Reward for information about criminals

[Mr Smith]

Last Monday, here in Croatia, a 26-year old woman was shot to death in the lobby of the building where she lived. She was the daughter of a well-known lawyer, who currently represents a man (Mr Zagorec) accused of stealing a large amount of money (diamonds, actually) while he was head of a state company dealing with arms. Zagorec was accused of larceny by a man (Mr Petrač) who is thought to be a mafia boss, and who is currently serving a sentence for kidnapping Zagorec’s son. Since there was some evidence that suggested that Petrač was right, Zagorec is now awaiting trial.

Murdered girl was dating Petrač’s lawyer. The murder itself was probably done by a contract killer, and the police say they have no useful leads so far. So, they are considering to offer a fairly large reward for information that could lead to the assassin.

Seems like an OK move, BUT:

A few months back, an 18-year old boy was attacked by a group of thugs on the street. He was injured and died of consequences of that attack a couple of weeks later. Even though that happened in June, the police still haven’t found the perpetrator, and, as you may guess, no reward is offered for information leading to that murderer.

What do you think about that? Do similar things happen where you live?

[snowy]

No. But I live in a town of 50,000 people. The worst thing crime-wise that's happened in the last year was a break-in/stabbing that sounded like a drug deal gone bad. Petty theft/bicycle theft is about the most common crime here. There is a university here, but the university boasts the lowest violent crime rate out of all the universities in its athletic conference (the PAC-10) given its location in a town such as ours.

I guess the disappearance of Brooke Wilberger here a few years ago would qualify as a crime that resulted in a reward being offered for information. And yes, she was a pretty, young Mormon girl, so I have no doubt that that played into the offering of a reward. But it's pretty conventional to offer rewards for information in the United States, via such programs as Crime Stoppers. http://www.crimestopusa.com/ I read an article not too long ago that even suggested the amount of people snitching for rewards has increased, given the tough economic times in the United States. I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT: As Prices Rise, Crime Tipsters Work Overtime
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/us...prod=permalink

[Mr Smith]

Offering rewards for snitching is very unusual here.

The emphasis of my story was supposed to be on the fact that the rewared is offered for information on the mafia-related murder, in which a daughter of wealthy parents lost her life, but it's not offered for snitching on a murderer of an ordinary citizen.

[Reese]

Are you sure it wasn't the parents or the boyfriend that put up the reward money? I have no problem with that. I just don't think the police should be offering a reward for one murder and not another.

[Mr Smith]

No, it's the police... not the parents or the boyfriend. Politicians are pressing the police to do something, that's probably why they are considering to offer an award.

[Amaras]

As always, first the rich get all of the breaks, and then, eventually, as the society gets richer, what the rich
have taken for granted is "allowed" for the rest of us.

[The Faba]

One could also take the viewpoint that one was seemingly random and one was cold and calculated...