Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

Abigail_nc — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:07:32 -0400

Mayor McCrory is wise not to watch TV but it bothers me that he would assume that just because a TV show can solve a crime in 45 minutes plus commercials that a real crime can be solved in a short amount of time. Law enforcement, (local, state and federal) are bogged down because of the shortage of resources that has traditionally NOT been given to Public Servants. Crime Labs all over the country are struggling with the "CSI Effect" as jurors expect forensic scientists to produce the same results they see on the "boob tube". The reality is not even close to the same. These great public servants work long hours producing non-biased analytical evidence. Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, sometimes there just isn't any evidence to collect or the evidence collected is in such poor condition that any scientific analysis is just not possible. As far as the turn around time from our crime laboratories, there are a multitude of valid reasons. The legislature or county commissioners can allocate money for new positions but it takes time to hire and train a new person. I'm talking months or years, not days or weeks. Our "instant gratification" society expects instant results, but the reality is it just doesn't work that way. Another reason is crime rates are increasing across the state as a whole. Sure, you see decreases in geographic regions or a city here or county there, but overall as crime increases it produces more work for staffs that are already either undermanned or in training. Finally, because of the "CSI Effect", Law enforcement in general is much smarter about how to process a crime scene. Where 15 years ago a murder investigation would produce 15 -20 items to be submitted to the crime laboratories, now an average crime scene produces 75 -100 items. Forensic Scientists are smarter now too. With the average scientist sporting a Master's degree in chemistry or forensic science, they have doubled their repertoire of analytical tricks of the trade for processing evidence. But there is a trade off Mayor McCrory, Time! It takes time to process all of that evidence through the myriad of analytical steps. I suspect if you pick up the phone and call our crime laboratories within the state and across the nation, you would find they are holding their own and providing an invaluable service with turn around times approaching "incredible" compared to years past. Just some thoughts from someone tire of the rhetoric of attacking our hard working Public Servants.

Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

FFC1304 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:35:12 -0400

Charlotte's crime problem is MAJOR. Once again, McCrory needs to BUCK UP on Charlotte crime, too! Show us what your made of, Pat! Its a man's job, not a politicians!

Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:36:08 -0400

You'll note I called it trivia. And, for the record, I never watch 'em either.

— RTB

Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

MeckDeck — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:30:09 -0400

Hey, maybe it is because I hate those "crime" shows too, but McCrory is making a very important point here. Let's not get hung up on the Neiman Marcus angle.

JAT

Re: Richard Moore's cable bill

FFC1304 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:16:38 -0500

no worries, married to a billionairess ...

newsobserver.com projects - Law & Order - Comments

Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

Re: No 'Law & Order: Charlotte' for McCrory

Re: Richard Moore's cable bill