It seems as if every day, another crime is caught on video that’s shown on the evening news with a plea to contact the police if you recognize the perpetrator(s). Many of the videos are quite good quality and I expect it would be pretty easy to recognize a friend, acquaintance, or family member.
What would you do if you recognized the guy holding the gun or the woman shoving jewelry into her purse? Would the severity of the crime matter? Would your relationship with the suspect matter? Would it matter if a reward was offered? If it was someone you knew well, would you try to convince him/her to surrender to the authorities?
I’m pretty sure, regardless of whether there was a reward or not, if I was certain of the person’s identity, I’d contact the police. In fact, even if I wasn’t completely positive, I might still call the police with the disclaimer that I wasn’t absolutely sure. And in the case of a close friend or family member, I’d consider an intervention if I thought the person could be convinced to do the right thing.
Fortunately, I think the worst crimes of my associates involve exceeding the speed limit.
It would depend on the crime. A guy selling loosies? No way. Someone kidnapping a child? Of course. The older I get and the more questionable police actions I read about, the further the line shifts toward the child kidnapping end of the continuum.
I would have a real hard time turning in one of my children. Everyone else, sure. (assuming the crime was severe enough to warrant news coverage). For my kids, I’d probably try to get them a good lawyer and negotiate surrender on their terms as much as possible.
Picking up a ups package, yes! Stealing a bike,maybe not it would depend. Any type of violent crime that wasn’t mutual combat, yes. In some cases of minor theft I might call the parents direct if I thought they would handle it.
The problem is that I have problems recognizing people from out of context picutres, such that if I saw one of my friends/family on surveillance footage rather than saying “OMG! Bob robbed a liquor store!”, I would be more likely to say “Huh, that liquor store Robber kind of looks like Bob, what a coincidence.”
If the crime was violent, or a home invasion, yes I’d turn them in. Shoplifting? Vandalism? Buying drugs? Prostitution, etc? Mind your own damn business.
Depends on the crime? Yes.
If it’s this guy, I’m going to laugh. Maybe call him and tell him he’s on the news.
Depends on closeness of acquaintance? Yes.
If it was a close relative or acquaintance, I’d probably call them and tell them they’re on the news and to lawyer up.
To my mind, shoplifting and vandalism are as much crimes against the whole community as against one person or organization and they deserve to be reported. Picking up a hooker is none of my business, but suspected incidents of child prostitution is another story. And I doubt that the nightly news will waste air time on jay-walkers caught in the act - the things I’ve seen highlighted on our news are definitely reportable as far as I’m concerned.
I got on film stealing my neighbors survielance camera and smashing it to bits. He had it installed on my garage where it is 1 foot from the property line on my side. I flipped him off with both hands before I smashed it. No police report filed.
As far as closeness of association goes, I have three cousins whom I report anytime the police are looking for suspects. My children? Warn them to lawyer up.