On March 1, 2022, Alana Byrd, Campaign Manager at People For the American Way, published the following letter to the editor in The Ithaca Voice:
Late last month, the Ithaca Voice reported on two separate stabbings which occurred in the city of Ithaca. While through initial reports it appears that these incidents are unrelated, there’s a common thread among them and many other crime responses: the victims of both stabbings refused to further engage either with officers or medical personnel in the aftermath of the incidents.
In one case the victim did eventually concede to police questioning and provided a vague description of the perpetrator. The domestic violence victim outright refused further medical treatment; her participation with police is unclear. These responses leave us with an important question: why would victims of heinous acts like stabbings not feel comfortable engaging with law enforcement to help solve a crime?