Interesting to think about each person when shown as individuals through simple dots on a map. These people all had thoughts, feelings, and aspirations that were suddenly cut off. In my opinion, it puts the crime and its effects in a different perspective.
Hispanic male, Age 44 Primary Motive: Domestic Dispute Weapon: Knife Could you get any colder... shudderBlack female, Age 42
I saw this as well. It's not even the victim's age, or the perpetrators as much as the fact that a theft of life is put on an interactive map as a blue dot, and isn't given more than a 4-point report, hardly saying anything about what happened.
I don't know if this makes me feel more or less secure. There has been about 5 murders since 2003 in my 3 block radius around 13th and 1st. When I think about people who get pushed into subways, or hit by a car I usually rationalize my security by saying its a numbers game and the chances of it happening to me are very low.
This got me to wondering about how often I walk over the scene of a murder. Can you imagine if permanently left at every murder scene was a small plaque with this information? It would be a very interesting project to get a huge team of volunteers, and to tag the city with all of these. I remember one night walking back from the bar in Cambridge MA, we crossed a spot where there was quite a bit of blood spattered about. Something bad had happened there within the previous hour or so. Actually, that made me recall one night stepping out of a cab in Boston where a small crowd of people were just starting to gather around a man that had been pushed out of a car, then shot, just moments before we arrived. We then went to the 7-11, and minutes later, police swept through, and then left. The guy was killed just outside of my friend's apartment. Had we been 10 minutes earlier, or 30 minutes later, we would have never known it had occurred. It would be interesting to do a project with Google Glass, where you labeled the city with crime.
It would be a very interesting project to get a huge team of volunteers, and to tag the city with all of these.
Yes, just what the murderers need, clearly visible trophies.
There are gangs that use shooting someone as an initiation. I could see them using such sites as points of pride.