OAKLAND It's all the police need: a new fashion trend on Bay Area streets that is making it harder to put killers behind bars.
Last year, there were 96 homicides in San Francisco. About 77 percent of them remain unsolved. Statewide, 53 percent of killings are at loose ends.
Now, a T-shirt carrying a threatening message for witnesses to crimes is gaining popularity. The "Stop Snitching" slogan has become hip -- actually, hip hop.
DVDs push the no-tell notion. Recording artist Lil' Kim has become a hero for lying to police instead of telling on her friends.
The "Stop Snitch'n" T-shirts are not just a fashion statement. It's a warning.
"Keep your mouth shut," explained one person. "Because you will get hurt."
In fact another T-shirt with the same theme spells out the consequences with, "Snitches Get Stitches."
They've been seen in an Oakland neighborhood where five people were gunned down.
Even so, some stick with the anti-witness sentiment on the T-shirt.
"It's right there in your face," said Hennesey Green. "It say stop snitch'n, stop telling. You're doin' too much."
We showed the interviews to a pastor who has preached against the shirts.
"These guys are talking, but they don't understand. This thing, it breeds death," said Pastor Curtis Robinson. "I had one elderly woman come to the altar on Sunday in tears from the oppression she feels from these T-shirts."
The shirts were banned in Boston. A judge felt the people wearing them were trying to frighten witnesses. The city's mayor succeeded in getting local merchants to take the shirts off the shelves.
"I've got many complaints from the district attorney's office and from the police officers about these T-shirts," said Boston Mayor Tom Menino.
Their appearance in the Bay Area disturbs the deputy chief of the investigations for the San Francisco Police Department.
"Hopefully it's only a fad," said Deputy Police Chief Morris Tabak. "But hopefully a quick dying fad because it's troubling."
Tabak says some shootings have as many as 30 witnesses, but no one comes forward with information.
The T-shirts, he says, threaten people who "perhaps may be willing to come forward, and this is kind of in-your-face."
Some say the don't-snitch sentiment has been around for years, and that in high crime areas, you have to stay quiet to survive. Some also say they aren't the only ones who refuse to snitch.
"In the White House, they ain't telling on each other," said Tyree Hopkins. "Ain't nobody bringing George Bush down. Know what I'm saying?"
Last year, there were 96 homicides in San Francisco. About 77 percent of them remain unsolved. Statewide, 53 percent of killings are at loose ends.
Now, a T-shirt carrying a threatening message for witnesses to crimes is gaining popularity. The "Stop Snitching" slogan has become hip -- actually, hip hop.
DVDs push the no-tell notion. Recording artist Lil' Kim has become a hero for lying to police instead of telling on her friends.
The "Stop Snitch'n" T-shirts are not just a fashion statement. It's a warning.
"Keep your mouth shut," explained one person. "Because you will get hurt."
In fact another T-shirt with the same theme spells out the consequences with, "Snitches Get Stitches."
They've been seen in an Oakland neighborhood where five people were gunned down.
Even so, some stick with the anti-witness sentiment on the T-shirt.
"It's right there in your face," said Hennesey Green. "It say stop snitch'n, stop telling. You're doin' too much."
We showed the interviews to a pastor who has preached against the shirts.
"These guys are talking, but they don't understand. This thing, it breeds death," said Pastor Curtis Robinson. "I had one elderly woman come to the altar on Sunday in tears from the oppression she feels from these T-shirts."
The shirts were banned in Boston. A judge felt the people wearing them were trying to frighten witnesses. The city's mayor succeeded in getting local merchants to take the shirts off the shelves.
"I've got many complaints from the district attorney's office and from the police officers about these T-shirts," said Boston Mayor Tom Menino.
Their appearance in the Bay Area disturbs the deputy chief of the investigations for the San Francisco Police Department.
"Hopefully it's only a fad," said Deputy Police Chief Morris Tabak. "But hopefully a quick dying fad because it's troubling."
Tabak says some shootings have as many as 30 witnesses, but no one comes forward with information.
The T-shirts, he says, threaten people who "perhaps may be willing to come forward, and this is kind of in-your-face."
Some say the don't-snitch sentiment has been around for years, and that in high crime areas, you have to stay quiet to survive. Some also say they aren't the only ones who refuse to snitch.
"In the White House, they ain't telling on each other," said Tyree Hopkins. "Ain't nobody bringing George Bush down. Know what I'm saying?"
