Crime: Why does anyone even bother?

[farmerlor]

We had a murder here in our teeny, tiny town. A much beloved teacher was killed and left in a field. They only JUST sent DNA samples to the state crime lab and it's been months since the crime happened. Guess they thought the ticket passer outers here in town were going to solve the crime so they wouldn't have to pay out any money. Can you tell I'm a little bitter?

 

[cpegram]

that's weird i can tell you any case i have worked i have processed and was taken to the lab that week.....the lab is what takes so long here because they serve the whole state

 

[cluckcluck42]

Sorry OP but the real life murder shows I have watched leave something to be desired when it comes to smarts and techniques on the part of the police. In an overwhelming majority of shows I have watched the perps almost got away or were only found due to some insane coincedence that pointed the finger at the right guy. DNA is not even brought into a lot of these shows, and if they have DNA from the crime scene they need to get a sample from the murdered to connect the two. DNA test and all this mumbo jumbo on CSI is either very expensive or does not exist because I have not seen or heard of it used too often.

Not to mention the shows that clearly show that the cops were wrong, on the wrong trail or messed up. So many shows I have seen the bad guy gets nabbed by a total coincedence! No one outsmarted the bad guy, he just got unlucky.

The worst are the Canadian crime shows. One we were watching had my SO and I in tears, it was so ridiculous. There was a guy who was a serial rapist/murderer in Montreal who ESCAPED POLICE on a "day out" from prison. They caught him because he was AT A BAR NEARBY TRYING TO PICK UP A WOMAN. !!!!!!!! This is not a joke, this was on a real crime show, I googled it after because I couldnt believe it but it was true. Idiotic things like that are the norm from what I have seen on crime shows and very rarely am I impressed by the police officers cunning.

I think people still get away with most of the murders committed. The ones that get caught are the husbands, wives, lovers and best friends. Random murders are seldom discovered.

 

[gritsar]

Let's see, when I first moved to Arkansas I lost 50 lbs. because I couldn't afford food. I slept in my car with my animals because the only place I could afford to rent didn't have A/C and it was August. Nope, I didn't go out and rob someone to afford what I couldn't provide myself.

Many years back a local state trooper was killed by a self-proclaimed survivalist when the guy was stopped for a traffic minor infraction. In all likelihood, the motorist would have been given a warning. He murdered the trooper in cold blood before the officer could even get close to the vehicle. Why? Because he didn't like cops and in particular, black cops.

On the way to that troopers funeral, four local officers were killed instantly when their vehicle was struck by a semi driven by a drunk truck driver. The truck driver took his eyes off the road to reach for a beer that had spilled.

Each of those officers had the RIGHT to go home to their families that night, but some idiot criminal took those rights away from them.

In January of this year, two long serving Miami-Dade police officers were killed by a 22 year old PUNK named Simms when they went to his residence to serve him with a warrant for murder. According to police and court records, officers "first arrested him at 14, for larceny. In all, Simms was arrested 11 times before he was an adult on charges including burglary and auto theft, state records show. He received house arrest in some cases, while others were dropped".

Nobody HAS to kill peace officers because they HAVE to. They kill them because they want to "dance" - or deal drugs, or wear the latest $150 sneakers that in fashion - but they don't want to pay the fiddler.

Please don't talk to me about less-than-human beings with barely two brain cells to rub together needing to do anything while my DH is right now putting on his uniform to go out and try to protect lawful citizens from the bad seeds.

 

[farmerlor]

Quote:
I know, right? I always laughed at the crime shows on tv when we had tv because they'd come back with these DNA results in a few minutes which is ridiculous because not everyone is in the DNA database and it takes a little longer than that to actually run the test let alone find a match. Yet we have a comment that they're going to catch the guy who did this now because they're sending the dna to the state lab. REALLY? Sheesh.
I wouldn't commit a crime simply because my Pagan beliefs wouldn't allow me to but I don't think that everyone or even most people actually get justice for crimes they commit....at least not in this lifetime.

