Volume 17
Relentless Pursuit U . S . Marshals are “ manhunters .”
October 2017 Edition
What makes a good modern manhunter ? Lead author Lenny DePaul served as commander of the NY / NJ RFTF and Chief Inspector of the Marshals Service from 2002 to 2013 .
He was therefore directly involved in selecting , training and leading the Marshals under his command .
The reality TV show , Manhunters : Fugitive Task Force , which featured DePaul , profiled various activities of the NY / NJ RFTF ( the show ’ s Facebook page has more information : https :// facebook . com / manhunters /).
Dashiell Hammett : Lost Stories
To understand what this means , consider the words of author Vince Emery in his introduction to Dashiell Hammett : Lost Stories .
By way of background , Hammett was a legendary crime novelist whose books include The Maltese Falcon .
Emery noted that before he was a novelist , Hammett “ had been a manhunter [ with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency ].
No other writer of his day had been …
Hammett ’ s novels stand or fall by the quality of their manhunters as manhunters [ italics original ].
Manhunting is always volatile , unpredictable .
Men do not like to be hunted . They often turn back and try to make the hunter the hunted .
As a result , in fact and fiction , true manhunters are a “ rare breed .”
( Hear Lenny tells us a little bit about what it takes to be in charge of the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force for NY / NJ . Courtesy of A & E and YouTube )
When DePaul first met with the show ’ s producers , they asked him describe the activities of the Marshals Service .
He reminded them of Samuel Gerard , the Marshal portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in the movie version of The Fugitive .
When Gerard cornered fugitive Richard Kimble ( played by Harrison Ford ), Kimble passionately professed his innocence . It was a very compelling speech and you couldn ’ t help feeling sorry for him .
But , when he finished , Gerard responded matter-of-factly : “ I don ’ t care .”
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