You have your license, you passed the training,
and you’re armed and ready. You’re officially a bounty hunter.
But before you go out chasing those bail jumpers, there are a few more things to keep in mind.
Here are some more of the insane rules bounty hunters have to follow.
Bounty hunters have a lot of freedom when it comes to making arrests - they can even skip
a lot of that red tape the police have to deal with. But their authority is a bit more limited.
They’ve been deputized to bring in the skip - and only the skip.
Say they corner the bail-jumper in his home - but it turns out his elderly mother lives with him.
She starts throwing things at the bounty hunter and chasing him with her rolling pin,
yelling that her little boy did nothing wrong. A police officer would arrest her
as an accessory - but the bounty hunter doesn’t have any authority to detain her.
And they better be careful who they arrest.
It’s happened to a lot of people - the police arrest someone and lock them up in a cold cell,
only pulling them out to interrogate them. Then it turns out that the person they arrested was on
the jumbotron at the baseball game at the exact moment the crime was committed. They arrested
the wrong person and let him go - but good luck getting any compensation for the false arrest.
Police officers usually have immunity from being sued for false arrest unless there was excessive
misconduct, but bounty hunters don’t have that protection. They can be sued in civil court
as civilian agents if they think the wrong person fits the description of their skip.
And if they do catch the right person, they’d better mind their manners
Catching skips isn’t an easy job. The defendants will often do anything to avoid going back for
trial - and that includes getting violent with the bounty hunters. Bounty hunters can use force in
a similar way to police officers, restraining the escapee and using non-lethal force to subdue them.
But like police, their use of force is strictly regulated. They can’t use any level of excessive
force, so no injuring a skip once they’ve been subdued - and you’d better believe that any
injuries on the bail jumper will be scrutinized once they’re brought to jail. If a bounty hunter
is found to have used excessive force, they could face either civil or criminal charges.
And if they do cross the line, there are people ready to make them answer for it.
There are a lot of risks to a bounty hunter’s job. Even the best agent can run into trouble
when scrapping with a particularly violent skip, or when chasing one in a crowd. Car chases can
result in property damage, and there’s always the chance that pinning one to the ground will
result in a broken arm. Egregious cases of abuse will be dealt with by the state police department
and could result in criminal charges or loss of their license, but other civil cases are typically
dealt with through the state’s department of insurance and many are settled out of court.
A lot of bounty hunters use a system to minimize this risk.
If a bounty hunter is out on their own hunting a skip, they’re more likely to make a mistake.
That’s where another position comes into play. Did you ever want to be a bounty hunter…without
leaving your couch? After all, scrapping with skips might make it hard to play in that Super
Smash Bros tournament. That’s why some people choose to become Skiptracers. These digital
bounty hunters often work for bail bond agencies and track bounty hunters down through other means,
like searching their social media activity for any place they’ve checked in. After all,
with massive social media networks tracking our every move,
some people give away their location without ever knowing it - as people
who called in sick and then checked in at the movie theater found out from their angry boss.
So is it just open season on anyone awaiting trial for bounty hunters to come after them?
Not exactly - but most people who are out on bond agree to it without ever realizing it. When they
sign the bond agreement with the court and the bail bond agency, it’s usually in the contract
that bounty hunters can come and retrieve them if they violate the terms. In cases where the
client personally puts up the full cash bail, it often falls to the police to track them down and
apprehend them for skipping bail - which actually might make it easier to get away
since the police have more restrictions barring them from entering a residence.
And different states have different laws-
potentially putting a bounty hunter in serious legal risk.
Bounty hunters should know their geography before kicking off their next hunt. If they’re licensed
in one state, they can usually pursue the skip all across the state - no matter how
many county lines they have to cross. But state lines are a different matter.
All fifty states have extradition agreements with each other, but not all permit bounty
hunters to operate. Kentucky, for instance, abolished its bail bond system and requires
bail to be paid directly through the court system. So no bounty hunting is
allowed in the state - unless the suspect is facing federal charges and fled to Kentucky.
But what about when things get especially intense?
It’s one of the most famous images in western films - a poster reading “Wanted - Dead or
Alive”. The fugitive who sees that knows that there’s a price on their head - and the bounty
hunter who finds them might just decide that it’s easier to bring their head back than tie
them up and strap them to a horse. Those days of the wild west are long gone,
but bounty hunters do still have the authority to use lethal force - that’s why they’re allowed
to carry guns in most states. The rules for it are very different than they used to be,
though. Now, bounty hunters are only allowed to use lethal force if there’s a legitimate danger
to their life or to the lives of civilians due to the actions of the bail-jumper - and just
like any police officer who discharges their weapon, you’d better believe any
fatal shooting by a bounty hunter will be closely scrutinized by the authorities.
