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.