How does witness protection work in real life?
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Depends on the level. At the state and local level witness protection tends to be as simple as a safe hotel room constantly monitored by police officers until the trial is over. Once the witness testifies it’s legally pointless to kill them because their testimony is on the record. If the threat continues and it’s important enough the state can relocate the witness within its borders since usually criminal gangs are highly local and won’t travel far from home territory.
Larger threats come from larger national criminal organizations. All of those cases have federal implications and would be handled by the DOJ and the US Marshal’s Service. Again depending on the threat it may be as simple as constant protection until and for a while following the trial.
More serious threats from violent organizations seeking to sew terror and not just stop testimony require the more “Hollywood” approach. People will be given new names and identifications. They will be told to not contact anyone that their old name knew. This includes unprotected family. They will be moved to a medium sized city or town. Small enough to not have a presence of big crime syndicates but not so small that the town would notice a new face moving in. They would be given a stipend and told to find a job or set up with an interview. From there it’s up to the witness to follow the rules of the program. Case agents will regularly check up on them to make sure their isnt any new threats, but the witness is responsible for maintaining their own safety.
As for the greater detail of all that happens, it’s kept secret for a reason. Even covert operations leave a paper trail. After all you need some kind of valid identity to use banks. If the Marshals publish their playbook that will give criminals a sign of where to look to find the witness through the use of simple public records. The only reason we know the broad strokes are from people who broke the program rules and got killed or arrested again. According to the Marshal Service, no one that has followed the rules has died while in witness protection.
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