 

[onthespot]

So they can get a free incubator.

Last week I got a Lyons Cabinet incubator, used, but still working perfectly, for $450. Retails $3700

I was so stoked. Got it home, unloaded it from my car. Cable guy shows up so I showed him to the back yard and explained all the dead end cables so he could tackle the right connection, and went back to bring it into the house, and someone freaking STOLE it out of my driveway, that quick!!!

I could NOT believe it!!! I did not even bother to file a police report, as I had no bill of sale, no photo of it, no proof of ever owning it, never made it into the house, no wittnesses. It will never be returned. I am out one VERY COOL incubator, not to mention the $450. Lesson learned is all I can say. Next time, Cable Guy can wait a minute.

 

[gryeyes]

Whoa. I would beg to differ with the opinion that crimes are solved mostly by accident or luck. I know far too many investigators and detectives who spend months working on particular cases. Some, years.

If a jurisdiction (be it a nation, a state, a county/borough or municipality) had lawful reason to collect DNA from every encounter, then DNA collected at a crime scene would be much more successful. But folks, DNA is not as simple as blood typing for a secreter; it is a long and complicated scientific process to decipher. Much less enter into any database for comparison.

Now, before somebody gets all fired up about cataloging people through DNA samples, I just threw that out as an extreme example of why DNA collected at a scene is not necessarily an instant crime-solver. The criminal has to have his/her DNA on file somewhere before any comparison can be made!

So that's why collecting DNA at crime scenes is not the most significant portion of real investigative work. And it's CERTAINLY not the usual work of the day-to-day patrol officer out on the street doing his/her job! Yet it is the patrol personnel who are the most at risk every single day, just because of they are visible, they are out there, and they are The Symbol of "The Man." What the heck is wrong with people that they wanna take down law enforcement officers? I grew up respecting cops. I know that cops are actually human, though, not perfect and not without faults. They put their lives on the line for everybody, even criminals.

Unfortunately.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
Gritsar, can you offer some insight about abuse of power? On another forum, I read a lot of posts about misdeeds by law enforcement and prosecutors. The stories ring true as they are consistent with my experience of corporate bureaucratic laziness -- people do what is convenient or what improves their "score". I also note that a local town's PD makes a tremendous number of traffic stops that amazingly find drugs in the vehicle, triggering civil forfeiture. I cherish my civil rights and am concerned by such stories., butI cannot assess the actual situation due to the agendas of the various people relating such stories.

Do you see any of these abuses from your (or your DH's) vantage point?

And to the OP's point, CSI techniques cost money. It is much cheaper to just force a confession from a convenient perp. So, you do not see CSI techniques as a matter of course. And for high-profile cases, political pressure precludes proper prosecution or investigation (eg. OJ Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey, Anthrax, Guantanamo).

 

[elizabethbinary]

Quote:
We will have to agree to disagree. I do not think referring to criminals as 'less than human' helps the matter at ALL. I worked the prison system, you worked the police system - while similar they leave each person with two very different vantage points. I asked you to just, for a moment, LOOK at the other side - not take it and make it your own. Just consider the other person for one moment. I don't think Mr. Beer Truck drinker is exactly spending his life in bliss recalling those days he killed someone. I'm not saying what a person did was right or what a person did was justified - but I'm saying they need an honest chance to make an honest life without being condemned by the world - or nothing will ever change.

I also clearly explained I was not referring to murderers in my post and nearly all of your references are of murder, except your own personal one.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
The Houston Crime Lab made a spectacular mess of DNA analysis around here. Nobody in power wants to know how many innocent people were executed or imprisoned.

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Same here. This is what makes it so disheartening to see the bad apples get protected by the system. If the decision makers actually supported these principles, then LEO that fall short would be retrained instead of being protected until there is no choice but to prosecute them.