This even applied back in the west - in one of the most infamous killings of all time.
Jesse James was a wanted man, and Governor Thomas Crittenden was willing to pay.
The state of Missouri, backed by several rail companies, offered a $5000
reward for the notorious thief - upwards of $130,000 today! Two of James’ fellow outlaws,
Charley and Robert Ford, ambushed him while having breakfast and shot him in the back of the head.
When they showed up to collect their reward, the two criminals turned bounty hunters found
themselves locked up instead. Because even in those wild days of cowboys and bandits,
you weren’t allowed to shoot an unarmed man while his back was turned to collect a bounty on him.
But most people might know about bounty hunters from another, more futuristic source.
The most famous bounty hunter in the world is probably Boba Fett - the armored clone
warrior who earned the hatred of Star Wars fans when he captured Han Solo - and their
adoration when he protected Baby Yoda. He’s not the only bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe,
with assorted aliens and droids competing to collect bounties. But anyone who patterns
themselves after these rogues will probably find themselves locked up
pretty quickly - because most bounty hunters in the movies are essentially private mercenaries,
not agents of the law. Case in point, Boba Fett turned over Han Solo not to the authorities, but
to the giant slug who hired him. That’s not bounty hunting, that’s just kidnapping - and bounty
hunters aren’t actually allowed to work for anyone but the court system and their bail bond agency.
But if you really wanted to, could you wear a Boba Fett costume while arresting skips?
That depends on your state! In most states, you can wear whatever you want and many bounty
hunters take advantage of the element of surprise. It’s like a more full-contact version of process
servers - you never know who might actually be a trained agent looking to drag you back to court.
But this isn’t the case everywhere - and if you’re a fugitive hiding out in the big easy,
you might have a little edge over your pursuer. The state of Louisiana is the only state where
bounty hunting is legal but agents are required to wear identifying clothing when arresting someone
in their home. This is to make it harder for people to claim to be bounty hunters when they’re
actually just kidnappers or scammers. Meanwhile, Minnesota bans them from driving white, black,
maroon, or dark green vehicles, or wearing colors that are associated with the police.
Texas, meanwhile, takes an unusual approach.
Some states ban anyone who works in law enforcement from being a bounty hunter. After all,
you don’t want a conflict of interest. But Texas is just fine with it - in fact, they require all
bounty hunters to be either peace officers, armed security officers with level three clearance,
or private investigators certified by the state. This limits the number of bounty hunters in the
state, but has its advantages - anyone who is authorized to hunt bounties in Texas has likely
already passed training and background checks, so you don’t have to worry about your drunk
uncle Billy who decided to become a bounty hunter after watching a Dog the Bounty Hunter marathon.
And in four states, it’s probably best not to waste any time chasing skips.
Oregon, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Illinois are the only states to ban the practice of bounty hunting
entirely. What else do these four states have in common? They’ve also banned commercial bail bonds.
All four states ban any commercial organization from paying bail for a criminal defendant and
instead require individuals or their relatives to pay the bond directly to the court system or jail
where the person has been held. But if a fugitive jumps bail and heads to these states, they’re not
free and clear. The warrant for their arrest is still valid and will be carried out by the legal
system - but that might mean no payday for the bounty hunter who has the contract out for them.
But what about outside our borders?
Bounty hunting is a big business in the US - but that’s where it’s supposed to end. One of the
top warnings you’ll hear when talking to veteran bounty hunters is that what happens in America,
stays in America. For a bounty hunter to apprehend someone, the crime they’re
charged with has to be recognized as a crime in their jurisdiction and the justice system
there has to have some authority over it. To apprehend a fugitive from abroad
is usually a complex legal maneuver involving extradition treaties - and even between allies,
there may be situations where a court declines to extradite someone hiding out in a foreign country.
Not that this has stopped some bounty hunters.
Even within the confines of the US mainland, bounty hunters need to be careful - sovereign
Native American territories within the borders don’t recognize outside bounty hunters. And
bounty hunters who hunt illegally outside their jurisdiction can find themselves in major legal
trouble - like the infamous Duane “Dog” Chapman did when he apprehended fugitive Andrew Luster.
The millionaire felon was wanted - but he was hiding out in Mexico, and our southern neighbor
took violations of their sovereignty seriously. Dog was released but was later nearly extradited
back to Mexico to face trial - until the statute of limitations expired. Dog insists he was
following Mexico’s citizen’s arrest law - but most legal experts and fellow bounty hunters disagree.
But bounty hunters who cross the line can face even bigger trouble.
Sidney Jaffe was a Canadian businessman born in the US who got himself in trouble in Florida
on land fraud charges. After facing trial and posting bond with the help
of Accredited Surety & Casualty, he fled to Canada where he had lived for several years,
and applied for citizenship. The bail bond company stood to lose $137,500 dollars if he
disappeared - so they deputized two men, Timm Johnsen and Daniel Kear,
to travel to Canada and get him back. They grabbed Jaffe while he was jogging and took
him back to the US - but Jaffe claimed that he was kidnapped and they threatened to kill him.
