In law enforcement, a manhunt is an extensive and thorough search for a wanted and dangerous fugitive involving the use of police units, technology, and help from the public.
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
1993 shootings at CIA Headquarters
2001 anthrax attacks
2010 Northumbria Police manhunt
2015 death of Joe Gliniewicz
2019 Northern British Columbia murders
2023 Lewiston shootings
Adam Yahiye Gadahn
Adolf Eichmann
Albert Johnson
Aribert Heim
Beltway sniper attacks and search for John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo
Bojinka plot (Abdul Hakim Murad, Wali Khan Amin Shah) Bonnie and Clyde Christopher Jordan Dorner Henry Every Jack Unterweger John Dillinger John Wilkes Booth Josef Mengele Joseph Palczynski Jürgen Conings Malcolm Naden Maurice Clemmons, see also Lakewood shootings Robert Vesco The Green River Killer Veerappan Zodiac Killer
Bombing suspects
1993 World Trade Center bombing (Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Rahman Yasin) 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
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