# That old cliché : evading SWAT **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2009, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180 "2009-03-12T08:07:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/1 "2009-03-12T08:07:58Z")
You’ve seen it a hundred times on TV : bad guy robs a bank or takes hostages for some purpose or another. Barricades himself. Tense negotiations fail, and only one option remains : sending in the cow-boys. They cut the power, throw lots of flashbang and smoke grenades, rush in guns blazing. When the smoke clears, the bad guy is nowhere to be found. SWAT hastedly sweeps the building, only to find one of their own tied up and naked in a closet : the bad guy has fled in a SWAT uniform during the chaos. The question is : has this ever happened in real life ? Where does the cliché come from ? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/2 "2009-03-12T08:20:05Z")
Don’t know about dressing up as a SWAT officer, but during the Iranian Embassy siege in London one of the terrorists hid amongst the hostages and was taken outside. He was caught during the debriefing when one of the hostages recognised him.He was the only one to survive. ---
**Author:** ![dynamitedave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@dynamitedave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dynamitedave)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/3 "2009-03-12T08:31:21Z")
Isn’t it SOP for SWAT etc to operate in teams to cover each other? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/4 "2009-03-12T11:11:26Z")
It takes a bunch of time to subdue somebody & remove their clothes. The victim pretty much needs to be unconscious, since they’re not likely to cooperate. Rendering people instantly unconscious is not easy. Folks in assault teams try real hard to not get separated from their group. And teams keep count of themselves, always on guard to prevent losing a straggler. Even if a bad guy magically swapped clothes with a team member, him wandering away from the action would sure look funny to all the other cops & TV cameras stationed outside. In short, pure Hollywood BS. And I’m no expert on cop shows, but I’ve never heard of this as a plot device. Sneaking out while the assault team gets ready so they assault an empty building, sure. But the bad guy hiding amongst the assault team, never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/5 "2009-03-12T12:32:06Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In short, pure Hollywood BS. And I’m no expert on cop shows, but I’ve never heard of this as a plot device. Sneaking out while the assault team gets ready so they assault an empty building, sure. But the bad guy hiding amongst the assault team, never seen it. Me either, but I have seen one of the bad guys dress up as a fireman and escape that way. Don’t remember the movie though. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/6 "2009-03-12T12:41:59Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > You’ve seen it a hundred times on TV : bad guy robs a bank or takes hostages for some purpose or another. Barricades himself. Tense negotiations fail, and only one option remains : sending in the cow-boys. They cut the power, throw lots of flashbang and smoke grenades, rush in guns blazing. When the smoke clears, the bad guy is nowhere to be found. SWAT hastedly sweeps the building, only to find one of their own tied up and naked in a closet : the bad guy has fled in a SWAT uniform during the chaos. I’ve never seen this on TV, nor in the movies. Can you give an example? ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/7 "2009-03-12T12:45:26Z")
One of the things I liked about the Spike Lee film _Inside Man_ was the plan the bank robbers used for escape - stay covered head to toe so they would be unidentifiable by the patrons of the bank, and then ditch the disguises and leave with the crowd. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s fool-proof, but it struck me as having a pretty good chance of working. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/8 "2009-03-12T12:47:45Z")
The Jean Reno character tries to pull this off at the end of [Leon](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/). He fails only because he wants to make sure Mathilda (Natalie Portman) is safe. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/9 "2009-03-12T13:13:03Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > Me either, but I have seen one of the bad guys dress up as a fireman and escape that way. Don’t remember the movie though. The aforementioned _Leon_ (a.k.a. _The Professional_) and _Mission: Impossible_ include scenes like this, though the latter is more complex. _Eraser_ includes a scene of people disguising themselves as EMTs to get into a building. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/10 "2009-03-12T14:23:16Z")
Then there’s the _Ocean’s 11_ approach. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/11 "2009-03-12T14:59:24Z")
Or you could pull a Hannibal Lecter, and use the cop’s skin as your disguise. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/12 "2009-03-12T15:09:09Z")
In _Quick Change_, there’s a similar dodge used by the bank robbers to escape. I’m unaware of any such incidents in real life. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/13 "2009-03-12T15:25:44Z")
IIRC, Samuel L Jackson used this method to escape the building in _The Negoiator_ ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/14 "2009-03-12T15:40:33Z")
It’s not exactly the same thing, but a few months ago, a guy robbed a bank in Seattle wearing a yellow safety vest, blue shirt, respirator mask and safety goggles. He got away via an inner tube he had left by a nearby river. His escape was aided by having a job posting he had made on Craigslist asking for other people to show up outside the bank, dressed in a yellow safety vest, blue shirt, respirator mask and safety goggles. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/15 "2009-03-12T16:43:02Z")
It also showed up in an episode of Numbers, though there it was a raid on a house to arrest a single guy, who apparently got the uniform in advance. (I refuse to l33t the title of that show). ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/16 "2009-03-12T16:43:20Z")
Am I the only one who thought the thread title would have been enhanced by the phrase “Need Answer Fast!”? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/17 "2009-03-12T16:52:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > His escape was aided by having a job posting he had made on Craigslist asking for other people to show up outside the bank, dressed in a yellow safety vest, blue shirt, respirator mask and safety goggles. See, to my mind, that guy _deserves_ to get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/18 "2009-03-12T17:07:08Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I’ve never seen this on TV, nor in the movies. Can you give an example? Sure. There’s Léon (The Cleaner) with Jean Reno where the main character aaaalmost pulls it off, and The Negociator (with Samuel Motherfucking Jackson) and what spawned this topic, an episode of Supernatural. Those are the three that spring to mind, but I’m sure there are others. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/19 "2009-03-12T17:35:39Z")
> [@welby](#): > > Or you could pull a Hannibal Lecter, and use the cop’s skin as your disguise. Which is even MORE laughably absurd if you think about it for more than one second. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180/20 "2009-03-12T17:40:51Z")
BTW, just to mention what hasn’t yet been mentioned: avoiding this scenario is one of the reasons why many police departments will restrain and/or handcuff _every_ person found at a crime scene, no matter how obviously innocent-looking they may appear to be. Better to temporarily restrain and interrogate everyone than face the chance that one of the bad guys escaped through lazy police work. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-old-cliche-evading-swat/489180.md?page=2)