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Community Outreach V. Murder

A look into the benefits of asking for help where it's needed most.

By Cheyney Hope MorganPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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image credit: dnaindia.com

In a time when we have an innate fear of the harder to swallow facts, there is a need for those willing to dedicate their lives to these harsher realities. The importance of task forces to handle specific problems is nothing new for the justice system. The hard question we have to ask is what can we do to improve on these processes? The mounting pressure combined with simple human error can lead to missteps that may not allow initial connections to be made or to areas that were not previously explored. A singular task force without interchangeable individuals can lead to overworked and overwhelmed people. But in a world where the people protecting us are overwhelmed and have more than enough to be concerned about, where can we turn to help us find more people dedicated to the safety and justice of others?

I believe that state and local police should take advantage of the idea of allowing the community to assist in the fight of connecting cold cases to the idea of it involving past or undiscovered serial murderers. Major cases are often brought to the attention of the FBI after collaboration from state and local law enforcement and there is a huge importance for these men and women to be able to report as much information as they can to the higher authorities. If any evidence or connections are made and are then lost in communication somewhere along the line, this could lead to a mistake that is impossible to make up for. The benefits of community outreach programs to aid in the research of the connections between unsolved murders to serial killers is astronomical. Ranging from a shorter path of communication to the FBI to having a new way of thinking that isn't being implemented by the people involved currently. We also can find a lot of benefits in the idea that there will be more involved in these cases which will ultimately help carry some of the weight rested on the justice systems shoulders.

We often don't take into consideration the undeniable fact that serial killers are excellent at hiding just how deranged they are. The horrible truth is these people could have been attacking innocent people for years before being caught or any of their crimes being discovered. There is also the possibility of this person or persons never being convicted of their murder leaving the victim unidentified and the crimes against them unknown. Who's to say those people did not later commit other crimes with the idea of being impervious to punishment? Murder is a trickle-down effect that can harm more than just the unidentified victim. It can hurt the community, the families, the people working the cases, the list goes on and on. We tend to have two major issues when it comes to violent acts that lead to death, the fact that serial killers have been and will always be hidden amongst us and the large number of unidentified victims who are going without a voice or a way to tell their story. We already have so many people who are interested in continuing their work even after retirement to aid in the fight against this issue and involving more citizens who are just as dedicated to this cause will surely help to work toward the common goal of keeping our communities safe.

Thomas Hargrove, the man responsible for the algorithm used by the FBI in the research and tracking of serial killers, has spent his own time creating the Murder Accountability Project (MAP) and has gathered a like-minded team that has already done an amazing job of connecting missing person cases with unknown or past serial killers. In 2010 he and his team were able to make a connection between 15 unsolved strangulation cases in Lake View, Indiana that later led to the local law enforcement beginning to search more into this pattern and multiple other cases being solved. Hargrove did this for nothing more than the betterment of the system and continues to work with law enforcement to solve unsolved cases frequently even after his retirement. If we were able to gather multiple groups all willing to work toward this common goal of providing closure for those who need it most, we could help solve multiple cases as well as help alleviate the immense pressure put on law enforcement. According to murderdata.org, a website looking to provide factual information to help in the motivation of a community outreach program focused on solving these crimes, “Medical examiners in 2018 documented 2,953 more homicides than were reported by police to the UCR. These discrepancies also were unusually large in 2017 and 2016. During the 19 years, from 2000 through 2018, medical authorities reported 36,769 more homicides than were reported by police.” Hargrove’s belief that at least 2% of murders are committed by serial offenders makes me curious about just how many of those are unidentified or cold cases.

Another example of finding ways to help all victims of murder, recently in September of this year representative Eric Swalwell of California and representative Michael McCaul introduced the bipartisan Homicide Victims Families Rights Act hoping to allow for family members of victims to have the right to demand a formal review of evidence or facts to see if a new or better approach could be used to help solve their family members murder. With a law like this, we could already have a very highly motivated group of individuals that could be dedicated to aiding in the review of this evidence allowing for things that could be done differently or should have been done differently being implemented. McCaul is a former investigator and believes passionately in the idea of reviving certain cold cases which could lead to other unidentified cases being solved and possibly linking ties to serial killers who never confessed to them or new serial killers being discovered. Just because someone is convicted and even possibly executed over the only crimes that have been proven thus far does not mean they should not be held responsible for other offenses they have committed but have not had linked to them yet. These lost voices and their family deserve justice and to have their stories told. We could empower these families but wanting and asking for involvement from the communities that would want to support them.

In conclusion, the combination of all of Thomas Hargrove’s hard work combined with things like the passing of the bipartisan Homicide Victims Families Rights Act could lead to a larger group who could be supported and encouraged by local and state law enforcement who have the interest of wanting justice for their own family and other victims of these heinous crimes. The benefits of these programs could undoubtedly help with past cases and even new ones that are brought to the attention of law enforcement. If we expect things to change and to do better by the victims who can no longer defend or identify themselves, the community is the place to start asking for help. It is unreasonable to believe that law enforcement would be able to handle reviewing such extensive and complicated cases on top of the amazing work that they do every day. I believe that the lapse in communication over these cases is what leads them to grow cold but that there is a way for us to repair and rebuild these systems to benefit us all as a whole.

  • for more information on the bipartisan Homicide Victims Families Rights Act visit https://swalwell.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/swalwell-and-mccaul-introduce-bill-give-more-rights-families-homicide
  • for more information about MAP and community outreach in unidentified/cold case visit: murderdata.org

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About the Creator

Cheyney Hope Morgan

I have always enjoyed being creative! I spend hours researching for my writing projects or using past expierences to create something relatable. I dabble in creative writing and have always wanted to publish a novel! Thanks for reading!

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