Robert Smith III was leaving an Orlando night club when he heard people arguing across the street. He heard a shot and felt a sharp pain; he was shot above his left ankle. Smith told police he didn’t want the shooter to be prosecuted. It’s not an odd occurrence, reports the Orlando Sentinel. About 70 victims in 2018 and 2019 — a third of the shootings investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office — signed a form saying they did not want their shooter prosecuted. The same choice was made by 60 shooting victims in cases Orlando police investigated over those two years. Smith, 19, said he decided not to prosecute because he couldn’t identify the shooter and has a lack of trust in police.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina believes some victims refuse to cooperate with police because they are involved in criminal activity. Smith said being treated as if he had done something wrong factored into his decision not to cooperate. “When I was in the ambulance they said, ‘This is what happens whenever you get into gangs and stuff,’” Smith said. “I said, ‘I’m not in no gangs. I’m not even from Orlando.’ ” Criminologist David Kennedy of John Jay College of Criminal Justice said, “The phrase you hear police and prosecutors use is is ‘Heard noise, felt pain.’ … What that signifies is they are not going to share the information about who shot them.” He said there’s a perception that talking with the police shows you’re weak. “There’s a street code that says you don’t talk to the police,” Kennedy said. “You take care of your business. You handle yourself. [Talking to the police] is taken as a signal you can’t take care of yourself.”