A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE YELLOW CRIME SCENE TAPE

Murder is often described as the “ultimate crime.” The fear of meeting death at the hands of another is as primal as is the fear of fire or drowning. Murder investigations are the most complex, sensitive and labor intensive investigations conducted by any law enforcement agency. No other type of case generates the same amount of public interest, has the same propensity to dominate the news media, or can propel once anonymous people to the national spotlight. Likewise, sensational murders can subject the investigating law enforcement agency to the intensive scrutiny of the lengthy judicial process, media analysts, and public opinion.   

Each year hundreds of fiction and non-fiction books are published about murderers, their victims and the investigations that seek to bring them to justice. Scores of motion pictures and television programs dramatize the dynamics of murder investigations, court cases, and incarceration. In many cases, these programs, motion pictures and books are wildly inaccurate, and promote entertainment value over fact.

Police Chief Rob Davis is offering visitors to this website a glimpse inside the world of a murder investigation.  With approximately one million residents in the City of San Jose, citizens will be touched, in some way, by a murder investigation. If you have ever known a murder victim, or have been a witness to a murder, or have been contacted by detectives seeking leads, or have been delayed on the freeway due to “police activity,” your life may have been touched by an act of violence.

As part of this website, Chief Davis will permit you to look on the other side of the yellow crime scene tape by walking you through a simulated homicide investigation.

 

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