Hey guys what's up it's Charlie here and today we're going to be looking at what
happens when you enter witness protection we all know that if you're
involved in something criminal and you're at risk then you'll go into
witness protection but what actually happens to those who enter the witness
protection program obviously the idea is you get a new identity and a brand new
life but what does that process actually look like and are there some secret
perks and downfalls of being in the witness protection program
well before we relocate why not subscribe and press a notification bell
to location if you have to go into witness protection you may have to make
this decision very very quickly usually the witness protection process begins
with a visit from the US Marshals or in other countries at the National Police
they'll likely give you the option of going into witness protection and you'll
have a few hours to work it out that's right you'll only have a few hours to
decide whether you want a brand new lie but then where you take it well you're
not taking straight away to your brand-new house instead you're actually
taken to a safe house in the USA there's around 1,800 safe houses all around the
country you and your family if you have one will be taken to this safe house
these are often located out in the country and a very very secure the
houses usually have reinforced walls windows and many locks on the doors and
you'll also likely have at least one security guard with you at all times
then at that location you'll have to give a testimony on camera for example
if you were the witness to a crime then you would have to explain that on camera
or if you were involved in a crime and wanted to give everyone else up but then
you'd also have to do that on camera then once that's completed you'll put up
in a hotel this will be until the government has bought a house for you to
live in the government don't have houses on hand that they can just give you
that's because every person in witness Protection has different requirements
for example if you're a single young guy you'll likely just get an apartment but
if you have a spouse and kids you'll likely be put up in a large house or so
to avoid any leaks or pizza locations the government do not have these houses
on hand so they actually have to contact a real estate agent and buy one but if
you enjoy the city life then do not go into witness protection that is because
you're almost never going to be in a very highly populated place you're much
more likely to be in a small suburban town or the country and you likely won't
go to one of the more populous states for example Texas New York or California
but usually the location will be dependent on who you're hiding from for
example if you're hiding from Mexican cartels they'll put you in the north of
the country or if you've witnessed a crime on the east coast then they'll
move you to the west coast education obviously in witness protection you have
a whole new life and because of this you'll need to study up you'll need to
rehearse all of the new things about your life for example your new name
you'll also be given a new birth certificate and social security numbers
but it's not good enough to you to just know this stuff
remember you'll have to interact with people and tell them all about your new
life that means you'll have to have a good backstory as you can't disclose the
or witness protection to anyone so everything from where you grew up to
where you went to college will need to change annually to remember all of that
information usually this will last for around two weeks until you 100% know
your backstory inside and out who's in witness protection
the name witness protection may make you think that people who have witnessed
crimes would be in it well while that is sometimes the case most people in
witness protection are criminals unlike in movies the innocent guy caught up in
crime is less than 5% of people in witness protection most are actually
members of criminal organizations they want to give up their life of crime or
they've been caught by the police anyway they then make a deal saying they'll
give up all of their criminal friends in exchange for a new life some of the
world's most major criminal networks are brought down thanks to witness
protection but don't think it's all a bunch of good guys getting into witness
protection the police know better than anyone
sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil first names obviously one of
the main parts of witness protection is getting a brand new identity and part of
that is getting a new name but all of this new information can be very very
overwhelming so a lot of the time to help people acclimatize to their new
identities they're allowed to keep their first name for example Mark Smith may
turn into Mark Wright or Mary Johnson may turn into Mary white this also helps
people accidentally not get confused for example if you've been introducing
yourself as John for twenty years it may be weird to change to another name and
most of the time criminals can't track somebody down with just a first name so
it's okay to keep that the same but if you have a very unique first name then
this may be changed also if you're under the age of 10 then you likely will also
have your name changed children are much less used to their name so if you're
under 10 years old then your name it will be changed a new look
you may think if you're in witness protection what stop somebody from just
recognizing you well that's why many people will drastically change their
looks in witness protection they will pretty much make you look the opposite
of how you look now for example if you have long hairs they'll cut your hair
short if you have tattoos they may pay for you to get those removed if you have
a beard then they'll shave it off or if you're clean-shaven they'll tell you to
get a beard one woman even got the government to pay
for her chest implants and dental work personally I think that's kind of
abusing the system but it worked for them another guy was even able to get
his private region extended if you know what I mean this was because a
psychologist said he had poor self-esteem issues so you can actually
get some pretty good perks when you go into witness protection money now
talking of the perks of witness protection one of those is some cold
hard cash obviously if you're moved to a whole new area you can't be expected to
get a job straight away so that's why as well as a brand new house the government
also gives you some money typically the government will pay you a
salary based on the size of your family this will be around $60,000 over six
months so that's around $10,000 per month this is to help people get back on
their feet but within six months they're expected to be self-supporting it with a
job but in some scenarios the Justice Department has paid out around 1 million
to some people in witness protection that's because they were in such danger
they couldn't leave the house to get a job better grades when you go into
witness protection all of your records are wiped and that includes the records
of your families for example your kids this means that your children's school
records that will be wiped clean but it's very unusual that your kids will
get the same school records people and witness protection I actually usually
ask their kids grades to be bumped up this will help them get into better
schools and hopefully lead better lives so kids if you want to turn your FS to a
he's just turning your parents and go into witness protection
divorced parents now this is a big downside to witness protection if you
have divorced parents then one set of those parents might be able to see their
kids again if the kid is with the parent being relocated the other parent won't
be able to see the kids and if the kid is with the parents not being relocated
then the relocated parent won't be able to see their kids again
that's because seeing their families could compromise their location this is
a very sad fact and it means you may not see your kids again if you go into
witness protection but sadly many criminal groups do do surveillance on
the families of people who go into witness protection for this very reason
criminal misuse believe it or not some criminals who go into witness protection
have used it to do more crime some career criminals who go into witness
protection have never earned an honest living this means they have no job
skills to enter the workforce so sometimes they do even more crime and
witness protection knowing their status will make it harder to face any
consequences one thirty two-year-old in witness protection was able to make 7.3
million dollars off crime eventually police said they would take him out of
witness protection if he didn't stop these crimes as that did actually work
as he was very afraid of his identity being made public but it just goes to
show some people in witness protection aren't always so grateful
life of lies this is yet another very sad fact about going into witness
protection and that is that you have to lead a life of lies if you go on to get
married and have kids while in witness protection you'll have to lie to them
about your old life that's because you may break up with that spouse and then
they may disclose it out of spite also kids may think it's cool and tell their
friends about it and then it's spread everywhere in 1981 a gangster named
Henry Hill married sherry and ins he was going by the name Martin Lewis and one
day did tell sherry about his true life before he went into witness protection
but when they broke up she ended up telling lots of people and this did not
end well for Henry Hill and finally we have leave any time this may surprise
you but you can leave witness protection any time but this is obviously not
recommended as you're pretty much a walking target it's a fact that not one
single person has been hurt while under witness protection however some have
left the program and violated the rules for example one guy named Daniel la
polla decided to leave the witness protection program and return home for a
funeral however when he returned home a device had been planted and his door
exploded in his face suffice to say Daniel did not survive that and should
have stayed in the witness protection program
check out the poll on the top right corner for the most amazing fact about
the witness protection program I think it's the fact they actually pay for you
to get a whole new look like tattoo removals if you want some more amazing
videos then check out my second channel they'll be a link to that coming up on
screen in a moment but as always thanks for watching check out some more videos
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