If you had witnessed a crime, would you feel comfortable cooperating with police?

Eric Ringham July 13, 2012, 5:00 AM Jul 13, 2012

Minneapolis has a rate of unsolved homicides that is higher than those in comparable cities. Police say potential witnesses don’t come forward, because of a lack of trust or for other reasons. Today’s Question: If you had witnessed a crime, would you feel comfortable cooperating with police?

About the blogger

Eric Ringham

eringham@mpr.org

Bob

Please note: This is not a discussion forum so please do not post more than one comment per question. Make your opinion known and move on. Please.

Rich

Yes. Law Enforcement cannot be effective without an engaged citizenry. Fear of crime matters, independent of crime itself. It can trap people in their homes and make their lives a misery.

Steve the Cynic

Maybe not comfortable, but I hope I would do it anyway.

(And, Bob, on whose authority are you presuming to define what this site is? Clearly the TQ pages have been a “discussion forum,” and the folks at MPR haven’t moved to quash that, though it would be easy to do. If Eric Ringham, et al., were to take your suggestion and lay out such a guideline, I would respect that that change to the way things currently are. Oh, and I noticed you didn’t answer the question.)

Duane

Absolutely, any reluctance or reticence to step forward and cooperate with the police will only put you, your family and friends protection in jeopardy by allowing the criminal element to gain a greater foothold in your community. There may be many factors that cause a person to be reluctant to cooperate, but only one, your personal safety and protection, that should encourage you to step forward and cooperate.

Steve the scenic

From one troll (Mr. Cynic) to another, let’s respect Mr. Collin’s request.

Ann

If one of your loved ones was a victim of a homicide, would you want people to give information to the police? If people don’t want to participate in giving informatoin and watching their cities and neighborhoods, then they can’t complain about being crime victims.Criminals will have the power when people don’t take responsibility.Ideally this is the way things should be, but it is understandable that people are often afraid to come forward.You would think that someone would know something in the Jacob Wetterling case. But maybe that person is afraid or is involved somehow with the perpetrator.I have found that sometimes the police don’t make it easy to report things happening in the neighborhood. They can be skeptical or treat you like a criminal.

georges

There he is.

Steve the Zimm.

Patrolling these lonely streets alone, the only one, in his mind, with the legal right to set rules about who posts here, how many times, what words or thoughts are posted……….

Steve the Zimm……the Leftist left in control of this board by the Obama Administration.

To stubbornly claim power like an 8th grade hall monitor. Send Bob to the Principal’s Office, Steve the Zimm, he has stepped on your overly sensitive toes.

HarHarHar

Steve the Cynic

This could be a forum for intelligent discussion, georges/jockamo, but for the likes of you. I would welcome tighter moderation, if only to squelch your rhetorical anarchism, but then you’d probably squeal about censorship.

gary f

Snitch on a crime like murder or property damage or stuff like what happened at penn state. Yes.

Snitch to the millfoil police or the raw milk police? No

georges

Typical Lefty Lib….

Wants free speech….but only for himself and those who think just exactly like him.

Wants money to flow to the poor…..but not from his pocketbook, from the wealth of others, the ones he picks out to be robbed by the Government.

Wants to stick it to the wealthy, but only the Conservative wealthy, not the Liberal wealthy.

Wants to feel good about himself by speaking out against war, but not Obama’s wars, and the much greater maiming and loss of life Obama has forced upon the world.

Typical Lefty Lib…….Wants all kinds of rules, none of which applies to him, only to those he doesn’t like.

Come out into the light of Capitalist equality. Tis good for the soul.

GregX

sure – i’d tell them everything that I knew, plus several things I assumed, a couple more that I heard and top it off with what I think it all means. the police need as much rumor as they do fact in order to sort out the crime and the community.

the alternative is that you tell them nothing – and slowly over time – the whole process of police work becomes the reality TV shows DUI, COPS and worse – chasing ding-bats around city streets at high expense.

Jim G

Yes, I have come forward. I witnessed two racing motorcycles pass me as I was stopped at a light. I noticed a helmetless beautiful young woman clinging to the back of a helmetless, shirtless driver on the back of one of the racing bikes. She looked as if she were hanging on to him as if her life depended on it. When the light changed, I turned and went on my errands.

The next day I found out the shirtless driver had lost control of his speeding bike 400 yards past my intersection. She was thrown into a tree. She was alive when she passed me one moment and dead 10 seconds later. His trial never materialized as he pled out to vehicular manslaughter and a two year prison term. The police interview was professional and I was glad to report what I had seen. If I close my eyes I can still see her hair blowing as she clutched onto the man whose reckless actions killed her.

GregX

Come out into the light of Capitalist equality. Tis good for the soul.

======= >>>> if that were true – you’d be paying for each post or a posting-site-subscription, you made to cover the cost of running this site. Capitalism charges for its services. Communism lets you blather for free…. and you are doing which today ….

georges

I am paying to post here. Everyone that pays taxes is paying to post here.

