Stop Snitching??? !!!

I was going through old pictures and found one of my cousin in her "Stop Snitching" shirt.  I remember around 2006 when these shirts were very popular.  I decided to blog it.  While doing the research for this blog, I ran across this article that discussed a DVD that featured Carmelo Anthony.  Anthony discussed his beliefs and how he was reared to not "snitch".  The article briefly touches on the government's decision to impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes and how law enforcement uses the testimony of drug criminals to convict other drug criminals.  This topic hits close to home also but I'll touch on it at a later date.  The above article can be found here.  http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=farrey_tom&id=2296590

So, here are my thoughts.  I am all for reducing crime and making neighborhoods safe.  I am however against allowing leniency for someone committing the exact same crime as another in exchange for his or her testimony.  How about police officers do a little primary prevention and plant themselves in neighborhoods to reduce crime rates instead of relying on citizens, and criminals at that, to police our neighborhoods?  And what about innocent until PROVEN guilty?  Can someone really be proven guilty solely off the testimony of someone else?  How sure can law enforcement be that the testimony provided is the truth rather than solely an attempt at a get out of jail free card?

Several of the other articles went on to condemn the "stop snitching" culture.  Of course there were several sentences linking it to hip hop and African American culture.  In a world where everyone's pointing fingers and no one's to blame I believe it's time that we all work together to "stop snitching", prevent crime and convict criminals based on facts rather than he say she say.  In addition to policing the neighborhoods, law enforcement and other professionals need to mentor youth and encourage them to seek other positive avenues.  Then, there would be no need to "stop snitching" because hopefully people wouldn't have anyone on whom to snitch.