Soldiers gone wild!!!

[army judge]

Crime, crime, crime, and criminals are all around us committing gross misdeeds.



Fort Hood soldier charged with allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants

 

[justblue]

Doesn't it frighten you that these people are tasked with defending our country?

 

[army judge]

Doesn't it frighten you that these people are tasked with defending our country?

No, because these dummies always get caught.

 

[Tax Counsel]

No, because these dummies always get caught.

I wish that was true.

 

[justblue]

No, because these dummies always get caught.

But not until they cause damage...and God know how much damage they can do till they are caught.

 

[army judge]

I wish that was true.

Law enforcement does an excellent job of nabbing many of these perps.

An alert citizenry also does their part by helping law enforcement with "tips".

If we wish to reduce crime, we all must play a part in the process.

If you see something, say something to your local, state, or federal law enforcement officials.

Heck, I always say hello and offer a thank you to my local law enforcement folks.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Law enforcement does an excellent job of nabbing many of these perps.

We like to think that. The reality is a bit more sobering. The U.S DOJ collects information from law enforcement agencies regarding various law enforcement activities. Among other things, the FBI uses that data to compute a clearance rate for crimes. A crime is considered cleared when either (1) one or more persons are arrested, charged, and turned over for prosecution or (2) cleared by "exceptional means". As the FBI explains:

Examples of exceptional clearances include, but are not limited to, the death of the offender (e.g., suicide or justifiably killed by police or citizen); the victim's refusal to cooperate with the prosecution after the offender has been identified; or the denial of extradition because the offender committed a crime in another jurisdiction and is being prosecuted for that offense. In the UCR Program, the recovery of property alone does not clear an offense.​

With that as background, the clearance rates for most violent offenses is rather poor, most at about 50% or less. Murders result in the highest clearance rate, but still only at about 60%. Specifically, the FBI noted that for 2017:

• In the nation in 2017, 45.6 percent of violent crimes and 17.6 percent of property crimes were cleared by arrest or exceptional means.
• When considering clearances of violent crimes, 61.6 percent of murder offenses, 53.3 percent of aggravated assault offenses, 34.5 percent of rape offenses, and 29.7 percent of robbery offenses were cleared.

• Among property crimes, 19.2 percent of larceny-theft offenses, 13.7 percent of motor vehicle theft offenses, and 13.5 percent of burglary offenses were cleared.
• In 2017, 21.7 percent of arson offenses were cleared by arrest or exceptional means.

See the FBI Clearances page. So, given those figures, it's clear that it is not the case that "these dummies always get caught" or that law enforcement does a good job "nabbing many of these perps" unless your definition of many is something less than half. That's not to say that law enforcement isn't making a good effort at it. Many law enforcement agencies do their best with the resources that they have. But in any event, its clear that most crimes go unsolved. I myself have been a victim of several crimes and in none of those instances was the perp ever caught.

My final point is this: I'd much rather that we find ways to prevent crime from happening in the first place. Even if we catch the person who commits the crime, that doesn't undo the harm already caused. We do a pretty poor job of crime prevention.

So I do get concerned about stories of military personnel committing crimes. For every one caught, there is another who is not caught. We should have the best people in the military, not criminals who may have access to powerful weapons and training in all manner of violent techniques of combat.

 

[army judge]

Deviates, deviants, perverts, thieves, murderers, child molesters, spouse abusers, scammers, and a myriad of others who pursue a life of crime have haunted civilized humans for centuries.

There's only so much that government can do to protect citizens from the harm caused by the acts of outlaws.

Our various forms of government do the best they can with the resources available to them.

I can only hope and pray that future generations will be allowed to live their lives with a minimum of criminal activity among them.

That said, one might do all that is humanly possible to secure her/his home and person from the jackals and hyenas among us.