Yet another "gun snitch" program

Under a new program announced this morning, anyone who spots people packing heat in West Palm Beach can call Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers anonymously and could receive a $500 reward.

The West Palm Beach Police Department will cough up $500 each time such a phone call leads to recovery of the weapon and an arrest for unlawful firearm possession.

Police say the program, modeled after similar efforts in Miami and Orlando, is different from traditional gun buyback programs because it seeks to nail the gun-wielders themselves. Source

Sounds all well and good on paper until you remember that we're talking about the public here. Not only is this new public largely gun-ignorant but many are downright malicious.

If I'm a drug dealer and I want to eliminate the competition, why not let New York's finest do the job for me? Chances are, my rivals will be packing, so I'll not only get them busted, but I'll collect a cool grand per head. And if I'm really lucky, maybe one or more of them will go for their waistbands and I can get the cops to take 'em out for me.

Or what if I'm just mad at somebody? What if some bum has stolen my girl or I think a guy ripped me off or I'm just a creep who wants to victimize someone for the twisted hell of it? This would be a pretty sweet way of doing that, wouldn't you say? Sic the cops on 'em, maybe get 'em killed, and remember: even the police won't know who I am. Forget the reward. Besides, maybe I can take pictures of the action and sell them to The Daily News.

Or what if I'm one of those policemen Commissioner Kelly doesn't trust? What if I have no probable cause for a search warrant, but I don't want to let the Fourth Amendment get in my way any more than the Second does in NYC? Why not just call in the tip myself, and enjoy a toll-free bypass around the Constitution? Source

Seems like extending "probable cause" to an anonymous phone call and going so far as to reward such phone calls is opening the door to some pretty grand rights infringements.

Hrmm, well how are they going to know these people are packing? It would seem these people need x-ray vision or people will just randomly call the cops on people they "suspect" to be carrying.

This is stupid and a direct violation of our rights.

Thanks for bringing this to the forefront. I hope that this backfires right in their face. Money talks BS walks. 'I swear officer that blackberry looked like a ppk"

Greed and bad phone calls will hopefully kill this program.

Just out of curiosity, what if someone gets a glimpse of a gun under the shirt of a legal ccw permit holder?

reply to post by Hastobemoretolife


The call is apparently enough to justify being detained and searched. Thankfully, I live in a free state where this type of thing is not likely at all to become policy but i fI were in one of these snitch areas I'd totally be on my pre-paid cell phone calling in all sorts of people just for the fun of it. Some old lady with a walker getting rushed by the cops would make great YouTube footage.

Originally posted by jibeho
Just out of curiosity, what if someone gets a glimpse of a gun under the shirt of a legal ccw permit holder?

Exactly. Florida isnt like New York. There are a lot of lawful carriers in the state. I suppose they could always say that if somebody saw it or you were printing that the weapon wasnt properly concealed and use that to revoke your permit.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


I could see major problems arising out of this.

Where is the ACLU???

This is ridiculous although, you are right, some of these things could make some really funny youtube videos. Maybe the submitter can make 6 million theoretical dollars.

Either or I don't see this holding up in court. But stranger and more retarded stuff has happened.

Here is Ohio, open carry is actually legal yet few do because of the potential backlash and harassment that you will get from the police. If you open carry here you had better have all of your ducks in a nice neat row. I would certainly carry openly if it were more widely accepted.

Something I just thought of is if you are in a gang or whatever and were planning on some sort of "hit" or other crime you could tie up a good number of cops with bogus calls sending them all over town except of course the area in which your crime is to take place.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


That is a good thought. I wouldn't put it past them to do this either. Not only does this defy common sense, but it could also be really dangerous to the public.

People need to quit being so gun shy.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Something I just thought of is if you are in a gang or whatever and were planning on some sort of "hit" or other crime you could tie up a good number of cops with bogus calls sending them all over town except of course the area in which your crime is to take place.

Funny thing last new years day someone did that in the small town I'm in. They called and said there was a major accident on the highway about 12 minutes out of town involving a tanker semi and a greyhound bus. 911 got three calls about it. Then when the 5 cops all rushed to the scene with the volunteer firedepartment and ambulance in tow 3 guys used a shotgun to rob the local store.