I still have vivid images of the last murder case I worked. The victim was only 2 years old. He'd been beaten to death. I remember his lifeless body on the stainless steel table at the medical examiner's office. The smells and sounds of the autopsy are also still stored away. It all comes back whenever I read about the murder of another child.
This murder never made headlines. It wasn't ever the lead story on a reality crime/freak TV show designed to addict watchers and make money for networks and entertainers posing as crime experts. My case was just another dead kid.
There are too many of those.
According to a Sept. 13, 2010 Scripps Howard News Service story ("Unsolved child murders are a daily incident"), police don't know who committed more than 10,700 murders of children committed in the U.S. from 1980 through 2008. A total of 51,753 child murders were reported during that time period.
According to FBI statistics during that same time frame, there were 1,005 reported child murders in Arizona.
From 1980 through 2008 there were 8,922 adult murders reported in Arizona.
Historically only about half of all murders committed in Arizona are ever solved.
I mention these facts because according to reports following the national hysteria involving the Florida murder case and not-guilty verdict of Casey Anthony in the death of her daughter Caylee, State Senator Linda Gray (R-Phoenix) will introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session to make it a crime not to report a child missing within 24 hours of their disappearance. Anthony didn't immediately report her daughter missing.
Gray told Tucson's KVOA she's received 900 emails wanting a "Caylee's Law" to punish parents if they don't report their kids missing and are later found dead. The report said Gray felt "disappointment, outrage, anger" after the not guilty verdict that cleared Anthony's mother.
Emotions have no place in successfully prosecuting murder cases.
I understand Gray's response to the emails and media frenzy. There's an election in 2012, but the time has come for Arizona's lawmakers to critically examine what can be done about the thousands of unsolved murders of children and adults in Arizona and not concern themselves with yet another new law on the books on the off chance the Anthony scenario might occur here.
No doubt the Legislature will jump on the Caylee's Law bandwagon and demand justice for anyone that would commit a similar type crime. But I have yet to hear the Legislature get in an uproar over reports the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, a recipient of millions of dollars in supplemental funding from the Legislature, over its failure to adequately investigate more than 400 sex-crime cases during a recent two-year period. Many of those crimes involved attacks on defenseless children like Caylee Anthony.
Nor do I see the Legislature overly concerned about the over 40,000 unserved felony arrest warrants in Arizona. Of those, 30,000 are estimated to be in Maricopa County.
And no one at the capitol seems all that concerned about the thousands of killers who have gotten away with murder in Arizona.
The Legislature always pleads poverty when it comes to funding change for Arizona's dangerous and failed law enforcement practices; and bringing about a comprehensive statewide effort to solve thousands of open murders cases, or to locate and arrest wanted felons who are well known to commit new crimes, including murder, while running from the law.
But they always find the cash to throw at a couple of county sheriffs to fund their pet projects and buy political support instead of ensuring funding and training for more and experienced manpower at the murder scenes, the sharing of information between homicide detectives and the intelligence and crime-analysis units and expanding the state crime lab to ensure greater forensic efforts when it comes to fingerprint, ballistics and DNA analysis.
It's too bad Caylee is dead, but so are kids in Arizona. I've seen them firsthand. Sen. Gray and the Legislature need to concern themselves with what's happened and continues to occur here and not what happened in Florida and might happen in Arizona.
• Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in the East Valley and can be reached at bill.richardson@cox.net
billrichardson posted at 2:26 pm on Sat, Jul 23, 2011.
Dale,
Thanks-
Dale Whiting posted at 8:25 am on Sat, Jul 23, 2011.
And Bill, thank you for giving us your time to write your column. I worry that we will over-react. You give us a history upon which to ponder a measured reaction.
billrichardson posted at 6:27 am on Sat, Jul 23, 2011.
Samakt and k33j88,
If you want to take the time and go back through the Tribune archives you can read past columns about warrants, what's being done outside of Maricopa County and things I've done in the past that should answer your questions. Thanks for taking the time to read my column and comment. Bill
k33j88 posted at 3:15 am on Sat, Jul 23, 2011.
Thank you for your decision to "serve and protect" and putting your life on the line for the benefit of all. However, don't be so quick to bite the hand that fed you all those years. Were you so active and resolute while you were gainfully employed? Just wondering.
samkat posted at 5:50 pm on Fri, Jul 22, 2011.
Irrational and clueless Bill: Just what role do the various law enforcement organizations outside of MCSO have regarding warrants and sex crimes? The 20,000, 30,000, 50,000 more or less number is a variable that anti MCSO zealots like to throw out. I always thought all law enforcement departments, including ole Bill's former department shared a role is detaining individuals with outstanding warrants. I believe that once a warrant is logged into the data base, it available for all law enforcement officers to use as a tool when encountering a suspicious individuals. My guess is that if MCSO was disbanded or consolidated into the various police departments and DPS, the warrant problem would remain. Ditto for sex crimes. What role does the joint task force for rounding up criminals with warrants serve?
Just how many sex crimes did you personally cover and solve Bill? You seem to have become an authority on the criminal justice system AFTER you retired from what I can ascertain form the various articles you have written. Enlighten us on your track record while gainfully employed as a an LEO. You may have earned your reputation and it is just not a matter of public information.
billrichardson posted at 3:01 pm on Fri, Jul 22, 2011.
RationalHuman,
I don't have an answer. I do know MCSO has failed to find and serve and arrest warrant on Adrian Cruz a convicted child rapist who escaped from MCSO custody during a trill on new charges. Google Cruz, he's one extremely dangerous convict.
RationalHuman posted at 2:11 pm on Fri, Jul 22, 2011.
Well said Bill!
30,000 unserved felony warrants in Maricopa County...this fact alone makes my blood boil whenever I hear about a gang of MSCO thugs harrassing a cancer patient over her medical marijuana...why do they avoid the REAL criminals to go after cancer patients? I can only think of one reason...cowardice, coupled with incompetence.
I am curious as to how many of these unserved felony warrants are related to violence against a child.
dustbowl11 posted at 7:18 am on Fri, Jul 22, 2011.
Arizona Republican Legislators only care about fetuses. Once you are born you are free to die slowly or quickly without interference.
mikedurham posted at 6:31 am on Fri, Jul 22, 2011.
... then there is the issue of cold cases and how to work, manage and resolve those justice issues. I want to thank Bill Richardson for standing up on this issue as well as Ed Montini of the Republic. There are two things I don't expect in this process: 1. that oversight on how murders are investigated especially in the case of child murders and 2. that someone from the legislature will actually convene a group to take an objective look at the issue of murder in Arizona. Laurie Roberts, a Republic Columnist, has looked at the issue from a CPS view point and prevention. It would be good if Senator Gray would create an environment for people to role up their sleeves and delve into these issues rather than react. If the Caylee Anthony case is the vehicle to get to an open discussion about murder and child murder in Arizona as well as unsolved and cold cases, then so be it. Senator Gray needs to understand that the issue is broader than the Anthony case. However, missing persons cases are a good pigeon hole for many murder cases. A Phoenix PD detective solved one such case by locating a missing person's body underneath the floor of a home. ... the victim wasn't missing ... just not found. On the other side in the more aggressive mode, the amber alert system works. Thanks Bill for standing up on this.