From Netflix american nightmare to HBO Last ordera new true-crime documentary series that turns the typical explanations for law enforcement failures on its head.
Photo: Netflix
The most depressing line in Netflix's latest hit true-story documentary series, american nightmare, This is the last of the three parts. “All I've ever wanted was someone in law enforcement who I could call a hero,” says Dennis Haskins, a kidnapping victim and one of the series' central characters. The document finds the person. Misty Carous is introduced as the only police officer in charge of identifying Haskins' kidnapper and rapist.What's impressive? american nightmareBut it's not that we've found a heroic cop, it's that Caraus is the only voice against a tsunami of indifference, prejudice, incompetence, and lack of professionalism among his colleagues. It differs from the default mode of true crime documentaries of the past few years and decades-old serials such as: police officer and first 48 In front of them— american nightmare I'm not interested in showing the investigators as well-intentioned workers beleaguered by a mastermind. This is a document of police indifference that turns the typical explanation for law enforcement failures on its head. That is, the dismal result of looking for a single good apple rather than several bad apples.
Over the past few months, a small number of true crime documentaries have emerged making similar claims. On HBO, Last order The film is an adaptation of Elon Green's book about the murders of several gay men in New York in the early 1990s. The crime remained unsolved for many years. telemarketer Tracked the Fraternal Order of Police's involvement in an illegal telemarketing scheme. boston murder case Hulu documented widespread harassment of black men in Boston after the 1989 murder of Carol Stewart. never let him goA four-part documentary produced by ABC News about the death of Scott Johnson, who was found under a cliff in Australia in the 1980s. Everyone asks the same question. What if the police are not the best storytellers of crime? What if there is no special, individually nefarious reason why some victims are ignored and some crimes are rarely investigated? What if it's all widespread institutional bias?
Crime and true crime stories that center around the police perspective tend to follow some very familiar and recurring arcs. Investigators begin investigating the case, identifying clues and carefully reviewing evidence. They push people into interrogations, often following a suspect's instincts before finding evidence to support their suspicions. The police voice is a dominant and authoritative narrator. They either speak directly to the camera and explain their memories and actions, or their actions and the evidence they find are presented neutrally and objectively. This can be seen in recent Netflix series such as: Night Stalker: Chase the Murderer and Crime Scene: The Killing Fields of Texas, but it was even more extensively codified on network TV and basic cable's early true crime formats.shows like first 48 It takes the perspective of the police, appearing as a talking head and explaining their thought process as they approach a crime scene. America's most wanted criminalThe show, which returned to Fox in January after several cycles of cancellation and resurrection, begins with host John Walsh explaining how the show works with law enforcement, and shows officers breaking into a building. Attached is a video of Walsh and others watching the arrest. Although roadblocks often present themselves, such as bumps in the road, facts that don't add up, and some key pieces of evidence missing, the story is generous with the intent and skill of law enforcement.
As if in response, the anti-copaganda genre is slowly building its own language of repeating shapes and structures. american nightmare Starting with the story presented by the police, told as a neutral account of the incident, it shows some of the most common elements, but then the series realizes that it is only one incomplete perspective of the story. will be revealed. This is Aaron Quinn. One morning, he called the police and explained that his girlfriend, Denise Haskins, had been kidnapped a few hours earlier. When Quinn hears her story, Vallejo Police Detective Matt Mustard has doubts. “Why didn't you call me sooner?” Why are the details of the kidnapping (underwater glasses, wetsuit) so strange? Indeed, Quinn lies about her involvement in Dennis' disappearance. However, Quinn refused to budge during interrogation. Then comes the first turn. When the journalist receives a call from Haskins for proof of survival, the police decide it is too casual and decide that Haskins and Quinn must have actually made the whole thing up.
american nightmare It plays out as if from the police's point of view, presenting the evidence and then segueing into verbose interviews with lawyers and journalists covering the case, and how police thinking evolved over the next few days. explain. At the same time, the doc incorporates current footage of Quinn, with Quinn's own voice explaining his growing despair as the police story begins to turn against him as a suspect. Eventually Ms. Haskins' captors released her and she returned to her home without law enforcement intervention. Video from the police press conference shows Vallejo police reprimanding both Haskins and Quinn for molesting officers. “Mr. Quinn's statement was incredible and we initially had a hard time believing it, but upon further investigation we were unable to corroborate any of Mr. Quinn's statements,” said Police Sgt. Kenny Park said in testimony. microphone. “I can go a step further and say this,” he continues. “Mr. Quinn and Ms. Haskins plundered a valuable resource from our community.” In the series, this footage is intercut with shots of a stunned modern-day Quinn, holding her head in disbelief and anger. It is. The documentary suggests that Quinn was clearly not involved in the crime, even though police suggest he was involved.
