Chesapeake seeks to erase stigma against snitching

CHESAPEAKE

Chelisa Painter picked up a purse that classmates who intended to take the money tucked inside had knocked over. One student accused her of being a snitch.

Chelisa said she would want someone else to do the same if she'd left her purse behind, but her classmates didn't see it that way.

"Some people will look the other way," said Chelisa, a junior at Indian River High School. "They say they don't see anything. If you don't go along with it, you're a snitch or a punk."

To law enforcement, this is a familiar mind set.

"I've seen it more than I probably could count," said Detective Gary Myrick of the Suffolk Police Department. "I'd almost call it epidemic. There are people who have information and just won't provide it because of their own personal beliefs."

Chesapeake Commonwealth's Attorney Nancy Parr said she's seen T-shirts with "Snitches Get Stitches" splashed across them.

Witnesses won't talk because they're afraid of what might happen or what others might think, she said. They don't like the police or just don't want to get involved.

"There are victims who know their suspect and won't even tell," Myrick said.

Chesapeake is planning a six-month-long campaign beginning in January called Speak Up NOW (Not on Our Watch).

The effort comes in the wake of Chesapeake shootings this summer that left four young men dead. Two of those deaths occurred within hours and miles of each other, prompting community meetings that drew hundreds of people and dozens of ideas.

One of the ideas was Speak Up NOW. Parr and Theo McClammy, the city's Neighborhood Services coordinator, are leading the campaign.

"There is quite a bit of pressure placed on younger people to not report crimes," McClammy said. "They have a belief that it's snitching. We want to send a message that it is all of our collective responsibility to be good stewards of our community."

Parr said they are looking for a spokesperson for the campaign. They plan to post public service announcements and messages on YouTube and MySpace.

Also, they want to set up other ways to report crimes, like text messaging or e-mail.

Teenagers, for the most part, "want to work with their peers and their neighbors and adults for a better community," McClammy said. "They are in an environment in which other people are engaged in behavior that is destructive."

Parr, a prosecutor since 1984, said the inclination to look the other way has been around for generations. These days, it's preached on Web sites such as stopsnitchin.com.

"Gangs would play a role in creating that culture," McClammy said.

Parr agreed and said gangs have rules. " Part of that culture is that there will be repercussions for what they term as snitching," she said.

The music industry also exhibits this behavior, McClammy said. "It reminds them and admonishes them against collaborating," he said.

A 2007 study by the National Center for Victims of Crime supports that but also shows that children are willing to report crimes if they feel safe doing so.

They also are more likely to confide in police officers and other adults with whom they have relationships.

"Older people realize this is not the way we conduct ourselves," said Myrick. "The kids are the ones we need to get that message to."

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5555, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com