One of my favourite movies is Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner. For those of you sadly lacking in great cultural experiences, a brief synopsis is Costner, a rural farmer, hears a voice telling him to plough his cornfield and build at baseball diamond. The voice tells him: “If you build it. they will come.” Who they actually are, and what happens, I will leave it to you to discover…no spoilers here.

However, when it comes to building a witness protection scheme merely building the framework, does not ensure people will come as this story from KTTN in Missouri illustrates. Despite the state government setting aside a fund of 2 million us dollars, little of the money has been used. Of the state’s more than 600 law enforcement agencies, 13 have signed up to participate, and of those signed up, only four have actually used it.

Making the money available, and in this case a realistic amount of money, to begin with, is a good start. However, unless the culture within law enforcement agencies is address it is unlikely that witnesses will avail of the scheme.

Convincing a person to change their life and go into witness protection requires specific training for the officers involved. They must be able to show the person benefits in making a life changing decision while at the same time making sure that the person is making an informed decision. There is also the need for there to be structures in place to ensure that the protected person has someone to turn to when things go awry, perhaps long after their case has been dealt with.

Witness protection is not a one-way bus ticket out of town. It is life changing in ways most people do not expect.

If the state government and the Chiefs of police want more people to take up the offer. they need to set up adequate structures and provide the prerequisite training for the officers involved. Training requires that officers can identify whether or not a person is suitable to go into witness protection, the ability to identify the risks involved in such a move both to the person and to the agency, and the ability to effectively communicate to a potential witness and if necessary their immediate family. Officers have to be able to ‘sell’ the deal. And most of all officers have to be able to demonstrate empathy for the position the person is in.

HSM Training and Consultancy have been involved in delivering witness protection training on an international basis for many years . We can provide all aspects of the training , identify the structures needed and suggest software that will help the state manage the program. It is clear from the story that the scheme is not working in its present form. Unless changes are made the problems it was set up to address will not change. Drop us a note info@hsmtraining.com or give us a call

Just because you build your field of dreams does not ensure anyone will play on it.