It would be the start of one of the ugliest affairs in US-Canada
relations since the war of 1812. While Jaffe was convicted,
the verdict was overturned in 1983. Florida soon issued new charges against him, and he
posted bail again and returned to Toronto. He was found guilty of contempt of court in
absentia, but at the same time, Canada opened an investigation into the initial capture of Jaffe.
The US Secretary of State soon got involved, asking Florida to dismiss the charges in order
to not hurt US-Canada relations any further. While the legal wrangling over Jaffe’s case was ongoing,
Johnsen and Kear were extradited to Canada and eventually convicted of kidnapping. It was one
of the only cases of its kind, although their sentences were eventually reduced to time served.
But sometimes, governments skirt the law on this issue - at great risk to the hunters.
In the aftermath of World War II, many Nazi leaders fled prosecution - the most infamous
of which was Adolf Eichmann, one of Hitler’s right-hand men. The Nazi loyalist was hiding
out in Argentina, which refused to cooperate with the state of Israel in extraditing him.
Unwilling to let a collaborator in the murder of millions walk away,
Israel deputized an elite team of Mossad and Shin Bet agents to hunt him down and bring him back to
Israel to face trial. While not technically bounty hunters, as they were agents of their government
rather than a private company, they essentially functioned as such once they landed in Argentina.
And one wrong move could cause an international crisis.
The government decided to capture him rather than execute him, and the team stalked Eichmann
in Buenos Aires until they found the perfect opportunity to capture him. Three Mossad men
grabbed him, hid him in their car under a blanket, and kept him in a safe house for nine days until
they took him to the airport. If discovered, Argentina would likely protect Eichmann and
arrest the agents - so they sedated him, dressed him as a flight attendant, and snuck him out of
the country on a diplomatic flight. The abduction caused an international firestorm, but the Nazi
war criminal was brought back to Israel where he was put on trial and executed. But the risks to
the agents drive home the dangers for any bounty hunter who decides to cross national borders.
But even within borders, bounty hunters need to be careful what cases they take.
It might be tempting to freelance, especially if the client is offering some big money.
Maybe a prominent citizen wants you to bring in a guy who cheated on his
daughter. He just wants to talk, you see. Or maybe someone with an outstanding judgment
in a civil case wants some help collecting. But these aren’t considered bounty hunting
cases - they’re just considered kidnapping or shakedowns. Bounty hunters are only allowed
to take cases under one circumstance - a bail skip where the court has issued a warrant for
their arrest. Bounty hunters who also work as private investigators or detectives can
also investigate other cases, but they have no jurisdiction to bring them in.
But it wasn’t always that way - and bounty hunters
used to be employed for all sorts of unsavory causes.
“John of the Priests” sounds like a man of God, but he was actually anything but. The man
born John Mullowney in the late 1600s started life as a notorious drunkard and horse thief.
Caught and facing the gallows, he was given a unique opportunity by The Sheriff of Mayo.
The Protestant monarch Queen Anne was seeking to eliminate the Roman Catholic religion and
all Priests had been ordered to convert or face imprisonment or death. Mullowney was given the
task to stalk and ambush priests, even showing up at churches for confession and stabbing the priest
through the wall of the enclave. This made him one of the most hated men in
Ireland - and it eventually caught up to him when he was ambushed by a mob of Catholics and killed.
It wasn’t the only time a regime enlisted the public to hunt their enemies.
In Nazi Germany, it didn’t take much to get sentenced to death - often, who you were born
was more than enough. As Hitler’s regime closed in, many Jewish people fled Germany and tried
to find safety in neighboring countries. But as Germany expanded its territory,
Hitler was obsessed with rooting out every last Jewish person - and he had a lot of
help. The Henneicke Column, a group of Dutch Nazi sympathizers, made a full-time living
identifying and turning in Jewish people in the Netherlands who were in hiding. They were paid
just under five dollars per successful tip in today’s US dollars - which is awfully cheap for
human life. But the collaborators were eventually held accountable,
with most members being put on trial after the war and many being initially sentenced to death.
And even in the United States, some bounty hunters worked for human rights violators.
For those born into slavery, there were only two paths to freedom - buy your freedom,
which was almost impossible for someone forced to work for no pay their whole life;
or take it by running to a free state. But the United States recognized escaped slaves as
property until slavery was abolished - which meant that slave catchers could come to free states,
kidnap escaped slaves, and transport them back to the south. This was one of the
most controversial elements of the debate over slavery that led to the civil war,
especially since many of these slave catchers were notoriously corrupt. Most famously, Solomon
Northrup was kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery down south - and no one down there
cared about his protests that he was born free. It took twelve years for his freedom to be restored.
