*For a sort of prequel to this column, click here.

2:11pm | Even if you don’t know the name ‘Kitty Genovese,’ her ghost probably haunts a corner of your mind. That the story of what happened to her in 1964 was originally detailed in a New York Times article entitled “Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” gives you the gist of it.
   
Despite that article’s being plagued by sensationalism and factual inaccuracies, that Genovese was raped and stabbed to death on the grounds of her Queens apartment complex during two separate attacks over the course of a half-hour—and that neighbors heard and/or witnessed parts of the attack and did nothing—is not in dispute.
   
What happened (or perhaps more appropriately, didn’t happen) in regards to Kitty Genovese gave rise to an interest in the sociological phenomenon known as the bystander effect (or less commonly, the Genovese syndrome). It’s a street-level reification of a famous line generally attributed to Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” That Burke did not actually say this in no way bears on its veracity.
   
I am put in mind of this truth by a press release put out by the Long Beach Police Department in regards to Saturday’s murder of Son Phoaum inside a liquor store at 4th St. and Cherry Ave. The press release states that the murderers “approached the counter[,] where a male customer was in the process of completing his purchase.” They robbed this customer, but apparently left him unharmed.
   
In the impressively clear video footage of the robbery (please view it here), there can be no question that the customer gets the clearest possible look at the murderers. But it is also clear from the press release that the customer has yet to contact police to provide them with information that may help them catch the murderers.
   
My personal moral/ethical compass points much more strongly to what we must not do than to what we must do. We must not aggress against others—that’s an easy one. We must not intentionally deceive others. Etc. But it’s not quite as easy for me to say when we must get involved. Nonetheless, I feel we should when such unfortunate needs arises, precisely because of what Burke did or didn’t say.

Far too many times friends have told me of something to which they were witness but in which they did not get involved. And even though it’s never been anything remotely near the level of witnessing murder, my instinct is always to yell, “What’s wrong with you?”

I recall, for example, a friend telling me of her driving down the road and witnessing a motorcyclist tumbling to the asphalt almost directly in front of her. “It was like the motorcycle almost disintegrated,” she said, “really weird.”

And what did she do? She kept on driving. “I called 911 and reported it,” she said in response to my incredulity. “I bet some people didn’t even do that.”

I bet she’s right. I simply don’t see that as any sort of justification for her own unwillingness to get involved. I know she had no medical training. But perhaps she could have provided some sort of comfort. Perhaps she could have filled police in on details they would like to have. Perhaps what she witnessed in terms of the motorcycle would make a difference in the way the rider’s insurance company processed his claim, or what kind of lawsuit he could bring against the manufacturer. I think the point is to stop to find out if there’s anything you can do.

I’ve never understood the instinct not to get involved, especially when it doesn’t involve fear of reprisal. Listen, I’m enough of a civil libertarian that as a matter of principle I will never consent to contact with a police officer whom I felt had stopped me with no probable cause and is fishing for something (as has happened to me once). But if I’m witness to a crime—or even if I’m not but feel the officer’s inquiry is specific and in earnest—I will never hesitate to volunteer whatever pertinent information I have. I’ve called 911 numerous times to report incidents (never anything tragic, thankfully); I’ve talked with police who rapped upon my door to ask if I heard anything at such-and-such time; I’ve stuck around the scene of accidents to offer whatever eyewitness testimony I had.

Getting involved in this way is not one of my favorite pastimes, but it’s just so damn little to do in service to my societal brothers and sisters. And goodness knows I hope you would do the same for me. My abovementioned friend who did not stop for the motorcyclist is about to have a child. I would bet you anything you like that if 16+ years from now that boy or girl has an accident, my friend will hope witnesses do a damn sight better by her child than she did by the stranger she left lying on the road. I’ll bet she hopes everybody stops, just in case there is anything that can be done to help.
   
There is one man out there who clearly saw the murderers of one of our brothers. That man should get involved. Then there’s the video footage, which gives such clear images of the murderers (who in no way obscured their faces) that no one who knows them could fail to be able to identify them. Those people should get involved (even if the police hadn’t made it as easy as to provide information about the murderers anonymously).
   
As for the rest of us, we should promulgate the video as widely as possible. We should be involved, even if it weren’t for the very obvious truth that removing murderers from our community makes each of us a little less likely to come to harm. We should feel it’s the least we can do, even if so many of us do so much less.
   

The LBPD press release on the murder of Mr. Son Phoaum, as well as various means of contacting the police with any information you may have on the identity or whereabouts of the murderers, can be viewed here.