While not an actual TV show, in the past couple of weeks, for whatever reason, I've allowed my TV to settle on ID channel in the background, as I work (or read/do crosswords in the evening). It's basically a "true crime" channel, with shows talking about various cases (domestic stuff, serial killers, passion killings, cheating spouses killing each other for insurance money, weirdo neighbors/stalkers/co-workers taking things too far, etc.).
It's grim at times, but the reenactments are always interesting. Sometimes the acting is a bit spotty, but it kinda draws you in and makes you feel for the victims (and realizing that real life was surely 20x worse than the reenactments could ever truly convey).
The one thing I've learned is that if someone is stalking/harassing/following you, the cops aren't going to do shit until you're dead (or attacked and severely injured). Even getting (worthless) restraining orders or other "legal" remedies is always presented as an obstacle course of bureaucracy, feet-dragging, misplaced paperwork, etc.
Seems to be a running theme across a lot of these stories.
"Ma'am, give us a call the moment he kicks in your door and starts stabbing you...we'll be there in 10-25 minutes."
Uh...thanks?
It's scary how some people just fixate/obsess on a co-worker, neighbor, classmate, etc. and can't seem to take "no" for an answer or even just "dude, relax...staring at her from across the parking lot every single day isn't going to win her affection". Weirdos never know how to just play it cool, or be okay with not being someone's cup of tea. They gotta get all stalk-y and violent, as though that will up their chances.
And then there are the shows/cases where husbands (usually husbands) who take out these
huge life insurance policies on their wives, and then the wife dies about four days later under freaky, highly-questionable circumstances. Do these guys think the cops aren't going to dig and check that sort of stuff? That's Police Detective Work 101. Not one of these guys gets away with it. They always show up and arrest him as he's making out with his secretary/side-piece (the reason he killed the wife), and the episode ends on a Ken Burns scan-and-pan on some hapless, orange-suited mugshot of the criminal mastermind (doing 45-to-life).
You see enough of these shows, you recognize all the tropes and cast of characters. "This guy is bad news...and she's an idiot. And these cops couldn't find it with two hands and a flashlight...this isn't going to end well." And it never does.
The one positive, encouraging thing I've seen from a few episodes is that the cases were so awful that it actually caused some state laws to be changed/improved. Granted, it took the horrible, violent and heartbreaking death of an innocent person to bring it about, but hopefully others won't have to go through what they did. Until just a decade or so ago, a person in Massachusetts couldn't get a restraining order against a stalker/threat who wasn't family or an immediate acquaintance (romantic partner, estranged spouse, etc.), leaving the door wide open for random co-workers, neighbors, customers, classmates, etc. to stalk, harass and terrorize the objects of their fixation with impunity. It took a woman being blown to pieces by a pipe bomb for Massachusetts to realize "hey, you don't have to be a relative or estranged spouse to be an unhinged, dangerous asshole. We should probably acknowledge that in the laws...".
Awesome...took long enough.
The state senator they interviewed for that episode couldn't pat her own back enough for her role in getting the law changed, and I'm like "lady, you've been in office for years...maybe you should've pushed this through
before numerous people were murdered by malcontents and wingnuts?! Don't go nominating yourself for Humanitarian of the Decade
now...".
Politicians...want blame for nothing, credit for everything.
That story was absolutely awful. But there was nothing anyone could/would do. And everyone - family members, local police, her co-workers and friends, etc. - were all 100% aware of a) who the guy was, and b) what he was doing. He literally blew her to pieces with a homemade pipe bomb placed on her stoop (and with a return address of her sister, which he'd somehow acquired, so she'd think it was legit and something she'd feel was okay/safe to open).
Pure evil. Can't imagine the final thought running through her head; hopefully it happened so fast that there really wasn't one.
Here's that particular story. Can you imagine that clue-starved, combover weasel being the reason your daughter or friend is no longer alive?
