Snitches get stitches. That was one comment written on social media this week in the wake of the shooting of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool.
While a 36-year-old man was arrested in connection with her murder yesterday, it cannot be ignored that for five days a debate was raging over whether it was acceptable to “grass” and help police. I’m not shocked by this but I am disappointed that in the midst of what must be the most heartbreaking period of their lives her grieving family had to issue an appeal to their local community to “do the right thing” to help police find her killer.
They went one step further and had to explain that anyone coming forward isn’t about being a “snitch or a grass”. It feels almost shameful they’ve had to try and justify something that any right-thinking person would see as their civic duty to find the man who shot a little girl to death.
Olivia was in her own home when she was killed – a place where she should have been safe. Another man who was also injured was helped to safety by others while Olivia lay dying. I detest the word “grass” – to me that’s something that criminals do to other criminals – but for those of us who abide by the laws and are honest, it shouldn’t need explaining.
I hold my hands up. I was as guilty as the next person of saying to my kids when they were younger to “stop telling tales” or “don’t tattle”. But we’re talking about my kid complaining your kid took their toy from them so the excuse “we’re brought up not to grass” doesn’t quite cut it when we’re talking about the murder of a child.
In many towns and cities the idea of helping the police goes against the “street code” and people are reluctant to “get involved” for fear of the repercussions. But I’ve learned over the years there’s a “system” in place where the criminal fraternity condones some crimes and not others.
Armed robbery or drug dealing is acceptable but abusing children is not. Beating up old ladies, being a paedophile or a rapist is considered the lowest of the low and justice comes not from the authorities but the criminals themselves.
And woe betide anyone who “snitched’”to the coppers about said rapist or mugger. An underworld contact told me: “Even the hardest will be raging about the kid but anyone who grasses will be seen as someone who can’t be trusted. You don’t grass however bad it is. They deal with their own s**t.”
In America, the problem of lack of co-operation from witnesses across the country prompted campaign after campaign designed to break the “code of silence” that exists within so many communities. Just a few days ago a computer-generated rap star was dropped from a record label for racial stereotyping but not before the project was able to make music about police brutality for refusing to “snitch”.
The culture of not snitching starts early – kids don’t want to tell, not for fear of reprisals, but of not being seen as someone who can be trusted amongst their peers. Social isolation among teenagers is probably, in their minds, the worst thing that can happen to them.
Before we lay blame at the police door for not solving crimes and especially when innocent young children are caught in the crossfire, cancelling the “snitch culture” becomes our responsibility.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - sign up to our daily newsletter here.
