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Manhunt (law enforcement)

Extensive and thorough search for a wanted fugitive

Extensive and thorough search for a wanted fugitive

In law enforcement, a manhunt is a systematic search for a criminal.

A manhunt is conducted when the suspect believed to be responsible for a serious crime is at large and is believed to be within a certain area. Any police units within reach of the area will then participate in the search, each covering parts of the area. If possible, the officers will form a perimeter around the area, guarding any and all possible escape routes from the containment.

A manhunt may have one of the following outcomes:

  • The successful capture of the suspect within the area of the manhunt.
  • The death of the suspect within the area of the manhunt.
  • Escape from the area by the suspect, followed by plans by other law enforcement agencies to search for the suspect elsewhere.
  • The search being called off, if police determine the chances of catching the suspect are minimal.

Also, if the fugitive uses deadly force to resist law enforcement officers, they are typically authorized to respond in kind.

Fugitive manhunt agencies and organizations

  • AFOSI
  • Bounty hunter
  • British Security Service (MI5)
    • Greater London Metropolitan Police
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • FBI Hostage Rescue Team
  • INTERPOL
  • Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  • Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Teams
  • Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety
  • US Marshals Service
  • Central Reserve Police Force
    • CoBRA

Public involvement

Sometimes, police departments conducting manhunts will solicit help from the public in locating the suspect. They will do this by broadcasting a description and other information on television, radio, and other public media, by going door to door and asking individuals if they have seen the suspect, and by placing wanted posters in public places.

When this happens, citizens are advised not to personally confront the suspect, but rather to call police and report their sightings.

One type of manhunt for which public participation is normally sought is an Amber alert. In an Amber alert, the main purpose of the mission is to rescue the victim, ahead of the capture of the suspect. The public is usually given notice of an Amber alert through additional forms of media, including highway overhead signs and text messaging.

If anyone is found aiding the suspect in any way, such as helping the suspect in hiding, or providing false information to the police about the suspect, may face legal consequences themselves, even being charged for the same crime as the suspect.

Notable manhunts

Bombing suspects

  • 1993 World Trade Center bombing (Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Rahman Yasin)
  • Ahmad Khan Rahimi
  • Abu Ali al-Harithi
  • Boston Marathon bombing (Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev)
  • Centennial Olympic Park bombing (Eric Rudolph)
  • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
  • Oklahoma City bombing (Terry Nichols)
  • Osama bin Laden
  • Pan Am Flight 73 (Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini)
  • Pan Am Flight 103
  • Pan Am Flight 103 bombing investigation
  • Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber)
  • TWA Flight 847

Prison escapees

  • 2010 Arizona prison escape
  • 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape (Richard Matt and David Sweat)
  • Aafia Siddiqui
  • Ante Gotovina
  • Charles Victor Thompson
  • Clark Rockefeller
  • Clovis, New Mexico jail break
  • Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, escapees of Alcatraz during 1962. Their fates remain unknown.
  • El Chapo
  • Goran Hadžić
  • Mas Selamat bin Kastari
  • Mecklenburg Correctional Center escapees from Death Row
  • Operation Crevice
  • Operation Kratos
  • Project Coronado - a four-year manhunt which targeted members of the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
  • Radovan Karadžić
  • Ratko Mladić
  • Texas Seven
  • Danelo Cavalcante
  • Michael Burham
  • Gino Hagenkotter
  • TJ Lane
  • 2025 New Orleans jailbreak
  • Daniel Khalife, escaped HM Prison Wandsworth in 2022.

References

References

  1. "MANHUNT {{!}} definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary".
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manhunts criminal-investigation crime-prevention law-enforcement law-enforcement-terminology law-enforcement-techniques counterterrorism
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