Make money while having fun turning in your neighbors! Gee didn't I say a few months ago a bounty would be paid for turning in gun owners? Hell, in addition to the $100 payment they are giving an additional $25 PER GUN reward to the snitch. Also notice that NYC admitted to 400 tips but only 100 arrests. Does that mean that 3/4 of these people were needlessly harrassed?

[url]www.triblive.com/live/news/news_story.html?rkey=163324+sid=c96b25a89f17b2c437b3a30b9223e7b2[/url]

Reward program aims to get illegal weapons off city streets

                 By David Conti
                 TRIBUNE-REVIEW

                 Local residents can get $125 or more by calling 911 to report people [b]they believe are carrying weapons without a license[/b], under a new program unveiled
                 Thursday by Pittsburgh police.

                 The Gun Stoppers program, paid for with a federal grant, has worked in several other cities, including New York and Charleston, S.C., Pittsburgh police Chief
                 Robert W. McNeilly Jr. said.

                 "I believe this will have an impact on the amount of violence we're seeing in the city," he said.

                 A similar program in New York City, which offers $500 rewards, has generated 400 tips that led to 100 arrests and 86 weapons being confiscated since January,
                 police said.

                 The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Pittsburgh schools police are co-sponsoring the local program.

                 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported earlier this month that city police arrested 201 people for carrying guns illegally during the first seven months of the year.
                 That's a 40 percent increase in the number of arrests during the same period last year.

                 Police and experts said there is a direct connection between the increase in illegal guns on the street and the increase in homicides in Pittsburgh this year.

                 [b]Gun Stoppers calls for residents to call police with the location and description of people they believe are carrying guns.[/b] In return, 911 operators will give the
                 caller a secret code.

                 The caller's identification will be kept confidential, McNeilly said.

                 The caller should then check back with 911 later in the day. If an arrest for carrying a firearm without a license is made, the caller will be given instructions for
                 picking up the cash reward at a secret location.

                 [b]An arrest carries a $100 reward. Callers also get $25 for every illegal gun police confiscate.[/b]

                 [b]The callers will not have to testify in court if an arrest is made[/b] because, even with a telephone tip, the officer must have probable cause to search the suspected gun
                 carrier, officials said.

                 In April, the ATF conducted a training session for more than 250 city and school police officers on how to identify someone who is carrying a gun illegally.

                 "They are trained for certain things to look for ... certain mannerisms and things people do when they're carrying a gun," McNeilly said.

Can I turn myself in and still collect the reward?

I want to know what they're trained to look for.  I want to make sure to do all these things when I'm in an occupied zone. [:)]

Shades of Hitler & Stalin! What is the diff. between the "informers" and the anonymously reporting of criminals today.  I have a real problem with this.

Are any of these things also what you might do if you have a cell phone on your hip or in your pocket?  Or say you just left the bank with an envelope with a few hundred and put it in your inside pocket.  Or say you are needing an 'adjustment'.  Is wearing a belly pack a "mannerism"?

Hey P.O.'s, we know about YOUR reasonable suspicion, but what about a plain citizen's suspicion, would you accept it at face value if you can't talk to the "concerned citizen" to judge if it's reasonable or not?  

Especially since you can't talk to the caller yourself and they're conveniently not available?  

How would you handle someone you spot who is somewhat resembling the person reported?

Hey PA tourists, don't refuse a handout to that psychotic with the shopping cart.  Or maybe he just doesn't like your alien face and the way you can read his mind, plant thoughts, even.

Yes, sadly, Pittsburgh is turning into a sad socialist/liberal pool, very quickly.  I am witness to the ruining of a great city.

Their murder rate has been lowest since 1996, now they're ready to set a new record. Couple more and they will have broken the old one. Mostly "African-Americans?" killing each other. Drug trade and gang activity is increasing.