A Car Accident I saw in Maryland in 2008.
Do you know how to be a good witness. You thought I was talking about a witness for Jesus didn't you? I think I'll talk about that on Friday. But since I wrote a post about the domestic dispute I observed, and realized I was a bad witness, here's some tips from a friend of mine that is a police officer on how to be a good witness...
1. If a crime occurred and there was a vehicle involved, get a tag. And just as important as that, get a description of the driver. If it's a hit and run or something of that nature, we're charging the driver, not the car.
2. If someone is fleeing, get a good direction of travel, as well as, a description of what they're wearing. Look at shoes! People can take off shirts, change pants, take off a hat... but who has an extra pair of shoes?
3. Try not to listen to what other witnesses are saying. This will influence your account of what happened. If you saw a red shirt and other people are saying blue or green or purple, it will start to convince you that it wasn't red and make you doubt yourself. If all else fails, before the police get there... jot down a few notes to yourself, or on your phone.
4. Speaking of phones, you can take a picture or video of something you see with technology that can be e-mailed to an officer very easily.
5. The most important thing is never put yourself in harms way if it isn't absolutely necessary. If a crime occurred and you witnessed it and it is over, nothing you can do is going to reverse what happened. You could injure yourself trying to detain someone or something of that nature.
Engage: Have you ever witnessed a crime? Share the story in the comments!
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