Video: Cracking The Code Of Silence

[syndicaster id=’6282175′]

BY ALYSSA MARTIN

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s known as the code of silence and it’s a big problem law enforcement face while trying to solve crimes.

Witnesses might be scared, nervous or just don’t want to get involved.

But investigators try to find other ways to crack cases.

Shots fired in the middle of the day and in the middle of the highway. Two people were injured and only person in jail.

Lowndes County investigators continue working to find another suspect.

They say the only problem is, no one will tell deputies how the shooting started.

“It’s a challenging barrier to break sometimes,” said Ryan Rickert, Lowndes County Investigator.

It’s known as the ‘code of silence.’

What witnesses see can often solve a case.

Rickert says there can be several reasons why people don’t want to come forward with information.

“The main reason would probably be fear, fear of retaliation, fear of what might happen if they were to become involved in the case. There is also that aspect of people on out community that just don’t want to talk to the police, that just are not going to corporate no matter what the circumstances, wether they’re the victim, or they’re the offender or they’re just an innocent person standing on the street, they have the mindset that they’re just not going to talk to us,” said Rickert.

District Attorney Scott Colom says having a person on the witness stand in the courtroom plays a critical role in the justice system.

“It’s very important to have witnesses tell us what they see when it comes to crimes. Without witnesses, we’re not able to prosecute a lot of criminals and it allows criminals to get away with it, which we as a community cannot tolerate,” said Colom.

Colom says some witnesses might fear being labeled a certain way if they go to police with information.

“Contact law enforcement or contact my officer directly and we’ll make sure we get their information but protect their identity. For people that don’t want to be labeled a certain way, I would tell those people consider the impact it has on our community, and the impact it has on victims of crimes,” added Colom.

While there are those who refuse to help law enforcement, investigators vow to keep working until the case is solved.

“There’s been times where we work an aggravated assault for an extended period of time, or we might work burglaries for an extended period of time because all of those cases are important and some catch the limelight a little bit more but anytime the law is broken, we try to do our best to push forward and try to find somebody whose responsible for that crime,” added Rickert.

The phone number for the Golden Triangle Crime stoppers tip line is 662- 494- 0109.

If you provide information that leads to an arrest, you could be awarded up to $1,000.

Categories: Local News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *