History Main / WitlessProtectionProgram

** Yet another episode features a civilian-run equivalent, an "Underground Railroad" to help battered women escape their abusive husbands/exes. It takes a mercenary killing his way through the railroad to track down his target, but he eventually does.

* The '90s BMovie ''Made Men'' starts with Bill Manucci, a ConMan in Witness Protection, getting a phone call warning him that the criminal syndicate he used to work for has discovered where he is and has a group of men already on their way to retrieve the money he stole from the organization before informing on them, after which they will surely kill him. Bill then has to play his old comrades, the local criminals, the [[CorruptHick corrupt sheriff]], and one guy in the group sent after him who claims to be an undercover cop against one another in order to survive.

The [[WitnessProtection Witness Protection Program]] serves to, well, protect witnesses to crimes in order to prevent perpetrators from… [[LeaveNoWitnesses cleaning up after themselves]], in a way. To put it simply, in case [[HeKnowsTooMuch the perp has ideas to eliminate the witnesses in question]], the Witness Protection Program will take those witnesses and officially alter all their records and form new identities plus have them move to another location in order to make them virtually impossible to track by the offenders. In RealLife, the program tends to be fairly successful in granting these people the security they need because there are multiple levels of protection and doesn't have to be a new identity, such as adding restrictions on who can read normally public records. In fiction, however… that's another story.

Subtrope to WitnessProtection. See also PoliceAreUseless and UnsafeHaven, the latter which operates on the same principle as this trope.

* Combined with WitnessProtection and CannotKeepASecret, this is the main premise of ''Film/OurLipsAreSealed'', a DTV-movie starring the Olsen Twins. To go into greater detail, after witnessing a jewel heist, Abby and Maddie Parker (along with their parents) are placed in the FBI's Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately for the FBI, they end up having to constantly relocate the Parkers due to the twins being (self-admittedly) "blabbermouths" who keep blowing their cover (including it being deliberately invoked by them at one point of the montage because [[AnythingButThat they sure as hell won't]] accept being forced to pretend to be Amish). The twins and their parents are eventually placed in Sydney, Australia, where Abby and Maddie actually do a pretty good job of finally keeping their mouths shut. Unfortunately, the criminals who committed the jewel heist do find the girls in Australia, but they're ultimately apprehended by the authorities, finally giving Abby, Maddie and their parents the chance to go back home to America.
* ''Film/PrincessProtectionProgram'' is a fictional princess-specific equivalent to the people protection program, and as such during this movie, the program fails to protect Princess Rosalinda, even as it moved her from South America to a small town in Lousiana. She's discovered when the AlphaBitch finds an article about her in a magazine and recognizes her immediately, then calls up her country to let them know where Rosalinda is.

In fiction, if someone is placed under witness protection, they might as well have just pasted a huge "KILL ME" sign on their back, because chances are [[RuleOfDrama that character is going down]], courtesy of the perpetrator, in spite of all the odds. Exactly how the bad guy finds these people regardless of all their records being virtually erased is rarely ever brought up. Perhaps the perp had some help [[InsideJob from the inside]]? Or maybe the perp has supernatural abilities that aided their search. Or maybe the people who are [=SUPPOSED=] to be keeping their identities secret aren't that good at doing their job. Or perhaps they just happen to be a ScarilyCompetentTracker. Or maybe the witnesses blow their cover by being TooDumbToLive. Or perhaps the perp [[ContrivedCoincidence just stumbled upon the witness by random happenstance]]. Whatever the case, [[TheDeterminator they will find a way to get to these witnesses]], government protection be damned.

* ''Recoil'' by Brian Garfield involves an attorney who went into witness protection after witnessing a mobster bribe a judge. Nine years later, the mobster's associates have tracked him down. However, this is not presented as easy — they find a clerk who can be blackmailed because she's a lesbian (the book was written in 1977), and then she has to find the right file. Later, after the hit on the attorney fails and the clerk is arrested, the mobster's [[LadyMacbeth wife]] comes up with the idea of sending in a professional burglary team to steal ''all'' the files, causing chaos and making everyone afraid to turn evidence for the government. Fortunately, the mobster never has a chance to carry out this plan, the attorney having purchased the help of a VigilanteMan.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Recoil'' by Brian Garfield involves an attorney who went into witness protection after witnessing a mobster bribe a judge. Nine years later, the mobster's associates have tracked him down. However, this is not presented as easy — they find a clerk who can be blackmailed because she's a lesbian (the book was written in 1977), and then she has to find the right file. Later, after the hit on the attorney fails and the clerk is arrested, the mobster's [[LadyMacbeth wife]] comes up with the idea of sending in a professional burglary team to steal ''all'' the files, causing chaos and making everyone afraid to turn evidence for the government. Fortunately, the mobster never has a chance to carry out this plan, the attorney having purchased the help of a VigilanteMan.
* ''Literature/TheSaint'' short story "The High Fence". A captured criminal agrees to turn Queen's Evidence and tell the police who the High Fence (an underworld buyer of stolen goods) really is. He's murdered in his cell by being fed poisoned food. When another criminal is taken into custody and agrees to tell Inspector Teal the High Fence's address, he's shot dead before he can do so.
[[/folder]]

* Combined with WitnessProtection and CannotKeepASecret, this is the main premise of ''Film/OurLipsAreSealed'', a DTV-movie starring the Olsen Twins. To go into greater detail, after witnessing a jewel heist, Abby and Maddie Parker (along with their parents) are placed in the FBI's Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately for the FBI, they end up having to constantly relocate the Parkers due to the twins being (self-admittedly) "blabbermouths" who keep blowing their cover (including it being deliberately invoked by them at one point of the montage because [[AnythingButThat they sure as hell won't]] accept being forced to pretend to be Amish). The twins and their parents are eventually placed in Sydney, Australia, where Abby and Maddie actually do a pretty good job of finally keeping their mouths. Unfortunately, the criminals who committed the jewel heist do find the girls in Australia, but they're ultimately apprehended by the authorities, finally giving Abby, Maddie and their parents the chance to go back home to America.

* ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'' has two instances of the bad guys finding the informer (under witness protection as Tom Wilkinson). The first time is when he decides to go out dancing with his FBI handler and attracts too much attention. The second is when he is caught committing crimes in the small town he's been hidden in and the assistant district attorney indicts him under his real name. Another failing of the witness protection program is that they seem to relocate all of their witnesses to the same half-dozen small towns.
* Combined with WitnessProtection and CannotKeepASecret, this is the main premise of Our Lips Are Sealed, a DTV-movie starring the Olsen Twins. To go into greater detail:
** After witnessing a jewel heist, Abby and Maddie Parker (along with their parents) are placed in the FBI's Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately for the FBI, they end up having to constantly relocate the Parkers due to the twins being (self-admittedly) "blabbermouths" who keep blowing their cover (including it being deliberately invoked by them at one point of the montage because [[AnythingButThat they sure as hell won't]] accept being forced to pretend to be Amish). The twins and their parents are eventually placed in Sydney, Australia, where Abby and Maddie actually do a pretty good job of finally keeping their mouths. Unfortunately, the criminals who committed the jewel heist do find the girls in Australia, but they're ultimately apprehended by the authorities, finally giving Abby, Maddie and their parents the chance to go back home to America.

* In ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest 2'', escaped convict Jessie Bains is [[RageAgainstTheLegalSystem getting his revenge]] against the protagonist Sonny Bonds, the cop who arrested him, and the three witnesses who testified against him. One of the witnesses, Donald Colby, is under Witness Protection, and Bonds even gets a warning to him and the police of the city Colby is in. Nevertheless, Bains manages to kill the witness. Of course, it didn't help that [[WhatAnIdiot Colby still used his real name and even opened a business under it]], allowing Bains to easily track him.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' features a fascinating, almost complete inversion of this trope: Season 3 involves the construction of a meth superlab using foreign contractors. The contractors are carefully vetted and hired by Mike, who supervises them in a secure location while they do the work (living in a warehouse almost like a government safe house). The contractors all have cover stories and don't know where they are geographically. When one naively exposes the operation to possible discovery by both the DEA and a rival cartel, Mike is forced to execute him and is shown to be greatly upset by it.

* Averted in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', there is a character called Jodie Starling who changed her name from Starling to Saintemillion due to this actress named Vermouth killing her parents and searching for Jodie. Jodie initially rejected the offer of Witness Protection by the FBI, but then changed her mind and it helped protect her. What changed her mind was making a promise with James Black to look for her parent's killer when she's old enough to join the FBI. The Witness Protection was successful, and she survived to adulthood and became an FBI agent.

