Missourians who "snitched" on lockdown rulebreakers fear retaliation after information leaks online

DISRN ^ | May 4, 2020 | Bryan Brammer ·

[Morgana]

More than 900 Missouri residents who "snitched" on St. Louis County businesses for violating the coronavirus lockdowns in March and April fear retaliation after their private information was published on social media.

The county had encouraged residents to report businesses that were not adhering to the state's lockdown guidelines. Although many people had asked for their communications to remain anonymous, the terms and conditions included in the online report said that information may be shared publicly.

The names and addresses of approximately 900 residents were published online and then shared by a man named Jared Totsch in a Facebook group with the following caption: "Here ya go. The gallery of snitches, busybodies, and employees who rat out their own neighbors and employers over the Panic-demic."

Residents whose information was shared online fear retaliation from businesses they reported.

"I'm not only worried about COVID, I'm worried about someone showing up at my door, showing up at my workplace, or me getting fired for doing what is right," one tipster said.

Totsch wrote that those who were worried about retaliation should have read the terms and conditions more closely.

"If they are worried about retaliation, they should have read the fine print which stated their tips would be open public record... and should not have submitted tips in that manner to begin with," Totsch wrote. "I released the info in an attempt to discourage such behavior in the future."

The complaints resulted in 29 businesses receiving citations during April.

[libertylover]

I send Comrade Beshear an email every day which says, “Quarantine is when you restrict the movements of sick people; Tyranny is when you restrict the movements of healthy people. LET OUR PEOPLE GO!!!”

[DeplorableGirl]

Some people handle medical records at work...
Strange places they can show up.

[oldvirginian]

It wasn’t just the Netherlands. Most of Europe got in on the act. The women who had German boyfriends were particularly targeted as were any children they produced.

Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad of the music group ABBA is one of those kids. Her mother was a Norwegian girl and her father a SGT in the Wermacht.
Her mother moved them to Sweden after the war to escape the discrimination.

FWIW Anni married her own German in 1992, Prince Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen, and they remained married until he passed away in 1999.

From illegitimate war baby to pop music star to Princess Anni the lady has had a helluva ride.

https://www.biography.com/musician/anni-frid-lyngstad

[wally_bert]

I used to work for an electronics and recycling crowd based in St. Louis. I was in another state’s local sweatshop.

The majority of the St. Louis crowd then I could see as the sellout type.

[twoputt]

Let me guess, a lot of them are named Karen?

[Phil DiBasquette]

Practice social distancing

Don’t invite ‘em over or give ‘em gifts

They want you/us dead so why bother

[JimRed]

The majority of the St. Louis crowd then I could see as the sellout type.

There's a fine (and frequently blurred) line between reporting crime and being a sellout. I wonder how many of them believed they were the "good citizens" reporting violators they considered criminal, rather than the nosy blabbermouths they truly are.

[sport]

All of them.

[Fledermaus]

They should worry.

[Fledermaus]

I’m your huckleberry

[Svartalfiar]

It’s the law, get over it

...The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right…to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” Generally, the right is to have a face-to-face confrontation with witnesses who are offering testimonial evidence against the accused in the form of cross-examination during a trial. The Fourteenth Amendment makes the right to confrontation appvlicable to the states and not just the federal government

Except this wouldn't be a very good defense. After the tips were called in, they just have a cop go by the store and see if they're open. If so, the cop right there is plenty of witness for the legal system. The only time they would actually have to bring one of the snitches forward (if this ever even got to trial), would be if the business was only open for the complaint, but closed when the cops looked into it. But there's no way they would bother issuing a citation in that situation.

[Kickass Conservative]

The term I remember was “good German”.

[JoeRender]

And sometimes they could end up sleeping under a dirt blanket.

[Slingwing]

That is what you get when you have an unelected governor running the show. He is a POS from the get go and wants to hang the people he is representing. Doing it through snitches.

[JimRed]

The term I remember was “good German”.

When I was a kid (born in 1943) WWII was fresh in the memory of most adults, dad was still in the Army and we were living in a military housing complex. So the only "good" German or Jap was a DEAD German or Jap!