A Year of not buying books

Later this year my theme will be not shopping. Today I came across Barry Osborne's story "My Library Year" from the Denver Post. He is the newspaper's research librarian who decided to use his public library more, and not buy books in 2008. I cannot emphasize enough how important libraries are. His story tells about saving money and enjoying some books that he might not otherwise have read.

The Year We Disappeared

The Second "true crime" book I selected for February is a much quicker and easier read than Homicide. The Year We disappeared is written by John and Cylin Busby, a father daughter team, about an attempt made on John's life while he was working as a police officer in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. I didn't realize when I picked this book that both the books I selected this month would have local ties for me. Cape Cod is less than an hour drive from where I live in Bridgewater. I have read about 2/3 of the book already and am sad to say that some things I believed, but hoped weren't really true, about small town politics, are given credence in the book. Police looking the other way when crimes are commited by certain connected people in town, investigations that aren't really investigations, small time mobsters terrorizing the town without any fear of reprecussions, and selectmen who just let it all slide. Not that I'm saying any of this happens in Bridgewater.

More Information

David Simon on Homicide, Truth and Journalism

Homicide on Wikipedia

A year

Simon points out that framing his work during any 12-month period necessarily makes it arbitrary. Investigations do not conveniently begin on January 1, and end on December 31. Some things were already in progess when he started following the homicide detectives, and others continued after he left. One high-profile case, from early February of 1988, involved the investigation of the murder of an 11-year old girl. At the time the body was found extra personnel were assigned to investigate and the investigation was ongoing throughout the rest of the year. If this had been a work of fiction, the end of the story would have had tied up all loose ends and we would know who killed the little girl. And it probably would not be the person we most suspect. In real life, we follow the story, and although there is reason to believe that there is a suspect he is never charged for lack of evidence. We never know. Perhaps at some point after the book was published the killer was found. Life, and death, continue outside of the one-year time frame.

Reasonable doubts

According to Simon, Baltimore City juries are notorious for letting people off. All doubts are reasonable. It is a question I hadn't thought of before. What is a "reasonable doubt". Whenever I hear about a person who is exonerated for a crime for which they have already served time, or received the death pentalty for, I wonder where the line for reasonable doubt can be drawn. Is it worse to have a guilty person go free, or an innocent person punished? I am reminded of a movie, interestingly enough with a Baltimore connection: ...And Justice for All. I must have been 15 years old when I saw it the first time. I remember after it was over saying to my sister "Hey, all the innocent people are in jail, and all the guilty people went free." To which she gave the response "Duh. It's a satire."

aptonyms

When a name matches what a person does that person has an aptonym.

"Only in July did the Dollie Brown case become truly bizarre, for only then did a murder defendant with the singularly appropriate name of Rodney Vice begin talking to prosecutors..." (p. 377)

Writing-It's not just for English majors anymore!

"Waltemeyer's written reports...were no better than district quality when he first came to homicide-a typical problem for men who spent more time on the street than at the typewriter, but in homicide the reports genuinely mattered, and what fascinated McLarney was that after mentioning the value of coherent paperwork to Waltemeyer, the detective set out on a sucessful, systematic campaign to improve his writing ability. That was when McLarney first realized that Waltemeyer was going to be one hell of a detective." ( p.376)

This passage reminds me of a story one of my colleagues in the Criminal Justice department at BSC told. She said she just loved it when she worked as a district attorney and a poorly written police report was submitted. She just knew she would be able to blow it full of holes and win the case for her client. Everyone should learn to write well. It always matters, not just in homicide.