FBI Dramas

Crime 360, A&E’s latest new investigative series airs again this week, on Thursday March 13, at 10:00 PM. One question in my mind in the beginning was how this marriage of good-old fashioned police work and computer-enhanced investigation would mix. After seeing the series premier, I was impressed with how quickly the support personnel collected the data from the scene that was later to be used for digitally reconstructing the crime. Overall, the show gives a sense of a crime unlike anything else on TV.

The detective in charge, Shane Wait, seemed a bit overwhelmed in the beginning, particularly when confronted with the body of the victim. Was this the reaction of a seasoned investigator? Hmm. I don’t know. He had a supervisor (Detective Williams?) working the case with him that seemed to be unfazed by anything. The supervisor wasn’t shy about directing Detective Wait through the steps to get the job done. See, there was more drama here than even I had realized!

Overall, I found the show to be very compelling, and real in the sense that there is no magic to crime solving. Watching a fictionalized crime drama is neat, clean and orderly for the most part. In Crime 360, you are seeing an actual case being solved with real crime scenes, investigation, and victims. The detectives are in your face, flaws and all, just doing the work to solve the crime.

After seeing this show, I began to wonder if TV viewers (such as myself) expect too much from our real life detectives. Have we become jaded from wallowing in our fun and tidy little hour-long forays into math power points, and BAU profiling?  Who knows. Is it possible the investigators depend too much on these computer generated methods? I suspect an experienced investigator would say that you have to go with the evidence, but also with instinct. I recommend Crime 360 for anyone who wants a real view of an investigation, no fluff!

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