Arrests may be nearer, but cooperation isn't

When it comes to solving many of the worst crimes, police are only as good as the cooperation they receive from the community.

West Palm Beach police have worked overtime during the past year to solve a spate of shootings in the city's north end that has killed more than a dozen men -- all of them African-American and all but one under 30. Detectives blame most of the killings on retaliatory attacks between two loosely knit gangs, the Knotty Heads and the Ace Clique. Most hostilities have grown from personal insults, rather than drug-related territorial disputes, authorities say, and use of automatic weapons has escalated. Despite assistance of federal and state agencies, police have made only a few arrests. West Palm Beach Detective Don Iman says knowing what happened is one thing, but making a case that will stand up in court is quite another. "Ninety percent of the homicides we have already solved," he told The Post. "We just can't make arrests because we don't have cooperation."

Street criminals who witness shootings won't talk to police because they prefer to take revenge themselves. Victims who survive drive-by shootings seldom cooperate. Neighbors and family members who know something often are too afraid to come forward, even with guarantees of anonymity. Police can promise assistance but realistically can do only so much to protect witnesses, most of whom have no choice but to live in the same neighborhoods with the people they have incriminated. Many potential witnesses stay silent rather than risk the consequences.

Still, some courageous citizens have been willing to help. Last month, tipsters called Crime Stoppers and gave police information to solve the killing of a suspected Knotty Head member in an alley near Sapodilla Avenue. In February, a man turned in his half-brother in the killings of two men. Police Chief Delsa Bush says some of the shootings have links to Riviera Beach. On Wednesday, a mother in that city identified her son as the shooter in a gang-related killing, saying she had other children at home and didn't want them to become the next victims of retaliation. Police owe her all the protection they can give.

The West Palm Beach killings have been personal and targeted. But they have inflicted pain throughout the city and turned neighborhoods into battlegrounds. When families and police work together, the violence will subside.