Council considers 2G fine as way to protect witnesses

It seems like a good idea: Fine people who intimidate witnesses, then use the money to help others avoid similar threats.

But as City Council today takes up a bill that would impose a fine of up to $2,000 on those who bully witnesses, some legal analysts say that the new law probably would not affect this growing problem.

"We have statutes on the book that make [witness intimidation] a felony," Temple University law professor Edward Ohlbaum said. "I can't believe they're going to be deterred - 'Well, I don't have any problem going to jail, but if

they're going to fine me, I'm not going to intimidate the witness.' "

Alexandra Natapoff, a law professor at Loyola Law School, in Los Angeles, echoed that.

"If [felony charges] don't already deter, I doubt writing a ticket is going to do the job," she said.

Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who proposed the measure, said the law was sending the message that the city took witness-intimidation seriously. He believed it would have some dampening effect.

"It's more than sending a signal," Jones said. "It's triggering reaction at different levels of government."

He noted that U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., earlier this year introduced legislation to make it a federal crime to threaten state-court witnesses.

And state Rep. Kenyatta Johnson has said he'd like to find a way to increase the financial penalty on witness intimidators.

The bill also has the support of District Attorney Seth Williams. Earlier this year, he asked for an additional $400,000 for his office's witness-relocation program, which has a budget of $885,000. His request was denied.

During a hearing of the Council's Committee on Law and Government, Williams said that collecting the fines could be problematic, but worthwhile.

Jones said the amount of the fine could eventually be increased.

"What we wanted to do was get something on the books to get the ball rolling," Jones said.

Natapoff said she applauded any city council, police department or prosecutor's office that took steps to bring witness intimidation to the forefront.

But, she said, adding a fine doesn't get at the heart of the witness-intimidation problem.

"The question is: How do we make people in neighborhoods feel safer?" said Natapoff, author of "Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice."

"We already have multiple ways of punishing people who threaten or intimidate witnesses. One of the great fallacies of the system is that when it breaks down, we look for new ways to punish. . . . By focusing on the perpetrator, we neglect the fear of the people in the community."

It's important for the government, including the police, to build better, more trusting relationships with people in crime-blighted communities, she said. That could mean devoting resources to a neighborhood liaison or establishing an anonymous tip line. Philadelphia has both a tip line (215-686-TIPS) and a Web site, phillypolice.com, where citizens can report criminal activity.

"It's where people are not in trusting and well-working relationships with the government that witness intimidation takes its greatest toll," she said.