Slave patrol

Slave patrols—also known as patrollers, patterrollers, pattyrollers or paddy rollers^[1]—were organized groups of armed men who monitored and enforced discipline upon slaves in the antebellum U.S. southern states. The slave patrols' function was to police slaves, especially those who escaped or were viewed as defiant. They also formed river patrols to prevent escape by boat.

Slave patrols were first established in South Carolina in 1704 and the idea spread throughout the colonies before their use ended following the Civil War.