Free Republic

TAMPA — Did Tampa’s no-snitch culture cost another young teenager his life? Edward Harris III thinks so. He says his son, 14-year-old Edward Harris IV, witnessed a stabbing last year and cooperated with police. A few months later, somebody shot at him five times but missed. Late Sunday afternoon, Edward Harris IV was killed in a driveby shooting on the north side of Woodland Terrace Park. Tampa police said the shooting did not appear to be a random act but stopped short of saying the motive for the homicide was retaliation in a part of Tampa where talking to police...

Armed robbers terrorized Oakland restaurants and small businesses in three separate crime sprees over the past year. The first wave targeted Asian eateries and struck during the 2007 holiday season. The second arrived last spring and was more indiscriminate. The third struck in July and August. All three made newspaper headlines and led television newscasts, shining a spotlight on the city's out-of-control crime problem and the Oakland Police Department's apparent inability to cope with it. In fact, the department's public response to the takeover robberies was both odd and illuminating. The department's mantra for dealing with the city's crime spike...