People are only just realising who the cop in Home Alone is

After more than 30 years and multiple rewatches, some Home Alone fans are only just twigging who the police officer at the start of the film is played by.

To be precise, it's been 32 years since Home Alone was released. That means even those who were just being born when the McCallister family left for their vacation without Kevin are now old enough to have watched the film more than two dozen times.

So why has it taken this long for people to click that the police officer is someone we know very, very well?

The cop appears at the very start of the film, while the opening credits are still rolling. He can be seen attempting to get someone's attention as the numerous McCallister kids run around their huge home, only to be told repeatedly that their parents aren't around.

"All kids, no parents, probably a fancy orphanage," we hear him say. Eventually, the cop manages to catch the attention of Kevin's dad and warns him that there are 'a lot of burglaries around the holidays', so he wants to make sure the family is taking the proper precautions.

@812TheCount/Twitter

The dad confirms the family has automatic timers for the lights and locks on the doors, and his wife then spills the beans that the family will be leaving for their holiday the following morning. All of which is information that might just prove useful to someone planning to rob the house.

The identity of the police officer isn't exactly hidden in the film, but apparently a number of viewers failed to recognise him when he showed up again later. You see, the cop isn't just a cop, but also a robber - none other than one of our Wet Bandits, Harry.

@1_JP84/Twitter

If you're one of the people who thought that was obvious, then you're probably in disbelief about the fact that anyone missed it. But they did, and they took to Twitter to admit it.

"just found out the “cop” from home alone was THE ROBBER IN THE MOVIE i’m a f*cking idiot," one baffled person wrote, while another wrote: "did u guys know the cop from home alone was also the robber."

Both the cop and the robber are brought to life by Joe Pesci, and once you realise that it becomes clear that Harry was even more surprised to find Kevin at home, knowing that his entire family had planned to go away for the holidays.

Thankfully, though, the thief was no match for Kevin's incredible booby traps.