Bounty hunters, also known as bail enforcement agents or fugitive recovery agents, track down and return individuals who are fugitives from justice. People who get arrested are often given the opportunity to post bail money so they can go free while waiting for a hearing or trial. When these people post the bail money, they are promising that they will return on the assigned court date. If they do not return on that date, they lose their bail money (or the bail bondsman loses his) and become fugitives from justice. Bounty hunters spend time researching and interviewing to get leads on the person they are tracking. Bounty hunters working in the United States account for thousands of arrests annually.