Witness Protection Program

[dave22]

Re: Witness Protection Program

I don't know if you have this, but here's an interesting link from the WGA of individuals and organizations that are willing to talk to writers. There's an actual phone number and contact info for someone from the FBI, Special Agent Alonzo Hilll in the L.A. Field Office.

http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=165#psych

That is a great resource, but I would caution to take it with a grain of salt on a couple of different levels. The first one is getting blinded by someone's resume. I spent two years working in my Agency's evidence vault. We had a national contractor who handled our very large or specially delicate seizures. To help track the paperwork they had hired a retired "expert" from the Agency. His resume was awesome. He was a retired Special Agent, thirty plus years of service, many years served in management and Supervisory positions... great resume. He also had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Resume be damned, what it all meant was that he hadn't worked the field in over three decades. The last time he actually made a seizure they weren't even using computers to track them. How is he supposed to be an expert in how we do it today? So don't get blinded by overall resumes when using experts. Make sure they have actually worked the field or cases you are trying to write about.

The other thing to be wary about is that Public Affairs Officers are paid to put the department in the best possible light, not get you the most realistic and gritty script you can. Unless you go out after work and get them drunk, i wouldn't buy into about 1/3 of the things they tell you.

[jcpdoc]

Re: Witness Protection Program

That is a great resource, but I would caution to take it with a grain of salt on a couple of different levels.

The other thing to be wary about is that Public Affairs Officers are paid to put the department in the best possible light, not get you the most realistic and gritty script you can. Unless you go out after work and get them drunk, i wouldn't buy into about 1/3 of the things they tell you.

Hmmm... for a moment I thought I was reading part of a logline for an FBI crime caper comedy. Hmmm.... a writer, no, someone posing as a writer. THE SOURCE: someone posing as a writer sauces up a retired Special Agent... (Oh well, hard to flesh out in a few minutes, but me thinks some high concept is lurking in that set up.)

[MoviePen]

Re: Witness Protection Program

CNN just posted an article today about this: "Inside the Witness Protection Program"

[robertcc]

Re: Witness Protection Program

I literally just watched the 1999 HBO movie Witness Protection last night and thought it provided a fascinating account of the transition into the program, with excellent performances by Tom Sizemore and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (be patient with the setup which is kinda clunky).

Worth checking out as part of your research.

[BeefMissile]

Witsec...

The federal "witness protection" system has changed over the years.
For details & background read; WITSEC by Gerald Shur. Shur was a DoJ lawyer & used different methods/systems to protect federal witnesses & law enforcement informants(sometimes called CIs or confidential informants).

The Witness Security program is run & funded through the US Marshals Service; www.usmarshals.gov .
To my knowledge, a candidate for the deep cover WITSEC program must go through a series of medical exams, psych evals, MMPI tests, background checks, etc. It's a complex process.
Some program members return to crime, like Sonny The Bull Gravanno but to my knowledge, no WITSEC program member has been murdered or injured.

Some federal witnesses have left the USMS/DoJ program & were murdered but they refused LE protection.

Beef