Witness Protection - 3D

[harryc]

I disagree. Rural might be a perfect hideout.

First of all - no one has moved INTO a rural area in the last 50 years in Finland!

My experiences in Nummi-Pusula, Kuhmo, Laiha tell me that rural communities will already have gotten copies of your fingerprints and DNA within a week - to say nothing of them wondering everything about this whacko that has MOVED INTO the area.

Please don't overlook that the case is serious as it is basically avoiding violence (not spam ) and there are going to be some very clever and active people LOOKING for them.

[DMC]

As for any rural areas - FORGET IT!

I disagree. Rural might be a perfect hideout.

I agree. Soon after we moved to our small village a rumour started about my background. It was quite false, based on a misunderstanding / poor translation. Not harmful at all and I thought it was amusing and not worth correcting, so that rumour took hold. Now the rumour is viewed as established fact by some of the locals even though it is unsupported by any verifiable source. Based on this experience, if I had fake papers/records and official support I could expect just about any back story to be accepted.

On the other hand, even as a foreigner living 300 km north of the city I find I am much more likely to bump into someone I know if I visit Helsinki than if I visit my small home town in the UK. I would definitely find it easier to hide in the Finnish countryside than in Helsinki.

[rinso]

and there are going to be some very clever and active people LOOKING for them.

Who will be quickly noticed when they come looking for you in the small villages. And when you live there already some time,you're local and they are the weirdo's from outside who will be shunned.

[FinnGuyHelsinki]

Since this is EU, it would be fairly easy to move to another country altogether. Even if staying in Finland, for most people there is some corner that doesn't have relatives and friends already living there. Finland is not just the Helsinki region and otherwise only small villages, there would be no problem with minding ones business and blending in in any of the 50 000+ people towns. Taking part in politics or any such more public activity is not possible in that situation anymore anyway.

[caster]

I am not getting you - it was you who asked

But it was only you who thought he was talking about "freedom of speech"....

Yes I took it as if OP asked about issues related to FoS. and yes once you are termed as a witness protected by authorities - you live by the rules - mean even if the witness has a big mouth how you will deal with that issue - a regular therapy to make him more diplomatic and quieter so that he won't create problems for himself.

[harryc]

Yes I took it as if OP asked about issues related to FoS.

Something has gone off the tracks completely here.

The WPP is set up for people that agree to be a witness - and thus speaking about a crime - and would then face some kind of violence as retribution for them being a witness.

I have NO idea why the subject of 'freedom of speech' or 'big mouths' or following rules has ANYTHING to do with the WPP

[caster]

Yes I took it as if OP asked about issues related to FoS.

Something has gone off the tracks completely here.

The WPP is set up for people that agree to be a witness - and thus speaking about a crime - and would then face some kind of violence as retribution for them being a witness.

I have NO idea why the subject of 'freedom of speech' or 'big mouths' or following rules has ANYTHING to do with the WPP

Because these are the basic concerns to be taken under consideration while fixing the witness protection by the authorities - since according to your original post - the question is whether WPP serves the purpose or not. It is not at all a one sided effort - keeping in mind sparsely populated regions - and this is how I see it.

[harryc]

I certainly did not question the idea of a WPP - that system basically works in general.

I was simply saying that IMO the sociology in Finland would be a poor environment for expecting that a witness being hunted down would have a successful hiding place - one post above would almost have one think that Lee Marvin showing up with a violin case would be immediately outed - yeah right.

[caster]

To an extent yes - again it depends how deep the schit one was before appearing as a witness.

[raskarhu]

All this makes me think of http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilyhammer, a television series about a New York gangster turning up in Lillyhammer (Norway) via a witness protection program, starring Steven van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen's guitarist.

[harryc]

Actually knowing about that series and the problems of WP there was what was behind my posting of the topic.