MPR gets about 30 million dollars a year from the Taxpayers of this country.

So, I am paying plenty to post here.

Enjoy.

Jim Shapiro

Depends. If the crime was committed by a police officer, probably not. 🙂

Troy

I don’t trust police. They are corrupt and opportunist. They will take down anyone, even innocent.

John

To serve and protect, yeah right. Wouldn’t open my door to one, I’ve nothing to hide but corrupt police are everywhere. If we had to cut a service sector that would be the first one I would cut. Never called one, never will.

mecadocaribe

Let me be the first person to actually answer the question: YES, I would cooperate with law enforcement. They are human beings just like most of us on this forum. I talk to the officers of beautiful Columbia Heights and Friendly Fridley several times a year. They are great people! If homeowners aren’t aren’t communicating with them how are they supposed to help?

Eric Ringham

Hi, everybody. Thanks, all of you, for participating in the discussion on this site. And thank you for keeping it generally civil and on topic. The give-and-take is great, most of the time. I don’t think we need very much in the way of moderating.

And by the way, Georges, your figures about MPR’s support from taxpayers are off. The way I read our annual report, the number is around $6.1 million. You’re welcome to look for yourself: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/about/mpr/finance/annual_report_2011.pdf
Susan WB

Absolutely I would. I’m not going to let fear run my life. Not fear of thug criminals and not fear of thuggish police officers, either. Besides, the officers I have met and interacted with have always been professional, civil, decent people who have treated me with respect. Why shouldn’t I give them the same in return?

And as for the poster above who doesn’t want to “snitch to the millfoil police” – I just hope you don’t boat on the same lake I do. It’s clean, clear and Eurasian Water Millfoil free, and I for one hope that the DNR and the people of this state can keep it that way.
Kerri

Maybe, like if I saw them wearing headphones while driving or doing something similarly stupid and dangerous.
Joanna

I’d let the cops deal with georges.

If MPR got about 30 million dollars a year from the 138 million taxpayers of this country (as georges mentioned) the average taxpayer paid less than 22 cents a year … at the 6.1 million Eric mentioned, if you are an average taxpayer, you paid less than 5 cents.

So, georges, you are not “paying plenty” to post here.

Donate if you have the head to think and heart to love.
Robert

@Bob

:p

As for the question, it depends, maybe I’d call my lawyer first, maybe the cops, depends on the scenario.
Jim Shapiro

mecadocaribe – “Let me be the first person to actually answer the question.”

Really? Did you READ the comments previous to yours? Or perhaps you’re one of those individuals that likes to post FIRST!
Steve the Cynic

The knee-jerk suspicions of anarchists and the paranoid notwithstanding, law enforcement agencies in the US are remarkably uncorrupt compared to the rest of the world. (There are a few notable exceptions, such as the perverse incentives created by civil forfeiture, but that’s off topic for today. In general we do a fairly good job of policing our police.) In this country today we have more to fear from those who fear the police than from the police themselves. To elaborate on my first comment, I hope I wouldn’t be “comfortable” reporting crime. It’s important to report crimes that actually harm people, but anyone who enjoys calling the cops on their neighbors has other issues they need to deal with.
Jim G

I’m refreshing my Behavioral Science Theory. Extinction is an interesting topic and it may applicable to today’s discussion. Extinction of a behavior occurs when the behavior does not receive any reinforcement. At first, when reinforcement does not occur the unwanted behavior may increase in frequency and amplitude. But it will start to diminish quickly once the behavior ceases to illicit reward.

Thus we may conclude that if the police are not rewarded in their searches for evidence they may not persist in this effort or put a lot of resources into these high crime, low citizen cooperation areas. So people, start sharing the neighborhood gossip. You know what’s going on, it’s up to the community to solve the problem. The police are only a tool that works if you use it.

Also, if the behavior exhibited on this forum followed Extinction Theory, what a wonderful world this would be. This is a great community, let’s work together to keep that way.
Nick

It depends, maybe, maybe not.

I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable.

About 8 years ago I was forced to leave my home for a night in Minneapolis (or be arrested) while a female partner was able to remain after I called 911 because of physical and verbal domestic abuse coming from her. In a more recent incident I witnessed a theft by one officer and was violently arrested and injured by another Mpls police officer, later I was viciously interrogated by another cop and was refused treatment (aside from ibuprofen) for my injuries when brought to jail.

I’d consult my lawyer first. Minneapolis police at least are a mixed bag of helpfulness and hurtfulness.

Just google for videos on “Don’t Talk to Police” and

“Never Never Never Talk to Cops”

Where a law school professor and former criminal defense attorney tells you why you should never agree to be interviewed by the police.
georges

Eric Ringham…

My figures are off. They are way too low.

