BUFFALO, N.Y. -- He's more than just a reality TV celebrity.
"People expect me to do something," said Duane "Dog" Chapman. "Do you know what I mean?"
Chapman, better known as Dog The Bounty Hunter, and his crew are following the manhunt for the two escaped prisoners from Clinton Correctional Facility.
"The reward out there is good," he said. "Somebody's going to make some money to provide some information."
Chapman said his website has been receiving two tips an hour about the whereabouts of escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat. Their investigation stepped up last week after U.S. Marshals placed the convicts on the 15 Most Wanted List.
"Once they put them on the top 15, then we're after them but you've got to be very careful. You can't go up there and jump in the cops' crime scene or go through the cabin and look for stuff. You've got to be very, very careful not to step on anybody's toes," Chapman said.
Dog may be the most high-profile bounty hunter on the case but he's not the only one.
"To my knowledge, we're more working the information angle. We're not doing the boots on the ground thing. We're not out there trying to duplicate what law enforcement's doing," said Chuck Jordan, president of the National Association of Fugitive Recovery Agents.
Jordan, a Western New York native, said he's been receiving tips and working on a profile of the convicts himself.
"Being a local case, the fact that Richard Matt is from this area and there are people that know him and are familiar with him are certainly helpful," he said.
Jordan said even though there are significant rewards associated with the case, he doesn't expect bounty hunters to try and arrest Matt or Sweat themselves. He says outside of the inherent danger, there are liability concerns.
"If a third party gets hurt or if one of these guys, even though they're escapees, they can get a lawyer and try to sue you if they think you used excessive force, there's all kinds of things that can go wrong," he said.
Despite the action associated with his show, Chapman said the real value of any bounty hunter is the strength of his network.
"We've got people staked out at a lot of the relatives that they have," he said. "We have a tremendous social network that is out looking also."
Both bounty hunters said reports that law enforcement found DNA from the escapees in an upstate Cabin is good sign. They said just a mistake or two like that from Matt or Sweat could lead to their capture.
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