Solving crimes is the name of the game for police, but law enforcement officers need help to do that. That help is often not the victims and witnesses who are to afraid to speak up.
Toronto's police force often run into a silent wall when it comes to violent crime. When witnesses claim to have seen nothing they allow those who take advantage of the laws that protect everyone to get away with crime.
While witnesses may speak highly of a victim when they don't tell the police what they witnessed they are helping the criminal.
Toronto Police Constable Tony Vella told me that one issue with witnesses is very valid, they live near the attacker and fear for their lives and the lives of their family members.
That has been the case in the Amon Beckles case. Beckles was gunned down on the steps of a church in Etobicoke. He was at the church for the funeral of a gun, also a victim of gun violence.
The Toronto Star reports:
"People are afraid of retaliation, afraid of being known as snitches, and they never want to open their mouths. I was the same way at first," Amon's mother, Nadia Beckles, said Sunday.
It's a double edged sword for the police. When victims and witnesses have viewed the criminal retaliate against others the silent wall builds up. The only way to break down the wall is to rid the area of the criminals. To get rid of the criminal police need to have witnesses come forward so they can build a case to put the bad guys behind bars.
Constable Vella told me that the police and the government will do everything in their power to protect witnesses. One protection is when one witness steps forward others follow.
"It's like a bully in school. When everyone stands up against the bully he loses. With the criminal a lot of the time they have intimidated their neighbourhood so much that they feel they have the control. It just takes that one person to come forward. When one comes forward we see others have the courage to follow."
Vella also told me that if a person doesn't want to let anyone know that they are giving information to the police
CRIME-STOPPERS is there for them. When a witness calls crime stoppers to give information they are not forced to give up their name. Another option for witnesses is to call the police department and ask for their advice. Vella did say at the end of the day the police hope that the witness will give their name but understand that fear can stop victims from doing so.
Some also fear the court process. Vella said that there are victim services that take a witness through the process step by step so that they are comfortable in the court room from the beginning.
"At the end of the day the victim of a crime needs to have justice served," Constable Vella stressed about murder victims, "Come forward and help put the killer behind bars."
