The history of police brutality goes way back to the slavery era, where law enforcement against African American slaves were known as Fugitive slave catchers. In the United States, during the mid-19th century, fugitive slave catchers were responsible for returning escaped slaves to their owners. The patrols were formed in response to white Southerners ' fears of lawlessness and even insurrection on the part of the slaves, who outnumbered whites by almost two to one in some areas (“US Slaves”). White males were required to be slave patrols. This is evidence in the