The whole bounty hunter system sounds like something out of a bad movie..

I would be very surprised if it wasn't full of abuse stories.

Professional law enforcement agencies are a recent development historically, and for a long time were resisted as something out of an authoritarian dystopia. Policing was the job of amateurs and freelancers for much longer than it’s been a civil service bureaucracy. Even death investigation was, until recently, a side gig for the town doctor.

Yep, and there are good reasons that policing was put into the hands of professional agencies.

London's self-proclaimed "Thief-Taker General" is a good example. A gang leader who made money through both committing and "solving" crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Wild

How is this relevant?

Human rights is a recent development, that does make them a bad idea? Or justify violations :)

The concept of a professional trained police force is well proven by now, I see no reason to question it :)

Parent said bounty hunting something out of a bad movie. So did institutional policing, at the time.

Its almost like we outsourced our civic duties to hired guns

Considering they tend to have names like "Dog" and "Bossk" I would agree.

Yeah, sometimes the name just says thug :)

Obligatory Dale Gribble (from King of the Hill) Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxcOf9nwwKE

"You're telling me there's a poorly trained, quasi-legal police force that operates with few, if any government controls? ... It's about time."