Silent suffering in North Hills

Victoria Castañeda saw an unconscious woman sprawled over a washing machine in her apartment building's laundry room last December - and walked away.

Too afraid to call police, she did what all too many of her neighbors do when confronted with trouble or possible crime: absolutely nothing. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Afraid that gangsters and drug dealers in her building would think she was a snitch, she quietly slipped back into her one-bedroom unit, closed the door and began playing with her four children.

"I was just scared for the children," the 33-year-old said. "If they find out I called the police, I will have nothing to defend me."

It is just such resistanfce -- a community wall of silence -- that police say they need to break through to be able to control crime.

Also, the Skid Row Safer Cities Initiative draws mixed reviews. Daily News.