Thief-taker

Thief-taker

An original gallows ticket for viewing the hanging of one of the most notorious thief-takers Jonathan Wild with his "Thief-Taker General" emblem design on the top was executed for operating on both sides of the law. Thief taking was a common law enforcement occupation beginning in the 17th century and existed until the mid-19th century when it was replaced by professional modern police forces.
Occupation
Activity sectors	London, England
Description
Competencies	crime prevention, crime detection, criminal apprehension, recovery of stolen goods
Fields of employment	Law enforcement
Related jobs	watchman, bounty hunter, bail bondsman, slave catcher, private policeman, police officer

In English legal history, a thief-taker was a private individual hired to capture criminals. The widespread establishment of professional police in England did not occur until the 19th century. With the rising crime rate and newspapers to bring this to the attention of the public, thief-takers arose to partially fill the void in bringing criminals to justice. These were private individuals much like bounty hunters. However, thief-takers were usually hired by crime victims, while bounty hunters were paid by bail bondsmen to catch fugitives who skipped their court appearances and hence forfeited their bail. Both types also collected bounties offered by the authorities.

Sometimes, thief-takers would act as go-betweens, negotiating the return of stolen goods for a fee. However, they were often corrupt themselves, for example extorting protection money from the crooks they were supposed to catch.^[1] Government-funded rewards for the capture of criminals were a corrupting influence, leading directly to the Macdaniel scandal.