You in a heap a trouble, boy!

Whenever we go through the "dead" period of TV, I find myself looking at shows I would ordinarily ignore. What is the "dead" period of TV, you ask? The time between the fall season and the summer season, of course. The period between when the network shows stop showing new episodes and the cable networks begin showing their summer shows. There's a "blending" that goes on during this period where some new summer season shows pop up but not enough to worry about.

Anyway, last night I found myself watching a show called "The First 48". If you are not familiar with this show, let me elaborate. It's supposed to be about the first 48 hours after a  murder. This is the time frame in which most murders (most crimes, actually) are solved. Once that period is over, things tend to go stale.

They usually highlight two cases, one each from two different cities. Last night, the murder of a woman who ran an illegal gaming room in Texas... Think "Houston"...  and the murder of two teenagers in Miami. Neither crime was solved in 48 hours. Both took weeks. Still, the show concentrated on the first 48 hours. And, to be honest, the Miami murders were not "solved" at all because the charges against the presumed perpetrator were dismissed. His story of the events did not match the evidence they had but they had insufficient evidence to prove their case.

One of the police interrogation techniques is to tell a second suspect (or accomplice) that the first suspect "told us all about it." Even if he didn't. What amazes me is this actually works. I have been questioned by the police in my youth (surprised?). And this technique was tried on me. It was also tried by school authorities from time to time.

My answer was always the same, "Well, then I can go now? Since you now know I had nothing to do with this, that is."


Not on this show... the accomplice promptly blurted out his "side of the story."

The show reminded me that there there really are no smart criminals. I take that back... there may be smart criminals but you will not find them in prisons. They are too smart, by far, compared to the police.