Colombia, Please Listen to Lil' Wayne and Stop Snitching

The verdict's in: We now have final proof that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe doesn't take policy advice from Lil' Wayne. In fact, responding to an increase in violent crime, Uribe's calling on Colombia's citizens to become....snitches.

Effectively, Uribe is suggesting that the country recuit a class of informants, paying them $50 a month for their services.

There are so many reasons this is bad policy. Where to start?

Fortunately, the Colombian public seems more likely to side with Lil' Wayne -- who's repeatedly spoken out against informants -- than with their president. Sure, the "Stop Snitching" campaign supported by Lil' Wayne and dozens of rappers is destructive in its own way. Still, though, it's not surprising that many Colombians value their own safety more than Uribe's bribe to talk to cops.

Snitching can be a lucrative business. But for just this reason, it isn’t reliable. Most honest people won’t want to risk their lives to work as snitches -- they’ll call the police for free if they see the police as actually working to protect public safety. Public trust in police is key to increasing public safety, not bribes.

That's not to say the "Stop Snitching" campaign isn't problematic. By encouraging people not to talk to police even if they witness a violent crime, it is. (To hear more about the issue, check out a recent interview by CNN's Anderson Cooper -- who "listens to a whole variety of music" -- and recently spoke about this concern with Common and Steve Perry.)

Though it doesn't fit well on a T-shirt, a more suitable campaign in Colombia would be "Don't Snitch for Money."

Paid informants are unreliable. They have a clear incentive to lie (money), and encouraging snitching at the country’s highest levels is a recipe for a wave of wrongful accusations and convictions. Various police departments in the U.S. have tried advertising for snitches over the years, and the results haven’t been positive.

I can think of other, more effective ways the government of Colombia could spend this money to address violent crime. For starters, they could build a police force that works. Rather than paying snitches, pay honest cops. Then they won’t need bribes, they wouldn't sell drugs on the side -- and reporting of crime would increase.

Alternately, how about spending that money on improving living conditions in Colombia? How about working to offer people a solid education or create jobs? Paying snitches will only deepen a system of injustices: Uribe and Colombia need to think again.

In the meantime, Colombian citizens would probably do well to listen to Lil' Wayne.

Photo Credit: victoriapeckham