Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement  are military or public police that appear throughout Red Dead Redemption. Most towns and settlements have some form of lawmen, be it a sheriff, a marshal, the police or the army; if John is caught committing a crime, he will be punished.

Wanted Level and the Bounty on your Head
If a crime Marston has committed is reported to the law, he will get a Wanted Level and a Bounty on his head. The higher these are, the more lawmen will join the pursuit. Marston will remain Wanted as long as lawmen or civilians can see him. He can lose his Wanted Level by breaking their line of sight and hiding from the law or killing every last one of them. Even if he manages to evade the law posses, deadly bounty hunters will come after him. Marston can pay off his bounty with cash at one of the local Telegraph Offices or clear his name with pardon letters, which are found throughout the world. He can temporarily lose his bounty in the US by traveling into Mexico, and vice-versa, but as soon as he goes back across the border back into the country he is wanted in, the bounty is re-instated. Technically, a bounty can also be negated if the debt society is paid by going to jail. Days will pass, and will eventually be let out. The bounty will be reduced to $0, that is, having enough money to pay for it. If not, Marston will be given a bounty to hunt to make up for what he couldn't pay.

Eyewitnesses
Stop eyewitnesses from reporting Marston's crime to the nearest lawmen by killing or bribing them.

Killing a solitary witness may work, however in a town killing the witness will result in someone else seeing Marston across the street, and killing that witness will result in another townsmen seeing him, and so on until the "witness chain" reaches the law office.

A bribe may be more effective, bear in mind though that the cost of the bribe is related to the severity of the crime Marston commits.

With low enough Honor, witnesses will be too scared to report petty crimes and will hold out until Marston commits murder.

With high enough Honor, witnesses and lawmen will not report any minor crimes (except vandalism in Blackwater)

Pursuit
Each town or settlement has three ongoing pursuit types depending on the player's criminal history:
 * At a Bounty Level of $150, a posse is formed. The first posse in every bounty cycle contains only 3 members.
 * If the player has under 20 lawman kills, each kill has a 5% chance of Bounty Hunters pursuing the player rather than a posse.
 * If it is nighttime (10PM to 5AM), Bounty Hunters will begin to prowl for the player.
 * If the player has over 20 lawman kills, the US Marshals or the Mexican Army will give pursuit (which type is determined by whether the player is in the US or Mexico). The chances of these pursuits will increase by 5% for each additional lawman killed.

Posses
(This is information on posses that form in Single-Player mode. You might be looking for information on Multiplayer, Free Roam posses.)

Once the player has committed crimes and raised their bounty to a certain level, posses will form to bring the player to justice.

Posses form in the wilderness, with composition and size based on Bounty Value. A posse is made up of three or more lawmen, and if the bounty is high enough, they arrive with dogs. The player cannot hide from posses that have at least one dog alive - they always know the player's location. The player can escape a posse only by getting outside the law radius area on the map, which will be much larger than usual if dogs are present in the posse.

Posses may appear in one of two circumstances:
 * If a witness to a player's crime gets far enough away, a posse will form at the point where the report took place, straight away.
 * If the player has a bounty over $150 and is in the wilderness, a posse may come after him. This will take place every 30-40 minutes in real time.

Posse composition is determined by the size of the player's Bounty Value as follows:

The posse will accept the player's surrender and take him to jail, or kill him if he resists. The player can lose his Wanted Level either by staying hidden, bribing, or by killing all members of the posse. If the posse was formed from a witness report, and the player kills them all, his Bounty Value will be rolled back to what it was before the posse was formed, since there is no longer anyone left alive to tell the tale.

Bounty Hunters
Bounty hunters will appear in the wilderness, with size and difficulty based on Bounty Value. The goal of bounty hunters is to either capture or kill a criminal and bring him (or his corpse) to civilization to collect the bounty. Bounty Hunters do not command an additional bounty when killed as they are already considered criminals. Bounty Hunters always have dogs with them.

If the player has a bounty in the territory the Bounty Hunter is currently in, a pursuit occurs roughly every 8-10 game hours (30-40 minutes real time). Bounty Hunter group composition is determined by the size of the player's Bounty Value as follows:

While all other forms of law enforcement stop at the border if they chase the player into Mexico or vice versa, Bounty Hunters will continue pursuit.The player can lose them by leaving the search radius, staying unseen (if all their dogs are dead) or killing every Bounty Hunter. Bounty Hunters cannot be bribed.

Special Forces: US Marshals or Mexican Army
Special Forces occurs in town and in the wilderness. They are called in to pursue the player if he has murdered 20 or more lawmen. Special forces will come after the player every 30-40 minutes of real time in the wilderness. There are always four members in a Special Forces squad. The composition is determined only by whether the player happens to be in the US or Mexico when they appear.Special Forces events generally have fewer members than posses, but each member is of higher individual skill. They can be lost by killing them all, or staying unseen. Special Forces cannot be bribed.

Bounty Hunting
Marston can help local law enforcement by capturing wanted criminals. Wanted Posters are put up at prominent locations in each town, like railway stations, sheriff offices and police buildings. Take down the posters to begin a Bounty Hunter Mission. Criminals can be taken in dead or alive, and you get double the reward for taking them in alive.