Pubdate: Wed, 09 Mar 2005
Source: Macon Telegraph (GA)
Copyright: 2005 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.macontelegraph.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667
Author:  Bill Weaver
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Note: Bill Weaver is the Houston Bureau chief.

PAYING KIDS TO SNITCH

Warner Robins - Attention parents: Have you heard the rumors from your kids 
that there are people out there lurking just around the corner, hoping to 
turn little Johnny and Sally into snitches and informants, and then pay 
them for their information?

Unlike some of what you hear from your kids, these rumors are true.

CrimeStoppers, the successful, worthwhile Middle Georgia organization that 
has done so much good, is proposing to reach down into the ranks of our 
young people in the hopes of solving more crimes and locking up more 
criminals. CrimeStoppers is recruiting school-age youngsters as tattle-tales.

And it can't happen too soon.

CrimeStoppers has approached both Bibb and Houston school officials with an 
offer to use a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to promote 
CrimeStoppers among students. Patterned after a successful kid-snitch 
program in Palm Beach County, Fla., the kids might supply information that 
would help cops catch a thief, or a drug pusher, or a gun runner, or worse. 
In return, kids might see a few dollars thrown their way for their trouble.

James Kinchen, Houston County schools' assistant superintendent of 
operations, was quoted recently as saying: "We're interested in a way that 
kids can report incidents, but we're not interested in having kids 
snitching on each other." Huh? Given the nature of the CrimeStoppers 
program - snitching is exactly what they want people to do - I called James 
and asked him for clarification: No snitching, he said, unless the snitches 
are guaranteed anonymity. If that's guaranteed, however, snitching is just 
what we want kids to do.

Kinchen explained that there was some discussion about schools forming 
groups or clubs of like-minded kids who would spread the good word about 
CrimeStoppers and maybe even share information about the activities of the 
group. In that scenario, Kinchen theorized, it might have been possible for 
members of the group to know who was snitching on whom. That, James said, 
would have been an invitation to disaster. With no anonymity, an informant 
might be compromised, and a student then would be at risk of retribution.

But Kinchen says if anonymity is guaranteed - a kid calls in and is 
identified from that point on only as a number, no IDs are required - then 
he's all for it.

But we'd also add a healthy dose of caution for the would-be informants. 
Lying is dangerous. Kids and adults alike who knowingly pass bogus 
information to cops in the hopes that a little police snooping might merely 
embarrass someone - the kind of thing an ex-girlfriend might like to do to 
an ex-boyfriend - well, those people are putting themselves at risk. If 
they are students, they could face disciplinary action; if they are adults, 
they could face jail time.

Nevertheless, with the right kind of cautions - insisting on anonymity, and 
insisting on advising people of the seriousness of passing along 
potentially damaging information, as well as the consequences of lying - 
crime-stopping kids could be a wonderful program. Kids get around, they see 
things and they certainly hear things. Much of what they hear is rumor or 
gossip, and often their as-yet-undeveloped sense of judgment interprets 
gossip to be fact. But cops are good at sorting through information in 
search of facts. It's what they do, and they'd rather have too much 
information than not enough.

CrimeStoppers for adults has a proven track record of solving crimes and 
arresting people who are on the lam. CrimeStoppers for kids could be 
equally successful.

Houston school officials are still studying this proposal, and the school 
board may not be asked to approve it for several more weeks. But when it 
does get presented, we hope the board will recognize it as a marvelous 
idea. Even if the rewards only went to those kids who gave information 
about really significant crimes, that'd be OK, and that might even cut down 
on some of the really silly information in favor of some of the really 
serious information.

The point is, if kids can help reduce crime by helping cops lock up a thug, 
more power to them. We should encourage adults, as well as children, to 
help stop crime, and we all have a responsibility to help cops do their 
jobs. Getting children started early seems like a great idea.
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