At this point, the police side of the story and Quinn's side of the story feel like equally weighted probabilities, and it's hardly clear who's telling the truth. american nightmare And we turn our attention to cultural touchpoints that go beyond this incident alone.recently released movies gone girlThe documentary series suggests that he completely thwarted investigators who were familiar with the film and determined that Haskins must have been inspired to stage his own kidnapping.The police don't care about that at all. They are These are mostly inspired by recent movies. This explanation has permeated national media coverage, with cable news clips claiming that Ms. Haskins is the real-life missing girl.Only then will it happen american nightmare Adds a third POV from Haskins himself. That story perfectly matches Quinn's version of events. The series suggests that the complete confidence of the police press conference cannot simply be a mistake. It's grossly ignored.
This shift from the police version of events to the broader cultural context boston murder case and never let him go. What looks and feels like a neutral story presented from the perspective of a police investigator creates his one plausible version of the incident. boston murder case, which is the idea that the perpetrator described by the victim's husband must be black.in never let him go, the question is whether the murder occurred in the first place or whether the victim's death was an accident. In both cases, victims and their families have acknowledged growing suspicions that law enforcement is mishandling the cases, and these scenes are often used as counterpoint, i.e. Indicated by sequential explanation of versions. boston murder case Next, we move on to the context of racism and racism in Boston. never let him go Australia has a long history of homophobia. Last order provides a surprising amount of research into the anti-gay rhetoric and the backgrounds of each victim.Then, in the same way american nightmare In episode two, a different explanation begins to emerge.What if Boston's husband was lying, but the police didn't take that into account? What if the police missed a related pattern of violence in Sydney? Last order Was the murder the work of a serial killer? What if Dennis Haskins had been telling the truth all along?
At first, the scene in which Haskins explains how desperately he wanted a hero feels like an attempt to soften the series' depiction of law enforcement's indifference and incompetence. Most of these series have similar moments. Last order, the NYPD eventually investigates these crimes in their entirety and uncovers the culprits.in boston murder case, Stuart's frustratingly slow transition into investigating her husband finally clicks into place. When suspicions are turned against him, he dies by suicide.in american nightmareMisty Carous discovers unrelated blonde hair at a crime scene 30 miles away, weeks after Haskins' kidnapping, and only her determination to find the victim it belongs to brings her back to Haskins.
But the final beat of these series is never just a celebration of a few voices standing up to the larger culture. They focus on the costs and ongoing impacts for everyone involved. american nightmareis particularly infuriating. The internal culture of the Vallejo Police Department hasn't changed, as evidenced by a series of images detailing the impact this incident has had on the department. “None of the officers involved in the Aaron and Dennis incident were disciplined,” it read. “Lead Detective Matt Mustard was awarded the 2015 Police Officer of the Year award.”
This emphasis on broader social contexts becomes a form of accusation in itself. This ensures that the specific oversights and mistakes made in these incidents are the result of larger cultural issues within police organizations, not just human error or poor performance by a few officers. This will be suggested in these series. Each of these series individually suggests that police are ineffective at investigating crimes between certain marginalized communities and crimes committed by white male perpetrators. Taken together, they suggest that police stories should always be viewed with skepticism. And they present an interesting future for true crime television. Audiences have become accustomed to the metaphor of a person sitting in an interview chair and adjusting their microphone before speaking to the camera. They are familiar with on-screen timelines, including drone footage for establishing shots. These anti-Copaganda series could be the springboard for a new device that involves watching police interviews and then cutting out footage of victims who become enraged after watching those same interviews.
