| rdfs:comment | - The detectives investigate the murder of a father who was forced to enter the Witness Protection Program with his family after some dealings with the mob. Additionally, the man's son has gone missing and the detectives suspect he may be targeting the man his father was supposed to testify against for revenge. Meanwhile, Frankie tells Scotty she and her husband are trying to work things out.
- Witness Protection is an upcoming comedy film.
- Similar to Cops 'n' Crooks in terms of two teams, comprised of The Lost MC and NOOSE Agents, Witness Protection differs as the NOOSE team have to escort three witnesses to various police stations around Liberty City, as The Lost try to stop them, either by blowing up the bus or killing each witness as they exit the vehicle.
- Witness Protection is a function of the U.S. Department of Justice, in which a person who has given significant information about someone who is wanted for crimes, is given a new identity in a new location. It may be used in the case of an innocent party who testified against, say, a member of the mafia, but is often used to protect a member of organized crime who has done a Heel Face Turn and testified for the government in court. To keep said witness from becoming either part of the concrete used to construct Exit 74 on the next Turnpike or the main ingredient in Bark-O Dog Food, the Federal government provides them with a new place to live and a new identity.
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| abstract | - Witness Protection is a function of the U.S. Department of Justice, in which a person who has given significant information about someone who is wanted for crimes, is given a new identity in a new location. It may be used in the case of an innocent party who testified against, say, a member of the mafia, but is often used to protect a member of organized crime who has done a Heel Face Turn and testified for the government in court. To keep said witness from becoming either part of the concrete used to construct Exit 74 on the next Turnpike or the main ingredient in Bark-O Dog Food, the Federal government provides them with a new place to live and a new identity. This operation will be very expensive, and the party who has been granted relocation will be subject to significant restrictions. Usually, they will not be allowed contact with anyone from their past, may be required to change occupations, or have to do other things to protect their new identity from discovery by those who might harm them. If they cause their cover to be broken, it is extremely likely they will not receive a new one. Once the person goes in, it's basically a one-way black hole; there is no connection between them and their previous life. If they are wanted for crimes or leave behind debts prior to going into the program, they will not be reachable. The Justice Department has even told the IRS to get lost for the collection of unpaid taxes by someone who went into the program. So far, not a single person who has entered the US Federal Witness Protection program and followed all the rules properly has ever been killed (although the same cannot be said for people who don't follow the rules). This idea in can be used fiction in a number of ways:
* If the protagonist goes into witness protection, expect focus on the hardships of the program. Frequently they were an innocent who has had to turn their life upside down because of someone else who is a threat to them; often they lost a loved one to the people they had to run away from (which may be why they were testifying in the first place).
* If it's someone the protagonist knows, it's a convenient way to have them Put on a Bus and lose all contact with the rest of the cast without actually killing them. Similarly, you can expect copious Angst about losing someone they cared about to witness protection (like a boyfriend or girlfriend losing their lover who follows his or her family into the program).
* It can also be approached from the other end: the protagonists start digging into someone's background, discover that it looks suspiciously fabricated and dig deeper under the assumption that they're a bad egg, and find themselves on the wrong end of a "back off" lecture from a US Marshal.
* The protectee might just blow the whole thing off and Ditch the Bodyguards, leading to exactly the kind of dangerous escapades everyone was trying to avoid in the first place. Some states provide a similar (but less comprehensive, obviously) program for witnesses to state crimes. Other countries also have similar programs. A number of films have used the premise of witness protection, either as a story Ripped from the Headlines, a True Story or total fiction. The trope can be used dramatically, or for comedy:
- The detectives investigate the murder of a father who was forced to enter the Witness Protection Program with his family after some dealings with the mob. Additionally, the man's son has gone missing and the detectives suspect he may be targeting the man his father was supposed to testify against for revenge. Meanwhile, Frankie tells Scotty she and her husband are trying to work things out.
- Witness Protection is an upcoming comedy film.
- Similar to Cops 'n' Crooks in terms of two teams, comprised of The Lost MC and NOOSE Agents, Witness Protection differs as the NOOSE team have to escort three witnesses to various police stations around Liberty City, as The Lost try to stop them, either by blowing up the bus or killing each witness as they exit the vehicle.
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