* ''Film/{{Runaway}}'': One of the few leads the police gets to find BigBad Dr. Charles Luther is Luther's girlfriend Jackie coming to the police looking for witness protection (because she is both running away from his abuse and took the patterns to create more killer-program chips, derailing his EvilPlan). Unfortunately for Jackie, Luther is a supreme expert in HollywoodHacking and CrazyPrepared (having concealed ''multiple'' bugs in her clothes) and she doesn't survive the night.

In fiction, if someone is placed under witness protection, they might as well have just pasted a huge "KILL ME" sign on their back, because chances are [[RuleOfDrama that character is going down]], courtesy of the perpetrator, in spite of all the odds. Exactly how the bad guy finds these people regardless of all their records being virtually erased is rarely ever brought up. Perhaps the perp had some help [[InsideJob from the inside]]? Or maybe the perp has [[StockSuperpowers supernatural abilities]] that aided their search. Or maybe the people who are [=SUPPOSED=] to be keeping their identities secret aren't that good at doing their job. Or perhaps they just happen to be a ScarilyCompetentTracker. Or maybe the witnesses blow their cover by being TooDumbToLive. Or perhaps the perp [[ContrivedCoincidence just stumbled upon the witness by random happenstance]]. Whatever the case, [[TheDeterminator they will find a way to get to these witnesses]], government protection be damned.

* ''Podcast/{{SAYER}}'': An {{AI}} goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against its creators, and its most valuable developers are reassigned to other departments to protect them, but it eventually manages to kill them anyway by manipulating a new employee to do it.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': At the start of season 7, Felicity Smoke and William are in ARGUS witness protection program since Diaz, the BigBad of the previous season, is still out to get them. naturally, he tracks them down and almost kills them both, prompting Felicity to send William away to a boarding school in Cambridge, and herself to return to Star City and reunite Team Arrow to take down Diaz herself.

** Hotch's ex-wife Haley and their son Jack are put under protection when a serial killer targets them. It's mentioned off-hand at one point that they're being moved because Haley contacted her mother, but this still didn't enable the killer to find them. [[spoiler: He does manage to find them because the marshal assigned to their case had Haley's number saved into his personal cell phone. Granted, they note that isn't standard procedure and that it was a special case because Hotch was the man's friend, but it's still pretty sloppy.]]

* In ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest 2'' escaped convict Jessie Bains is [[RageAgainstTheLegalSystem getting his revenge]] against the protagonist Sonny Bonds, the cop who arrested him, and the three witnesses who testified against him. One of the witnesses, Donald Colby, is under Witness Protection, and Bonds even gets a warning to him and the police of the city Colby is in. Nevertheless, Bains manages to kill the witness. Of course, it didn't help that Colby still used his real name and even opened a business under it, allowing Bains to easily track him.

* ''VisualNovel/WitnessABodyguardRomance'' has this in spades. The main character, Niamh, witnesses [[UnholyMatrimony the husband and wife duo]] who are also the leaders of TheIrishMob murder an innocent man and is placed in witness protection. The problem is, A) her assigned bodyguard, Cassian, is the man/women she slept with the previous night (which would compromise their position if their boss found out) and B) the duo who ''would'' be after her Niamh's blood if they even knew she was there ''didn't even see her'' (at first). And that's just the start. Niamh constantly flip-flops between cold aloofness towards Cassian and wanting to have sex with them (even after being told to keep things professional so poor Cassian doesn't get fired), she blows her cover at least ''thrice'' for stupid reasons, Cassian is later revealed to have been working undercover for the Irish mob in the past and didn't think to mention it and Cassian's boss ends up betraying the two to the mob anyway to keep his family safe.

* In the "[[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-07-12 Barsoom Circus]]" arc of ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' one of Lunesby's allies that she tried to arrange a form of witness protection for, posing as a clown, got shot out of a cannon at a cliff by their enemies in UNS intelligence.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Chris becomes a witness in a robbery and anonymously sends the thief to prison, however, his identity is spilled to the robber twice by both Peter when he wanders into the wrong room looking for his son, and also by the FBI when they give the robber the Griffin family's new address in Dixie.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Bender has to go into witness protection after he agrees to testify against the robot mafia. The detective in charge of the case directly tells Bender that the mob will find and kill him. Bender survives only because the mob mistook a similar-looking robot for Bender. No credit to the detective, though - his 'relocating' of Bender consisted of getting Bender a job at the pizza place across the street from his previous employer.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Cape Feare" is a WholePlotReference to ''Film/CapeFear'' and as such the program does not work out. Sideshow Bob threatens Bart to kill him so the family decides to go into witness protection until Bob is sent back to prison. The relocation agents name the family the Thompsons and tell them they'll leave Springfield to [[StartingANewLife begin a new life]] in [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Terror Lake]]. The family drives to Terror Lake and move into a houseboat, believing they are safe from Bob. Bob, however, has belted himself [[UndersideRide to the bottom of their car]]. In Terror Lake, Bob resumes his threats to Bart.

