Thursday, August 23, 2012

Solving the case: Real-life crime investigations unlike television dramas

I will admit that I’m a fan of television shows such as “Law & Order,” “CSI” and “NCIS.” The stories and the characters are good, and the forensics they use to help solve crimes is always interesting, if a little gruesome. The heroes usually catch the bad guys in an hour and all is well. That’s all good television, but it’s not good real life. When you’re covering stories about murders and other assorted crimes, you quickly learn that solving them is going to take a lot longer than an hour, plus you don’t get any commercial breaks.

This fact was drilled home again Tuesday when two arrests were made in a murder case that started back in March 2011. The investigation kept going until two suspects were arraigned, and it’s still not really over. On television, the detective and the forensic examiners almost always find a crucial piece of evidence right away. They have that classic gut feeling that this paint chip or that drop of blood is important. Well, real-life detectives find lots of evidence, too, and get their gut feelings or suspicions, but not all of the evidence is something you can take to court for a warrant. Not everything is immediately obvious.

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