But most bounty hunters followed a common path.
The profession of bounty hunting had been going for hundreds of years,
but it became more prominent when wanted posters and rewards for apprehending fugitives became more
common. While running in a fugitive might have been a task for a mercenary in the old days,
starting in the old west those who brought in escapees were more likely to be scrutinized
as well. And that meant that they had to abide by the law. Gone were the days of the grizzled
mercenary being sent out to kill someone that the cops couldn’t find - now there was red
tape to contend with, and bounty hunters couldn’t just kill someone without cause.
But that didn’t mean the escapees weren’t going to try to kill THEM.
While not every capture of a skip is likely to be a life-threatening event,
it’s always a possibility. How violent a skip becomes might depend on how desperate they are.
A criminal out on bail for theft who runs isn’t as likely to risk turning
a potential one-year sentence into a life sentence for killing a bounty hunter. But
someone who is facing decades in prison might not feel they have anything to lose.
Skips are often serious about staying ahead of the law, and they can react violently when cornered.
They’ve been known to attack bounty hunters, sometimes with deadly weapons.
Fortunately, bounty hunters are allowed to protect themselves.
What are bounty hunters allowed to carry to defend themselves? Pretty much anything they
want - within the law. Bounty hunters aren’t cops and don’t have to follow a standard code
of conduct. Bounty hunters are often armed and carry smaller weapons like incapacitating sprays,
blunt objects like clubs, and protective gear like bulletproof vests. Just make sure
to check the local laws - what’s legal to carry varies from state to state,
and unless the state makes an exception for bounty hunters, using the wrong tool
could bring a hefty fine or worse. Of course, sometimes the best weapon is your own body, which
is why many bounty hunters are trained in unarmed combat. If a skip gets belligerent, a well-trained
agent can easily pin them and handcuff them with a well-timed hold without ever drawing a weapon.
And some bounty hunters have faced extreme challenges.
Bounty targets have resorted to some extreme methods to get away,
and they sometimes have help. Bounty hunters have found themselves fighting not just the
target - but their significant other, siblings, friends, or even their parents. They’ve had to
jump on the car of a fleeing fugitive to try to get them to stop - and several have
been seriously injured while trying that risky move. Of course, some skips use less violent
means to get away - including trying to bribe the bounty hunter with money or even with sex.
Taking this deal might get the bounty hunter charged with aiding and abetting a
fugitive - and even worse, would definitely get them fired and blacklisted from their agency.
But there is often a ticking clock on that money.
In some cases, bounty hunting is an open-ended contract, but these are rare. In most cases,
the bounty hunter’s agency and the court will give them a year to get their hands on the fugitive and
bring them back. That means that the best advice a fugitive could get is to move on, get to another
state - or even another country - and not contact anyone from their old life. That’s usually how
most skips in the wind are finally caught. But a year is a long time to be isolated from family
and friends, and most usually give themselves away eventually. And while it’s easy to get lazy when
the clock is ticking down, the bounty hunter is likely to be searching more aggressively
than ever in those last days. And even if the bounty goes away, the warrant doesn’t - so the
skip might be dealing with the cops instead of a bounty hunter if they try to return.
But one tactic can raise quite a bit of controversy.
Say a fugitive has been on the run for a while. They’ve settled into their new life,
are staying clean, and haven’t thought about that old warrant for a while.
They meet a new guy at the bar, hit it off, and become friends. They even let the guy into their
house - not knowing that their new friend is secretly looking for proof that they’re
the person they’re looking for. And as soon as they get it, their new friend slaps the cuffs
on them. It’s like dealing with an undercover officer - except there’s no badge to be seen.
While in Louisiana bounty hunters have to identify themselves, in most states it’s
completely legal to lie to your target to get close to them. There’s a lot of money on the
line in bounty hunting, and these companies aren’t playing by the rules of Miss Manners.
But many bounty hunters have one surprising pet peeve.
They don’t like to be called bounty hunters. That title gives the impression of shady
mercenaries - which might be why people keep wondering if they can track down that cheating
boyfriend. Additionally, the title is most associated with celebrity bounty
hunter Duane Chapman, who is…controversial in the community to put it lightly. Most bounty
hunters like to be called bail enforcement agents or fugitive recovery agents and view
themselves as another arm of the justice system. They even have their own professional association.
Bounty hunters are professionals, with a strict set of rules to follow - and most
people will never encounter them. But for those who do - they’re not easily stopped.
For more on this strange industry, check out “How Do Jail Bonds ACTUALLY Work?” or watch
“FBI’s Most Violent Wanted of All Time” for where the biggest bounties might be waiting.