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Comment by ricardobeat | Hacker News Reader

$10k for what looks like a few months work. Looks like a successful case of outsourcing, but the thought of private law enforcement, mercenaries intruding into people's lives and chasing people with guns doesn't sit very well with me. Who is responsible if everything goes wrong?

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> Who is responsible if everything goes wrong?

The responsible parties. "Everything" and "wrong" are utterly vague. But, assume you mean something like Mullen tries to escape and her bodyguard shoots him in the back. It would be up to local DA if they wanted to prosecute, perhaps including bounty hunter as accomplice. Mullen's family could sue for wrongful death.

tldr; laws don't magically disappear just cause bounty hunters are involved.

Of course, but suing an individual vs a government body has very different dynamics, plus the whole operation has less clear rules and responsibilities for the involved, not to mention training etc. I guess the victim/family would have a smaller chance of financial compensation. I'd rather have police be police, can we friendly disagree?

Yeah individuals generally don't have police unions and an entire corrupt system to protect (sorry, I mean prosecute) them.

That's what I thought. Sounds like an awful lot of tough work for a measly $10K.

You could do pretty much the same thing with a law degree and earn a ton more.

As the article leads with, she's in it for the hunt itself, as much as the $

Bounty hunting has been around forever and is a very dynamic and effective part of the law enforcement system.

You can look here for wanted persons http://www.fbi.gov/wanted and see the reward amounts. She banked at least another $10K, I'd venture.

She also had the potential of reward money if there was any. I wish the article clarified that. $10k for the hours and personal cost seems low.

All yours for a mere US$10k.

She also ended up with the award money on the guy. In most cases with someone that high profile it will be a lot more than US $10K.

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