TABOO ON INFORMING WORKS AGAINST POLICE

Across the street from Salinas High School, clusters of teenagers
gather.

School is out for the afternoon and, free of school dress codes for
the day, the kids can wear what they want.

Some are wearing skater attire, a few have already changed into their
Norteno red - gang colors - and one boy wears a T-shirt with a giant
red stop sign on it.

"STOP Snitching," the imprint says.

Across the county in Seaside, Margarito Martinez, 23, wears a Stop
Snitching shirt he bought in Mexico City.

"To me, it means 'Take care of yourself and don't judge other
people,'" he says. Asked if that also means not reporting others to
the police, he shrugs, then nods. "Yeah, that too."

Is the message a symptom of the ages-old distrust of police among
communities of color, or a warning from gang members to would-be
witnesses? Either way, the attitude makes it increasingly difficult
for police to gather information and to solve crimes.

Teenagers and young adults are especially prone to perceived gang
intimidation and they also harbor a distaste for reporting crimes to
police, according to a new study released this month in Washington.

In "Snitches Get Stitches," a report on youths, gangs and witness
intimidation recently released by The National Center for Victims of
Crime, researchers surveyed 680 young people in seven East Coast
cities that, like Salinas, suffer considerable youth gang violence.

Researchers found that while attempts have been made to Advertisement
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alternative hip-hop radio messages, most haven't put a dent in young
people's attitudes.

The study's authors found that most teens who did not report gang
crimes said it was because "the crime wasn't their concern" or "they
did not want to be seen as a snitch."

"You're not going to make snitching cool," Brian Contreras, director
of the Salinas gang-prevention program Second Chance. "It's got to
come from home."

The survey's authors appear to agree.

Reluctance

Between 50 and 65 percent of teens who witnessed gang crime were
likely to report it to a family member, but only 11 to 15 percent
would report it to police, even if the teens themselves were the
victims, according to the survey.

That means parents can act as a bridge between their children and
police.

"Because parents may be even more worried about their children's
safety than the youth themselves, authorities and community leaders
must convince parents that everything possible will be done to keep
their children safe from retaliation if they report crime," the report
concluded.

And, the researchers said, youth-oriented campaigns to counteract the
Stop Snitchin' message can succeed only when authorities are
"genuinely trying" to make crime reporting safer. That's the challenge
faced in Salinas by police and community activists hoping to thwart
gang violence.

It's been a regular issue in Salinas for decades: officials wringing
their hands in frustration because crime witnesses won't come forward.
Police believe it's the reason why the city's unsolved murder rate is
nearly twice the national average - 65 percent between 2000-06,
compared to 33 percent nationally.

But some community leaders say residents harbor understandable fears
that keep them from dialing 911 when violence occurs.

Salinas Councilman Sergio Sanchez said many of his constituents
believe that if they call 911 to report a shooting and request
anonymity, a police officer will appear at their home anyway. That's
the last thing residents fearful of gang retaliation want - a patrol
car in front of the house, they say, informs the whole neighborhood
that their family has cooperated with police.

To counter such fears, police say emergency dispatchers now ask
callers if they do or don't want an officer to go to their residence.

At least that's the idea. But it hasn't always worked that
way.

"Periodically, mistakes have been made," Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue
said. "Police may have shown up for further questioning in the past."

Police Chief Dan Ortega acknowledged that while that rarely happens
anymore, such mistakes are still possible. He said they have usually
been a matter of "human error," not department policy.

"I haven't heard of that happening for some time. It was a matter of a
lack of communication," Ortega said. "Sometimes an officer doesn't get
that message from county communications. We've dealt with those
(cases) when they've arisen."

Any officer who gets the request will honor it, he said. But, he said,
911 operators haven't always passed on the message.

Ortega said that at times he has had to call Lynn Diebold, director of
Emergency Communications for Monterey County, to straighten out the
protocol. Diebold was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Olivia Madrigal, interim operations manager at the emergency dispatch
center, said operators are trained to ask callers whether they'd
prefer not to have officers go to their homes.

"We train dispatchers when we receive calls that they need to ask you,
'Do you want contact or noncontact?' and we relay that information to
the officers."

"The bottom line is, mistakes do happen," Madrigal said. "I'm sure
there are cases where a dispatcher forgot to ask," despite the training.

Sanchez said that in his experience, police honor such requests, but
many residents still believe otherwise.

"I think it's more about being worried, a perception," he said. "They
just want to feel safe, they just want to feel comfortable" reporting
crimes.

Mistakes Rare

Second Chance's Contreras agreed that such mistakes are rare these
days.

"People that I talk with will say, 'We've heard they send squad cars
out here.' Things like that have happened, but not anymore."

Ortega acknowledged that certain police practices do add to peoples'
worries.

For example, officers routinely comb the neighborhood after a murder,
he said, interviewing all residents. People who reported hearing shots
might believe officers deliberately showed up at their home.

"(Officers are) not going to walk past the house that made that call,"
Ortega said. "Those officers probably don't even know who made the
call."

Sanchez suggested that the city should consider launching a campaign
to teach residents that they should clearly specify to 911 operators
when they do not want police coming to their home.

"We should improve on those practices and those policies," he said.
"We need to make it part of the conversation between the 911 operator
and the person, so that they aren't afraid of reporting crimes."

That might require changing policies or protocol, he said, so that
"the No. 1 priority is protecting the party. We shouldn't allow
anybody to make it hard for residents come forward."

Donohue said the city is working hard on getting the word
out.

"We're aware that some people in the community have concerns about
being protected," he said. "We're going to do all we can to assure the
community ... it's safe to make the call."

Meanwhile, officials say the safest route for worried residents is
simply to use the police department's tip line.

"The anonymous tip line is the best approach," Donohue said. "We're
going to have to educate people that it's safe to use that number."