Wow! Thanks!
(Yikes)
This is why modern rescue techniques involve direct instruction. For example, if you're providing bandage compression to somebody with a serious arterial wound to the arm, you wouldn't say, "Someone get help!"
The newer technique is to direct a specific person to accomplish a task. "You, in the blue shirt with the yellow tie and briefcase. Call 9-1-1 and tell them we need an ambulance and a police officer at this location immediately." People respond better and faster using that methodology.
~ Blue Jays ~
(Yikes)
Re: Kitty Genovese, a minor detail not clear from the other poster, the people who witnessed this crime were in their homes, they were not standing right at the scene. Of course someone could have, and should have, called the police. But none were in the position to actively intervene.
Poor Ms. Genovese, she's probably one of NYC's most famous murder victims.