It is the one complaint you hear over and over again from police and law enforcement officials.
They constantly lament the lack of cooperation they too often get from the community. They arrive at crowded crime scenes only to be greeted by zipped lips. Nobody saw anything.
The street code of “no snitching” remains entrenched in many communities.
One of the reasons people are reluctant to come forward is because they do not trust the system to protect them if they do.
Which is why the case splashed all over today’s front page is so troubling.
Vera Carroll, 59, was a secretary in the district attorney’s office. She was assigned to Chester District Court.
But today she is looking at the law from the other side of the table. Carroll was charged by the state Attorney General’s Office with leaking information – including the witness list – in a criminal case against her grandson. She's also charged with perjury for allegedly lying to an investigative grand jury in Montgomery County.
You can probably make an argument that this was simply a case of a caring grandmother looking out for her grandson. But it strikes at the heart of the justice system, and underlines why so many people are reluctant to come forward.
Carroll’s alleged actions could have put people at risk, people who were scheduled to testify in the case against her grandson.
Attorney General (and Governor-elect) Tom Corbett called it “an inexcusable breach of the public trust.”
We couldn’t agree more.
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