Monday, June 20, 2005

GA school turning students into snitches for chump change

I've been on the lookout recently for stories about police snitches, and here's an ugly development I'd missed: A standing cash offer for students to snitch seems like a really terrible idea. That's happening in a Georgia high school, though, reported AP in April:
Using revenue from its candy and soda sales, Model High School plans to pay up to $100 for information about thefts and drug or gun possession on campus. ...

"It's not that we feel there are any problems here," said Principal Glenn White. "It's a proactive move for getting information that will help deter any sort of illegal activity.
"

Under the new policy, a student would receive $10 for information about a theft on campus, $25 or $50 for information about drug possession, and $100 for information about gun possession or other serious felonies.


Informants will not receive the reward if they are involved in the crime, White said.

Sounds to me like a catastrophe waiting to happen. How long it will be before somebody falsely fingers a fellow student for the money, just like happened on a larger scale in the Dallas sheetrock scandal? It seems inevitable if we continue down this crazy road toward some sort of East-German-style informant society, encouraging snitching even among non-criminals and children for petty offenses. Think about it: What other values does such a policy teach to Georgia schoolchildren?

2 comments:

  1. A recent incident in Wichita Falls. Note the incident date, April 2003. The average person can't remember their whereabouts on a 2 year old date pulled out of a hat. If this man hadn't been in jail, it's unlikely he could have proven he wasn't the suspect in question. The snitch has a vested interest in the suspect's prosecution- highly unlikely the snitch would admit to mistaken identity. I'm curious how long police can hold out before issuing a warrant? 2 years seems too long.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We need a free site to post and view snitches

    ReplyDelete