The
colonial era of the United States saw the emergence of a
law enforcement system modeled on those in Europe. In the Northern Colonies, these consisted of
watchmen, who were employed by private citizens to police the streets and maintain order; in the
Southern Colonies, law enforcement was primarily centered around policing the large population of enslaved African Americans who worked on
plantations. These groups consisted of both planters and colonists which owned no slaves, and were paid by planters to search for escaped slaves. However, the Southern Colonies were much more sparsely populated than the Northern ones, presenting difficulties for slave catchers. Although slavery existed in the Northern Colonies, the majority of the enslaved population in Colonial America lived in the South, leading to a disproportionate amount of slave catchers being active in the region. Although historians have noted that the issue is underrepresented in American historiography, female planters would also participate in efforts to recapture escaped slaves. Nearly any prospecting individual could set out to be a slave hunter, but few were able to find much success. These Southern law enforcement groups, which continued to be active after the
American Revolution and the establishment of the United States, were created out of a need to maintain order among slaves and slave owners, rather than to protect the interests of the colonists which owned no slaves. Many Southern planters were considered irresponsible if their enslaved chattel property were allowed to escape, and it was a fear that more escapes would upend the system if not met with an immediate response. It was believed to be in the general interest of all planters to maintain discipline so that the enslaved did not have the chance to start a
slave rebellion. Under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, slave hunters could easily obtain an "Order of Removal", which approved the return of a runaway slave. However, these orders were often met with resistance from Northern abolitionists, who tried to intervene by blocking entry to the room where a fugitive was being held. Local government tried to shut this practice down by offering law enforcement agents a greater reward for returning a slave to the South than they could get from abolitionists who were willing to pay police to look the other way. During the
Civil War, these law enforcement groups met with great difficulty, primarily because most of the white men were off fighting in the war. With the men gone, the duty to keep slaves in line fell on the women, who also had households to run. Lack of punishment and a greater likelihood of successful escape caused more and more slaves to run away. With slave patrols stretched so thin, many slaves were able to escape, and were often aided by enemy invaders. Many of the slaves joined Union ranks, the
United States Colored Troops, taking up arms against their former owners. Slave owners hired people who made a living catching fugitive slaves. Since these slave catchers charged by the day and mile, many of them would travel long distances to hunt for fugitives. Slave catchers often used tracking dogs to sniff out their targets; these were called "negro dogs." Though they could be of multiple breeds, the most well-known breeds included the now-extinct Siberian and
Cuban Bloodhounds. If a slave reached the Northern
free states, a slave catcher's job was substantially more difficult; even if they did find the fugitive they could face resistance from anti-slavery citizens. If a slave managed to escape this far, slave owners typically sent an agent more closely connected to them, or put out notices about the escaped slave. ==Fugitive slave laws==