The Stop Snitching Phenomenon: Breaking the Code of Silence

[Kerguelen]

Seems like there are some strong parallels between connecting with communities in our own cities, breaking down the barriers to law enforcement, and effective counter-insurgency practice. Is the code of silence on the streets of America much different from trying to get Iraqis to point out the insurgents in their midst?

The discussion made me think of this profile of Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets.

"For months after last winter's PR storm, Anthony's handlers wouldn't grant interviews with him unless a reporter agreed not to ask about Stop Snitching. No more. Anthony never felt he'd done anything wrong, nothing big at least. Now, he wants to talk about where he comes from, the hand he was dealt.

In the Pepsi Center, he sets down a PDA he has been tapping away at and leans back in his chair. "Drug dealers funded our programs," he says. "Drug dealers bought our uniforms." They were just about the only guys in the hood with the cash to outfit a team. They did it for three years beginning in late elementary school, he says, and never asked Anthony for anything in return, like carrying product. "They just wanted to see you do good."

When the cops took over the nearby rec center and nailed a Police Athletic League sign on the front, Anthony and his friends boycotted. The goal may have been to clear out the dealers, but to him it felt like one more act of harassment, another form of bullying by some Charm City cop who doesn't especially trust loitering young black males. More than once, Anthony says, men in blue left him black-and-blue. "Nothing major," he says. "They'd just choke me, drag me around." It was enough to seal the kind of resentment that could one day lead to five minutes of face time on a fire-starter DVD."

Not condoning it. But there are similarities between the impact of guys kicking down the wrong Iraqi door in the middle of the night looking for a guy who builds IEDs probably and grabbing the wrong guys on the street of an American city.

[tequila]

An excellent book on the admittedly unique street dynamics of a Chicago housing project, which are very different from what I know in Brooklyn, NY, but gives a good insight on how police, local leaders, and drug dealers can interact in real life:

Gang Leader for a Day

[jcustis]

Is the code of silence on the streets of America much different from trying to get Iraqis to point out the insurgents in their midst?

Absolutely not, and I've argued the same long before I knew who Kilcullen was. If you cannot protect the populace, you already have one strike against you.

[Schmedlap]

Is the code of silence on the streets of America much different from trying to get Iraqis to point out the insurgents in their midst?

The only difference that I see is that in Iraq it is political first, reinforced by culture, whereas in America it is cultural first, reinforced by politics.

The silence on the streets in America is due more to a cultural phenomenon whereby part of the black identity - to live the true black experience* - is to identify as a victim who struggles against an unjust society. Struggling against that society is part of the identity and this behavior is fueled and exploited by political interests. The inner cities are not exclusively black, but all inner city culture seems to be heavily influenced by cultural norms that most would associate with "blackness."

In Iraq it is political first. A power struggle is going on in the country and so long as there is suspicion that the foreign power is not an honest broker then the side who feels unfairly treated or threatened will choose to be uncooperative, passively or aggressively. Culture reinforces this political motivation because it is a norm to oppose the outsider.

* - this issue arose in the Presidential campaign; the issue over whether candidate Obama was "black enough" was not simply due to having a white mother, but due to the fact that he had not endured poverty or lack of opportunity - he was the son of a Harvard alumnus and enjoyed the advantages of white relatives

[Kerguelen]

The silence on the streets in America is due more to a cultural phenomenon whereby part of the black identity - to live the true black experience* - is to identify as a victim who struggles against an unjust society.

First, I'd say that seems like an awful big projection both suggesting that blacks are a monolithic culture and that all blacks self-identify as victims. I'd say that the situation is considerably more complex than that a cultural challenge. I think both are there, but I think the tension between the police and the community is not solely driven from black victimhood. There is a history of violence which is racially imbalanced, if not motivated, in some departments. But a youngster who sees more benefit to their community from the dealers than the cops is likely to grow up with a certain bias. I'd say culture and politics each play a role, but I would not slap them into a real stringent hierarchy.

Secondly, here's an interesting story. One of the guys from the Stop Snitchin video who ended up an informant, who was 'misdirected' by US Marshals. Suffice it to say there's no evidence the Marshals did this on purpose, but it is a reminder that even unintentional missteps can create huge perception issues. Imagine you're thinking about testifying for the Feds, but then you're reading how you might get put in the same cell as those your testifying against.

[Schmedlap]

First, I'd say that seems like an awful big projection both suggesting that blacks are a monolithic culture and that all blacks self-identify as victims... I think both are there, but I think the tension between the police and the community is not solely driven from black victimhood.

I was hoping the Obama example would clarify - I was not attempting to suggest that blacks are a monolithic culture. Rather, there is an identity being pushed by segments of the pop culture, academia, and political activists to stress that every racial group is somehow a victim of an unjust nation - probably due to the intentional malice of white men. For the blacks, that narrative is that we just can't get past our old slave-holding and Jim Crow ways. The debate within the Ebony/Jet types of forums was evidence, in my opinion, that a lot of people really bought into that narrative. There was geniune spirited debate over whether a man who had not endured poverty or oppression was truly black.

Just to be clear, for those who buy into the narrative pushed by politicians and cashed in on by the pop culture, there is a sense of identity in victimhood. I do not mean to suggest that blacks are a monolithic culture or that all blacks self-identify as victims. It just happens to be a narrative that resonates in the inner cities because it makes for a good explanation for their dire circumstances, rather than the Bill Cosby "it's your own damn fault" message of "get a job, get married, and then have kids." In regard to tension with police and the code of silence, I wrote "due more to a cultural phenomenon" not solely due to a cultural phenomenon. I wouldn't want to let self-serving politicians (redundant?) off the hook that easy.

[davidbfpo]

Caught this via elsewhere. It is an USA Today article two weeks ago and the sub-titles say enough:

How snitches pay for freedom; Court records show that federal inmates in Atlanta tried to buy information about other criminals to win early freedom. (Shortly after)....At least 48,895 federal convicts — one of every eight — had their prison sentences reduced in exchange for helping government investigators, probe shows.

Link:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...-sale/1762013/

The best bit - for an outsider - is the final chart 'Who Cooperates Most'.

[davidbfpo]

A lengthy BBC article on snitching or being an informant in the USA, taken from a BBC World radio broadcast; it opens with:

Some law enforcement agencies in the US use informants in as many as 90% of their drug cases. But there are surprisingly few rules on how informants are used and a groundswell of calls for the system to be reformed.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21939453

Interesting set of proposals at state level to regulate this.