minded.

“Most aren’t actually on the run,” Shaw said, “they just missed their court date for whatever reason.”

Ironically, Shaw and McNeal both said they would rather bail out an accused violent criminal than someone charged with credit card fraud.

“A lot of times, that alleged white collar criminal has spent his whole life trying to figure out how to get over on people,” Shaw said. “Now, he’s probably sitting there trying to figure out how to get over on me.”

McNeal said he prefers a serious charge and higher bond any day.

“For those, we’ll have everyone and their mama looking for them,” McNeal said. “And, the assistance of the government because they want those people in custody.”

For the most part, though, bondsmen say their clients are like any other. McNeal and Shaw use words like “courtesy,” “customer service” and “professionalism” when describing their business interactions.

“Most of the people we deal with are not bad people,” McNeal said. “They just made some bad choices. They’re my customers and when they leave, I say, ‘Thank you for your business.’”

The stigma attached to the commercial bail bonding is one many bondsmen and bounty hunters are looking to remove. Shaw, certified to conduct industry-mandated continuing education, believes the key to improving perception is constant improvement.

“Historically, there have been some bad characters in this business but we have tried diligently to be professional and move to a direction of being professional,” he said.