APMG reports 10.5 million dollars in direct government payments in 2011. Add that to the 6.1 million and you have 16.6 million dollars.

Additionally, they report 35.7 million dollars from Foundatations, etc.

You are aware, aren’t you, that the Federal Government has gotten very sneaky about these things and has, under the direction of Barack Obama, started giving huge amounts of Taxpayer money to private Foundations, who then give it to non-profit organizations, like APMG? Check into it.

Also, APMG reports Earned Revenue for 2011 of 55.9 million dollars. Now, why is a Company, supposedly non-profit, earning 56 million dollars a year? And still taking tens of millions of Taxpayer dollars?

Why does this “non-profit” company have 138 million dollars on hand, that is, $138,709,000.00 American Dollars, mostly in mutual funds, which earned over 27 million dollars profit in 2011?

Under what kind of twisted thinking is this “Non-Profit”?
Georgeann

So, if a cop was one of the 138 million taxpayers, S/He contributes $1 a year to MPR thru possible taxes.

Where’s your answer to today’s question? There are some cops who think like you, some who’d laugh at you, some who’d harass/arrest you if you kept talking.

If it was a victim-less crime I’d say nothing, if there were victims, I’d do my best to help.
Craig

I have reluctantly reported two property crimes out of a sense of obligation. In each case the officer asked phatic, deflective questions. In one case I had a license plate number; “we still wouldn’t be able to prove who was driving” the officer said while not writing it down. I now understand there is a threshold under which the police prefer not to be bothered. These of course differ from high profile cases in which the police are desperate for information. But after just two such experiences I could imagine an element of resentment in a crime ridden community. Perhaps a sense of pique—illogical as it may be—that if police have shown no interest in helping the citizens who need them in a small way, those slighted citizens feel no compunction to help the police with other cases, large or small.
JasonB

Yes, and I am a bit concerned that the question needs to be posed. I have only scant anecdotal information of anyone regretting talking to the police. And every other reservation I might have would be because of what I see on drama shows, which I know are fiction.

It’s disturbing to think that not cooperating is really happening frequently enough to warrant a discussion.
tin lizzy

In lieu of providing a forum for primarily white, middle-class folks to expound on their complete lack of understanding for why so many primarily non-white, non-middle-class individuals who witness crimes don’t come forward, I propose MPR take the time to do some investigative reporting to shine a light on the complexities and dimensions for why this does occur – including fears (surprise – not usually fear of the police!), language barriers, immigration status and cultural currents – to name a few.

Seriously guys – this couldn’t be more of a race/class/culturally weighted leading question that pretty much just asks for some pretty ignorant responses. Asking a general audience for responses to questions is no substitute for doing journalism. I’m a member because I value reporting and journalism, not because I want to hear hundreds of middle class white folks’ (like myself) opinions on simplistic questions out of context.
Ann

Dear “Lizzy,” I didn’t mention in my earlier comments that I am an older white woman. I have been treated somewhat disrespectfully when trying to report things in places like Edina, Richfield, and here in my small town.My neighbor, an older man, was not treated well when trying to report a possible break-in. So I think that some of us have experienced a little bit–enough so that we are entitled to an opinion on the matter.I saw a security guard in Las Vegas who was on a bit of a power trip–but that is expected in a town like Vegas.If you have ever watched “Cops” on TV, you have seen some disrespect there. All kinds of people are police officers. The difficulty of their job affects them also.
Steve the Cynic

Do you have a reliable source for this allegation, georges/jockamo, or do you actually care whether what you post has any truth to it? It looks like you’re just being distruptive of this site for your own amusement. Very childish!

You wrote: “You are aware, aren’t you, that the Federal Government has gotten very sneaky about these things and has, under the direction of Barack Obama, started giving huge amounts of Taxpayer money to private Foundations, who then give it to non-profit organizations, like APMG?”
Steve the scenic

Please don’t feed the trolls. ;^)
Glenn

Mpls. cops have some problems-

The highest starting pay is Saint Paul…so guess what Mpls. is left with??

Mpls. training officers could use some training- as is plain to see.

I lived in Mpls. for 20 years- my very best friend was a Saint Paul patrolman. His rather candid observations are a learning expierance.

Each time I co-operated with Mpls. patrolmen regarding crimes I’d witnessed, I was faced with inaction.

Eventually, I informed a Mpls. detective that I’d put word on the street; a $XXX reward was available to anyone who brought this bad guy into my back door.

The bad guy left town.

Glenn ‘co-operating’
Chris

My only interactions with police officers are the rare instances when I’m pulled over for a traffic stop. The last time this happened, the cop was rude and intimidating.

At one point, he asked if I had correctly registered as a sex offender. After my dumfounded expression, he muttered that I might just have a common name, since the date of birth didn’t match.

These sorts of negative interactions (abuse of power) are one reason why people might not want to cooperate with police. Me? I’ve been conditioned to dislike and distrust them.