https://www.newsweek.com/polic...redirect_source=pitc

A lack of respect for police officers and more killings by strangers have been major factors in America's soaring rate of unsolved murders, retired law enforcement officials told Newsweek.

They were reacting to a report released on December 19 by the independent Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), which shows that the homicide "clearance," or solve rate of 83.7 percent in 1964, has dropped steadily to 50 percent in 2022.

Less than half of murder cases will be solved for 2023 and subsequent years if the pattern continues.

The decline may be the result of better legal protections for the accused, a weakening relationship between the police and the public, more murders being committed by strangers and slower police response rates, the report suggests.

Chris Swecker, a former FBI assistant director, told Newsweek that homicides are on the rise while "law enforcement resources are being cut generally and there is less respect for police officers and detectives."

He said that murder clearance rate has gone down while the technology for solving murder cases has greatly improved.

In the past, homicides have had a high success rate in terms of investigative results. It's interesting to see the decline in solutions at a time when we have very, very sophisticated forensic techniques to use," he said.

We have DNA databases, forensic genealogy utilizing private DNA electronic evidence of every description from cellphone tracking, security video, internet searches and social media sites. We are in the golden age of forensics which should result in an increased solution rate."

He agreed with the report's findings that an increase in murder by strangers is likely making detection more difficult.

"My opinion is that it's the decrease in resources, decrease in public cooperation and increases in the type of homicides that is stranger on stranger, as opposed to domestic homicides," he said. "Stranger homicides are much harder to solve."

The CCJ report found that Black men were eight times more likely than white males to be murdered in 2020-2021 and black women were four times more likely to be murdered than white females.

Ernesto Lopez, a CCJ research specialist and co-author of the report, told Newsweek that homicide clearance rates have steadily declined since the 1960s.

The problem is that we have a culture of “Stop Snitching!” In the areas with the highest homicide rates. Additionally, while we may indeed be in the golden age of forensics, the reality is that forensics alone are able to solve only precious few homicides. People expect that DNA or fingerprints, or some other “sciencey” thing can make an absolute determination of guilt in crimes, when in reality forensics is only a fairly small part in most murder investigations. The reality is that most homicides, hell most crimes in general, are solved through good old fashioned shoe leather police work, and it’s never been harder to accomplish successful old fashioned police work.

The whole “weakened relationship” falls directly at the feet of the left. They have fanned the flames for political gain and this is what you get.

Amazingly, cops have great clearance rates in places that don’t by into the whole lefty narratives.

I always thought shows like Forensic Files and the Internet would make killers a lot more savvy about covering up their tracks.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I always thought shows like Forensic Files and the Internet would make killers a lot more savvy about covering up their tracks.

Most murders are by people who know the victim. And most murders are reactionary and not planned out.

TV shows have ruined the jury box. They expect DNA, and videos, etc.

True murders that are committed by unknown subjects are difficult to solve from the get go. But in the past circumstantial evidence convicted a lot of people.

One noted was the guy who lured in, then killed, dismembered her, and disposed of her body in Wilson NC, Isabel Palacios. the suspect was the son of a cop who had a long history of getting away with his crimes. But the jury set aside the “lack of evidence” (no body) and convicted Gregory Parks in her murder due to the amount of blood found at the scene. (Actually it was the pictures of luminal, showing the bloody hallway from baseboard to baseboard to the front door-so some science was used to cast guilt) the DA was a great story teller and explained how and why the suspect killed her. Her body hasn’t been found yet.

I stopped her a year before her murder and wrote her a ticket for a small amount of weed in her car. I also cautioned her about the company she was keeping and bad decisions she was making. But it didn’t help.

Murders have always been difficult to solve, science was thought to help police but has also helped turned the uniformed public agains basic police matters.

Long before the Internet and those tv shows on forensics I read a book I think called Bones. It was amazing how they could solve seemingly unsolvable murders with so little evidence many years after the crime. And they talked about the Body Farm in TN. Years later I bought a motorcycle from a guy in NC whose daughter was studying to become a forensic pathologist and had done some work at the Body Farm.

Not sure I believe the study.

Obviously it has an agenda but it looks like only a portion of the data was used. More importantly I think is that they’re trying to place blame on the public for not cooperating as one of the causes.

That’s a two way street. You want respect and cooperation? Fine give it, first. Respect us earned and too often the law enforcement community fails to remember that they’re supposed to be on our side. But today it’s us versus them.

They have militarized themselves. We are referred to as ‘civilians’ - as if they’re not. Rather than be an obvious presence it seems that there is a deliberate effort to remove high visibility vehicles and hide light bars.

Are murders harder to solve? I don’t think so. It’s just that due to cut backs in staffing and funds, time to do the job is no longer allowed. Is it really unsolved or did the allowable budget get eaten up?

If the law enforcement community wants to foster a better relationship with public, perhaps treating us as something other than a revenue source to be tapped with tickets and citations might be a way to start.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
If the law enforcement community wants to foster a better relationship with public, perhaps treating us as something other than a revenue source to be tapped with tickets and citations might be a way to start.

Well there's always politically motivated selective enforcement, civil asset forfeiture, and no knock warrants.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
If the law enforcement community wants to foster a better relationship with public, perhaps treating us as something other than a revenue source to be tapped with tickets and citations might be a way to start.

