Except as may be provided otherwise in any case by State law, the Codified Ordinances, or other ordinance, whenever any person is arrested for any violation of an ordinance of the City or for any offense of which the Municipal Judge has jurisdiction, the Municipal Judge, Recorder, Municipal Court Clerk, Chief of Police and the Desk Sergeant or person in charge of Police Headquarters may admit such person to bail upon the execution of a bond to the City in such an amount, not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than the maximum fine which may be adjudged against such person for the offense or offenses he is alleged to have committed plus the costs which could be assessed against him, as in the discretion of the officer will secure the prisoner's presence, conditioned that the accused will appear upon a day named, before the Municipal Judge of the City, to await trial. Every such bond taken shall be filed as soon as practicable with the Municipal Court by the officer approving and taking such bond. The Municipal Judge, Recorder, Municipal Court Clerk, Chief of Police and the Desk Sergeant or person in charge of Police Headquarters shall each have the power to approve any bond taken under the provisions of this section, precedence being given to the ranking officer present when such bond is presented. No person shall be accepted as surety upon any penal bond unless he shall acknowledge the bond before some official duly authorized by the Codified Ordinances or by State law to administer an oath, and shall make oath that he is the owner in fee of real estate situated in the County and worth the amount of the bond over and above his debts and liabilities; but the officers hereinbefore named in this section are hereby authorized and empowered to accept a deposit in cash of an amount, not less than the minimum nor more than the maximum hereinbefore specified for a bond, which, in the judgment of the officer accepting the deposit, will be sufficient to cause the prisoner's appearance upon the day required of him before the Municipal Judge to await trial upon the charge against him. In the event any person so released upon bond or such deposit shall fail to appear before the Municipal Judge for trial at the appointing time, or, having appeared, shall leave the court without awaiting trial, his bond shall be forfeited thereby to the City, and if a cash deposit has been made to secure his release, the sum so deposited shall be delivered to the Municipal Judge and by him promptly turned into the City Treasury to the credit of the General Fund and accounted for by him in the same manner that fines collected by him are counted for; and in the event of the forfeiture of a penal bond, the Director of Finance shall forthwith take the steps necessary at law for the collection thereof.
(1976 Code Sec. 11-13)