Getting witnesses to come forward can be as challenging as actually solving a crime.
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“If the police receive full cooperation from the general public, that would discourage the bad guys from committing these acts within certain neighborhoods because they know they’re not going to be able to get away with it,” said Frank Fowler, Syracuse Police Chief.
Wednesday, District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said there are a number of incidents where people should come forward including a deadly shooting in Thornden Park July 4th.
“They’re probably a 100 to 150 witnesses that saw this shooting and as of yet that crime remains unsolved. That’s a community disgrace,” said Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick is hoping a new program will help. Tip 411 allows tips to be sent to any of the police agencies in the county anonymously using their individual tip code. The transmission happens almost instantly and he demonstrated how.
“If you’re afraid of retaliation, you don’t want to leave your name on a voice recording, you don’t want to use your phone on a tip line reach out to Tip 411,” said Fitzpatrick.