Well there's always politically motivated selective enforcement, civil asset forfeiture, and no knock warrants.

Nothing says "protect and serve" like a good old fashioned predawn raid.

Many crimes, not just murder, are solved by idiots who toted along their cell phones when they did the deed.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
If the law enforcement community wants to foster a better relationship with public, perhaps treating us as something other than a revenue source to be tapped with tickets and citations might be a way to start.

Well there's always politically motivated selective enforcement, civil asset forfeiture, and no knock warrants.

Nothing says "protect and serve" like a good old fashioned predawn raid.

Don’t forget ending qualified immunity on your wishlist.

It's hard to solve crimes when
"Nobody din do nuffin."

I expect the “methods” in the “good old days of policing” had a rather substantial impact on confessions, more than likely.

As for the rest of that nonsense…perhaps we should go back to the good old days? I’d be glad to carry a Thompson and a lead sap and we can just shoot the criminals that run away before we can slap them upside the head. Much easier that way, or so the old timers told us.

When every hoodie clad 17 year old mophead has a machine gun spraying people in road rage and sprinting off in uncatchable stolen muscle cars with no tag and law enforcement is ordered to let them have the illegal machine guns, what do you expect?

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
The whole “weakened relationship” falls directly at the feet of the left. They have fanned the flames for political gain and this is what you get.

One would think that “the police don’t help reduce crime” idiocy would have died the death it so obviously deserved over the past few years with the stark experiences of the places that have seen what happens when the police are rendered powerless. But no, and not only the Left; there are plenty on the other side who are just as willfully blind. Until we realize the blessings of A.I. and the robocops that will enforce the ever-increasing laws perfectly, impartially, and with no discretion at all, there will be mistakes, excesses, and abuses by the human beings that we hire for the jobs, just as there are in every field of human endeavor.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

The increasing inability of law enforcement to protect the vast majority of us who have never suffered any more injustice than rude words when getting a traffic citation are more giant steps on the road to the Third World society we are rapidly becoming. People bitch about “elitism” and disparity now, wait until the only ones who can sleep safely at night are those who can hire their private security armies or tithe (or more) to the local warlord.

Just as societal rot makes it more and more difficult for the armed forces to recruit members, who with more than a room temperature IQ would even go into law enforcement these days with the ever-increasing restrictions on effective work the police face due to shifts in attitudes, policies, and even the law—not to mention the dangers to their financial security and even freedom from incarceration when a lynch mob decides to target them? There are, thankfully, still a few responsible and competent people in our society who are willing to do that, but the numbers of the ones we would even want in those positions become fewer all the time.

Those who don’t like the way the police do—or don’t do—things now should count on liking it even less in the future.

Community policing makes a huge difference. I live in a fairly small town, and the cops are great. They do humorous Facebook postings, speak to you in public, and every day they remind people to remove guns and stuff from their cars and lock their doors at 9pm. It's easy to "snitch," if you wanted to, because the cops talk to just about everyone. When a problem arises, such as porch pirates or thefts from cars, it's usually solved within a short period of time. It is a sharp contrast to other places I have lived, such as Oakland, CA.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
As for the rest of that nonsense…perhaps we should go back to the good old days? I’d be glad to carry a Thompson and a lead sap and we can just shoot the criminals that run away before we can slap them upside the head. Much easier that way, or so the old timers told us.

/ Elton Hymon has entered the chat

Not a homicide yet but probably will be soon. Trying to question the guy in the hospital about who shot him and he said he's no snitch and will handle it himself. I look at him and laugh and said you'll be lucky if you can ever walk again, want to give me a statement or not? He told me to F off so I F'd offed.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
The whole “weakened relationship” falls directly at the feet of the left. They have fanned the flames for political gain and this is what you get.

The Left isn't the only factor but, they've played a major roll in exaggerating and hyperbolizing incidents, combined with complicity of news media and entertainment which helps shape impressions, its made the world we live in a circus. So called 'hood life or street-justice has now become 'cool', accepted normalcy, which includes all the perceived slights, myth-making and outlandish behavior.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Not a homicide yet but probably will be soon. Trying to question the guy in the hospital about who shot him and he said he's no snitch and will handle it himself. I look at him and laugh and said you'll be lucky if you can ever walk again, want to give me a statement or not? He told me to F off so I F'd offed.

It's this mindset that has allowed a segment of society to remain impoverished and embittered about their life situation and how they're unable to cope and function in the real world. Their world revolves around retribution regardless of their own roll.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Don’t forget ending qualified immunity on your wishlist.

I don't have a problem with qualified immunity except when it's clearly being abused.

I do have problems with selective enforcement, civil asset forfeiture, and no-knock raids.

Then there's...

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Trying to question the guy in the hospital about who shot him and he said he's no snitch and will handle it himself.

A couple possible reasons for this come to mind, besides the "snitch" aspect: 1. The "victim," himself, is guilty of something capturing his assailant would bring to light. 2. He has no faith in the "justice" system. Think Death Wish.

This isn't on the cops, but, personally, I have absolutely no faith whatsoever in today's "justice" system actually meting-out justice.