I appreciate your sentiment behind your comment regarding being a witness, however, in the U.K., I have been involved in putting a family into witness protection for what they had innocently observed. Their lives were made hell! When you have exceptionally violent gangs who care not one jot about witness intimidation and who will do or arrange to have done ANYTHING to take out the witnesses, then I too as LE Senior Detective, would think twice. I am all about duty but unless you have been under serious threat of harm for just doing your job, which I have OR because you just happened to witness an event and as a result, threats are being made, then I’m sorry but you cannot appreciate the fear, the worry, the thought that they are going to torture your family and in particular the vulnerable ones like your kids or elderly parents, then you cannot truly say that it’s duty over safety. I do not mean to be disrespectful to you but it’s a very naive view. Of course in an ideal world we would all want and expect witnesses to come forward, step up to the plate and give evidence in Court but the reality can be totally life wrenching- truly it can! And each case has to be viewed independently and each witness has to do what they believe is right .
I know of a man who had fuel poured over him and was burned to death on the step of his family’s home because he refused to back down as a witness. Another was attacked by 15 men with machetes in a packed public house on a Sunday in front of children and families, including his own and was hacked to death. Until you know what you are dealing with, and whom, then it cannot be so black and white. There are grey areas that some cases fall into no matter how much your own personal integrity and morals tell you to do what is right . Sometimes that’s simply not an option. MOO