The [[WitnessProtection Witness Protection Program]] serves to, well, protect witnesses to crimes in order to prevent perpetrators from... [[LeaveNoWitnesses cleaning up after themselves]], in a way. To put it simply, in case the perp has ideas to eliminate the witnesses in question, the Witness Protection Program will take those witnesses and officially alter all their records and form new identities plus have them move to another location in order to make them virtually impossible to track by the offenders. In RealLife, the program tends to be fairly successful in granting these people the security they need because there are multiple levels of protection and doesn't have to be a new identity, such as adding restrictions on who can read normally public records. In fiction, however...that's another story.

In fiction, if someone is placed under witness protection, they might as well have just pasted a huge "KILL ME" sign on their back because chances are [[RuleOfDrama that character is going down]], courtesy of the perpetrator in spite of all the odds. Exactly how the bad guy finds these people regardless of all their records being virtually erased is rarely ever brought up. Perhaps the perp had some help [[InsideJob from the inside]]? Or maybe the perp has [[StockSuperpowers supernatural abilities]] that aided their search. Or maybe the people who are [=SUPPOSED=] to be keeping their identities secret aren't that good at doing their job. Or perhaps they just happen to be a ScarilyCompetentTracker. Whatever the case, [[TheDeterminator they will find a way to get to these witnesses]], government protection be damned.

Sometimes, the witness will be lucky enough to survive the inevitable attempt on their life (usual reason being them being a [[PlotArmor main character]]), but that still means the witness protection failed; the perp found them anyway. Fortunately, should the witness survive, what usually follows is either the bad guy getting killed and the witness being able to return to their old identity (which isn't possible in RealLife witness protection), or the bad guy getting incarcerated, which usually only [[CardboardPrison delays their]] [[WeWillMeetAgain inevitable return]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}: Officer Down'' has a rare case of a ''completely'' [[AssholeVictim unsympathetic witness]] -- a former mafioso who resented being split up from his family ([[NeverMyFault never mind]] that it was ''his'' choice to join the mob to start with) and guns down Commissioner Gordon for arranging the State's-Evidence deal to begin with. Ultimately, [[spoiler:even Batman's unable to make him confess to the shooting, and he walks... until [[CowboyCop Bullock]] deliberately leaks his identity to some of his old associates.]]
* In ''The Trial of ComicBook/ThePunisher'', Frank Castle allows himself to be arrested and put on trial because he wanted to explain something in his defense: [[spoiler:that he knows the judge presiding the trial used to be a high-ranking mafioso that provided evidence to the FBI and entered Witness Protection, and thus escaped punishment from the law -- [[{{Determinator}} but not from Frank]], who had already killed the corrupt DA that got the mafioso the deal [[GetIntoJailFree before letting himself be captured, just to get in this room]]. The judge only has about two seconds [[OhCrap to crap his pants]] before Frank gets out of his cuffs and unleashes the most literal example of "RageAgainstTheLegalSystem" ever.]]

* One ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' strip has an informant interviewed on TV (in a darkened room)... so of course, [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom a janitor comes in and turns on the light right when they cut to the guy.]]

* Parodied in ''Film/OsmosisJones'' - at one point the crew visits the Chicken Pox virus who says they are in the virus protection program. This is actually a case of ShownTheirWork - the virus that causes Chicken Pox actually ''does'' lie dormant within your nerves after infection. At the age Frank is, it's very unlikely that he was vaccinated against Chicken Pox, thus he would have a dormant virus.

* ''Film/BirdOnAWire'': Rick is recognized by his old girlfriend and immediately calls his handler, asking to be moved again. He's told his old handler has retired and introduced to his new handler... who promptly sells him out to the bad guys.
* ''Film/{{Bullitt}}'' begins with Lt. Frank Bullitt and two other cops getting assigned to guard detail for Johnny Ross, who embezzled from the mob and [[TheStoolPigeon is now testifying against his former employers]] in exchange for immunity and witness protection. Ross acts like he doesn't understand how much danger he's in, and when he unchains his hotel room door, two hitmen burst in and fatally shoot him. Bullitt smells a rat and investigates further, hoping to prove Ross's death didn't result from his department's negligence. [[spoiler:He finds out that it was a setup--by Johnny Ross, who was playing both the police and the mob to fake his own death and disappear. The police never even met the real Ross; the man they were guarding was actually Albert Renick, a lookalike who Ross tricked into taking his place. And Ross was the one who tipped off the mob hitmen on which hotel to find him at.]]

