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One of the detectives that stands out to me is the Miami PD guy who
is white, has slicked back hair, and tends to wear black suits. He seems
to be a Noo-Yawker who moved south. He's an intense bulldog when he
is on a case.

One of the Miami detectives lost a girlfriend since she could not deal with
his long, erratic hours. He's the one whose mother works in a different
south Florida PD.

Sometimes during the interrogation scenes, I think the Hispanic/black perps
are somewhat thrown when interviewed by detectives from their own ethnic
groups. The detectives know their cultural background and seem to be good
at getting confessions.

One of the Hispanic detectives, I believe in Dallas, puts his hands on the shoulders
of the perps and moves in close. "Confide in me - tell me how this happened" is his
style. He interviews them in Spanish and the show provides subtitles in English. Gracias.

Some of the classics on the detectives' part while interrogating perps:
I know you're not a stone cold killer bad guy - but tell me how this happened.
It's good to get it out. Help us understand YOUR side of the story.

The perps who have not actually pulled the trigger during the murder seem quite
crestfallen when they too are arrested for murder, due to the legal philosophy that
if anyone is killed during the crime, all the conspirators will be arrested for murder.

SIA

Jasonw560 wrote:We read the info, and more often than not, we say "oh, we've seen this one". Unless it's new.

My experience is not quite like yours. It seems like most nights that I watch it, it's a new episode.
Maybe at this point I'm all caught up!

SIA

http://www.aetv.com/the_first_48/

This thread has been opened in "The Crime Blotter" department since it
deals with the series "The First 48" on A & E (Arts and Entertainment) Network.

To quickly bring anyone up to speed on what this series is:
Each episode is 60 minutes long and generally features the investigations by
homicide detectives in 2 different large American cities.

These are real detectives working on actual murders. These are not written by
some Hollywood hacks and acted by professional actors.

Some of the cities they have gone to : Dallas & Houston/Harris County, TX; Miami, FL;
Cincinatti, OH; Louisville, KY; Memphis & Nashville, TN; Birmingham, AL; Detroit, MI;
and Minneapolis, MN.

These detectives work very hard at finding the murderers and they don't care if the murder
victim lead a "street" kind of life, or if they were an upstanding citizen in the wrong place at
the wrong time.

Usually the investigations follow the procedure of talking to friends and relatives, studying
the calls related to their cell phones, fingerprints, and DNA evidence. Sometimes they walk
ghetto areas for hours, asking for leads in neighborhoods where the word is "that snitches get
stitches", but eventually someone calls them with a name or other lead.

The most agonizing part is when they interview the suspects in the police interrogation room.
They try to keep the perp talking but if the suspect says "I want a lawyer", the police have to stop.

Some detectives question their perps like bulls in a china shop, but still get a confession.
Some detectives use very charming and sharp interview skills to get a confession.

The cops or the producers of the show usually don't dwell on the particular handguns used during
the crimes. One amazing show from Tenn. revealed that a local drug dealer who killed another
drug dealer dropped the other guy with 1 shot to the head from .45 caliber pistol (brand/model unknown)
from a distance of 125 feet!

There was a 53 year old lady from Harris County, Texas who was going out of business for good. She ran
a gaming room. They did show the gun her murderer used - it was a Smith and Wesson Sigma in 9MM.

One thing I noticed is that the Harris County Sheriff's Office has one of the worst looking interrogation
rooms of all the police departments featured on the show. The walls are all scraped up looking, like it
was a janitor's closet or something.

I'm really a fan of this show and would like to start some discussion here on the board.

TIA / SIA