This question is prompted by the 4 December assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO where the dark clad murderer wore a distinctive light backpack, and may have dumped it later.
I have reflected on on crime witnesses often being wrong on details, and it occurs to me that for someone planning to commit a crime in public and making good their escape, it would make sense to wear something very conspicuous but easily got rid of, to deflect witnesses‘ attention from less easily changed characteristics.
So, if I planned to commit a crime (a robbery, say), wouldn‘t it make sense to commit the crime wearing a high-visibility vest, a neon necktie, or some such (which would make witnesses pay less attention to my face, and cue law enforcement to look for persons wearing that item) then when getting away dumping it at the first opportunity?
The factual question here being: Have criminals ever used that strategem?
In the modern world faces are likely to be caught on video no matter what else a criminal is wearing. In the case of the insurance CEO the killer was hiding his face with a mask, something frequently done. And some people are good at remembering faces whether or not distracted by apparel. Obviously exchanging any clothing after a crime will help obscure the criminals identity as long as they are significantly different. Either way it clouds the search for the perpetrator as their known appearance is made available to police and the public.
I know that’s been done without using a high-profile accessory like a neon necktie. I would think taking it to an extreme and wearing something like a clown suit would be most effective. Wearing a full face mask will be the best way to prevent facial recognition though.
These are more recent than the movie mentioned, but clown masks go way back. Even the Joker had his men wear clown masks in early comics and I think in the 60s TV show. I bet they were drawing on real news stories even then.
Bank Robbers seem to be much more into this strategy. Not all bank robberies end up on the local news, but if they had a silly disguise on, it’s sure to be on the 6pm news.
Most bank robbers eventually get caught.
There are unsolved crimes with video. So did they get away with it because they wore a disguise? We will never know because it’s an unsolved crime. We don’t know if the criminals were disguised or not, because we never caught them.
Pre-ubiquitous video, there was the issue of “eye witness “ accounts. Multiple “eye witnesses “ can sometimes have very different physical descriptions of the subject. Sometimes leading to wrongful convictions.
In the fictional series Lupin, the lead character pulled off a robbery driving a bright orange car, then after the crime immediately drove it through a car wash to rinse the water-soluble paint, revealing a boring gray car. The police drove right past him looking for an orange car.
I was on the subway (“tube”) in London when there were Mayday riots in 2000, and some stores, especially a McDonalds, were trashed. They pulled up the grass in Parliament Square and made a grass mohawk on Churchill’s head. I almost got run over by the riot police horse squad while trying to take a picture of them on London Bridge. (Bloody tourist!)
A bunch of young guys got on the train, and then sat down and began swapping out or taking off the jackets they were wearing and hats, replacing them with other coloured items in their backpacks. They’d obviously planned their part on the mayhem.
A Loss Prevention Officer where my wife worked once mentioned the key to people who did serious theft was they hid their faces, changed their clothes, but were identified because they were always wearing the same expensive distinctive sneakers.
Texas’ famous Santa Claus bank robbery started going disastrously wrong almost immediately.
Willie Sutton had success with much less conspicuous disguises (cop, mailman, maintenance man) that helped him gain entry to the banks he robbed, but his M.O. was distinctive enough that they generally figured out it was him.
If I were ever to be robbed my fixed intent has been to take a good look at the perp’s shoes, because these are the item they are least likely to change.