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‘Stop Snitching’ Challenged by New Proposal

November 6th, 2015 by flanews

There are too many ucrimes, and not enough people coming forward to help solve them. That’s what one law maker is saying about his idea for a new witness protection bill. As Matt Galka tells us, the hope is to put an end to the “stop snitching” culture.

Florida is plagued with unsolved murders from the panhandle to the keys.

“We know people have seen things but they’re afraid to come forward,” said Rep. Ed Narain (D-Tampa).

Narain hopes his bill stops that.  He’s proposed a bill that would keep witnesses names and addresses exempt if they cooperate with police. He hopes it ends the “stop snitching” movement that prevents people from coming forward after a crime.

“That culture is keeping a lot of good people from coming out and talking to the police about things they may have seen, so the goal of this bill is to really try and stop that from happening,” he said.

Law enforcement in Narain’s home of Tampa urged the public to help just last week in four unsolved shooting deaths.  Ed Harris, Sr.’s  son was gunned down in May.

“I wake up every day with the sound of the gunshots and the car speeding off, knowing that tho

se individuals are still out there,” he said.

State attorneys say the lack of cooperation make cases difficult if they ever get to court.

“It makes it sometimes practically impossible, I think it happens sometimes because people are in fear of some type of retaliation if they testify,” said Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Willie Meggs.

Meggs thinks the proposal is good, but not flawless. Defense attorneys will be able to do whatever they want with the witness information once they get it. And the sponsor admits public records advocates won’t like it.

Information for witnesses would be available after trial if the bill were to take effect. The bill doesn’t have a Senate companion yet and has not yet been scheduled for a committee hearing.

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