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': Batman kidnaps a mob accountant and turns him over to Gotham police, and the accountant agrees to help the police bring the mob down in exchange for amnesty. In response, the mob hires The Joker as a "problem-solver"; Joker proceeds to get himself arrested, blow up the police station with a cellphone bomb, spring the accountant from his cell and execute him by immolating him with gasoline.

* In ''Series/TheMentalist'' episode "Red Sauce", the VictimOfTheWeek is a mobster in Witness Protection after testifying against his boss. [[spoiler:His wife did it because he cheated on her again after she gave up everything for him going into the program.]]

* The ''Series/PoliceWoman'' episode "No Place to Hide" has hit men working under the guise of a detective agency taking down former mob witnesses. [[spoiler:One of them has a girlfriend working on the inside to provide information on the targets.]]

* Witness Protection rarely works out for anyone in ''Series/TheWire''. Because the city is so broke that it can't afford a proper witness protection program, on numerous occasions over the course of the series witnesses are killed or people who try to come forward with evidence of crime unintentionally give themselves away to their fellow criminals and pay a heavy price as a result.

* ''Recoil'' by Brian Garfield involves an attorney who went into witness protection after witnessing a mobster bribe a judge. Nine years later the mobster's associates have tracked him down. However this is not presented as easy--they find a clerk who can be blackmailed because she's a lesbian (the book was written in 1977), and then she has to find the right file. Later after the hit on the attorney fails and the clerk is arrested, the mobster's [[LadyMacbeth wife]] comes up with the idea of sending in a professional burglary team to steal ''all'' the files, causing chaos and making everyone afraid to turn evidence for the government. Fortunately the mobster never has a chance to carry out this plan, the attorney having purchased the help of a VigilanteMan.

* In ''Series/TheMentalist'' episode "Red Sauce", the VictimOfTheWeek is a mobster in Witness Protection after testifying against his boss. [[spoiler:His wife did it because he cheated after she gave up everything for him.]]

* ''Recoil'' by Brian Garfield involves an attorney who went into witness protection after witnessing a mobster bribe a judge. Nine years later the mobster's associates have tracked him down. However this is not presented as easy--they have to find a clerk who can be blackmailed because she's a lesbian (the book was written in 1977), and then she has to find the right file. Later after the hit on the attorney fails and the clerk is arrested, the mobster's [[LadyMacbeth wife]] comes up with the idea of sending in a professional burglary team to steal ''all' the files, causing chaos and making everyone afraid to turn evidence for the government. Fortunately the mobster never has a chance to carry out this plan, the attorney having purchased the help of a VigilanteMan.

* DiscussedTrope in ''Film/TheClient''. Mark Sway dismisses the idea that he should go into witness protection because he saw a movie with this trope. Never mind that it's pretty rare in real life; he's JustAKid and doesn't know that TelevisionIsTryingToKillYou.
--->'''Reggie''': Look, have you ever heard of the Witness Protection Program?
--->'''Mark''': Lord, yes. That's where they put you in funny mustaches and send you off to New Jersey or someplace to live. I saw it on TV. But the guy on the TV movie, the mob found him anyways. And they blew his legs off.
--->'''Reggie''' (shocked): [[LampshadeHanging You saw that on TV?]]

* One episode of ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' had Will recounting a story to Jazz about witnessing a mob hit, leading to Will and his family being put into witness protection. Despite being located into backwoods appalachia, the hitman tracks the family down due to Hillary leaving behind a note that the hitman finds in the Banks' mansion. Will isn't able to finish the story, and Jazz thinks Will's messing with him. But Will freaking out when Jazz sneaks into the house dressed as the hitman as a prank hints there might have been some truth to it.

* "A New Life" in ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' is a mission where you must assassinate a former Cuban crime lord who will be testifying against his former partners. Among other flaws in his security detail include two FBI agents in a surveillance van who will easy disclose their occupation to you [[DonutMessWithACop after you give them donuts which may or may not be drugged to knock them unconscious]], and another FBI agent who likes sniffing his charge's daughter's panties, which can be powdered with ether to also knock him unconscious.