Anti-snitch movement gains steam

NEW YORK, March 29 (UPI) -- The stop-snitching movement has spread across the United States, worrying police and prosecutors who often use informants to win convictions, a report said.

The movement got its start two years ago in Baltimore in an underground DVD featuring armed drug dealers.

Since then, the movement and T-shirts that say "Stop Snitching" have gone nationwide -- being worn by a diverse group ranging from rap artists to college professors, USA Today reported.

The code of silence, David Kennedy of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice told the newspaper, "is breaking out in a way we've never seen before."

"There's such animosity toward the police in some urban communities that even people who aren't afraid, and who hate crime, still feel cooperating is something good people don't do," Kennedy told the newspaper.

"Everybody in law enforcement is beside themselves," he said. "They can't investigate cases. They can't prosecute cases. The clearance rate for some serious crimes is tanking."