Witnessing a car accident or a crime can be startling and downright frightening, but at some point in life, each and every person will become a witness. Being a good witness can mean the difference between a crime that's solved and a case where justice is never served.
Unfortunately, most people are not good witnesses, simply because they don't know what information is important to remember or they may not take the proper actions because they don't know what to do immediately following the crime or accident that they've witnessed.
How to Be a Good Witness to a Crime or Car Accident
If you witness a crime, a car accident or other incident, what should you try to remember? What makes a "good witness?" Consider the following:
- Get the car's license plate number - Whether a person witnesses a hit and run accident, a drive-by shooting or a criminal's get-away car, the most important information is the license plate number. If you see the license plate number, write it down immediately. If pen and paper are not immediately available, enter the information into a cell phone, use a stick to write the license plate number in the dirt - get creative. The license plate number is the single best piece of information a witness can provide to police when a car is involved in an accident or crime.
- Try to remember permanent characteristics like tattoos, scars, skin color and height - While it's helpful in the short term to know what a suspect was wearing at the time of a crime, this information is only helpful in the minutes immediately following the crime or accident. What's more valuable is information on permanent, unchangeable characteristics. In particular, focus on elements that distinguish a suspect, like skin color, height, scars, a tattoo, an unusual nose shape, a lisp, and other extremes in appearance.
- Use memory devices to remember important information you're witnessing - Is the suspect's car similar in make and model to your mother's? Was the hit and run driver's skin color darker than your own but lighter than your friend's? Can you make a song or rhyme out of the letters in a get-away car's license plate number? Try to compare what you're witnessing to things that are familiar to you. Or make new information familliar to you by using memory tricks.
The good witness to a crime or accident is the person who provides accurate information and descriptions of suspect or vehicle characteristics that are unlikely to change in the days and weeks following the incident.
What To Do After Witnessing a Violent Crime or Accident
There are certain measures that a witness should take immediately following the crime, accident or other incident that they've witnessed:
- Immediately call 911 - The more time that elapses after a crime occurs, the less likely it is that the crime will be solved. Don't wait to call police; call immediately and provide them with whatever information you have on the crime or accident that you witnessed.
- Write down what you remember - Immediately following the crime or accident, write down each and every detail that you can remember. Don't wait for the police to arrive; start recording what you've witnessed immediately because memories can fade significantly in a matter of just a couple of minutes. If you don't have a pen and paper, call your cell phone's voicemail (or the voicemail of a friend or family member) and record as many details as you can recall.
- Don't talk to other witnesses - Witnesses to a crime, accident or other incident can easily become "contaminated" by speaking to other witnesses thanks to the power of suggestion. This makes the witness' memories unreliable and much less valuable to investigators. Never speak to other witnesses or victims until you (and the other witness/victim) have been debriefed by police.
Many witnesses don't realize the importance of their actions following a crime or car accident. Waiting just two minutes to call police gives a suspect valuable lead time that makes it exponentially less likely that the crime will be solved, while speaking to other witnesses results in the formation of a "collective" memory that's flawed, inaccurate and of little value to police.
So if you ever find yourself a witness to an accident or crime, remember these tips on how to be a good witness to increase the value of the information that one can offer to police and investigators.
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