A group of day laborers said they were paid $500 to help move trash bags containing body parts out of a Tarzana home at the center of a murder investigation.
If I had to guess–and this absolutely isn’t an excuse–because the day laborers were immigrants speaking Spanish, there was probably a combination of cultural and language barriers. Someone who grew up in, say, Mexico, where cartel shit happens, might communicate and have body language different from what is expected when reporting something like chopped up body parts, making them more likely to be brushed off by authorities who might misinterpret what’s going on.
Many years ago, I read an article where a serial rapist who (mainly) preyed on elderly women failed to get caught as quickly as he could’ve been because his very first “test” victim was a teen girl in a foster home. She reported it to authorities, but it turns out that because she came from a bad home and had been raped before, police brushed her off as being attention-seeking because she “didn’t act” like they imagined a rape victim “should” act (because she already had mental defenses in place from prior sexual violence–so she didn’t act as "hysterical’ as they thought a rape victim “should”.) It was a female detective later down the line who put the pieces together, and connected her report to the ones with the elderly women.
People absolutely have existing baggage and ideas of what certain events “should” look like, which don’t necessarily line up to reality.
If I had to guess–and this absolutely isn’t an excuse–because the day laborers were immigrants speaking Spanish, there was probably a combination of cultural and language barriers. Someone who grew up in, say, Mexico, where cartel shit happens, might communicate and have body language different from what is expected when reporting something like chopped up body parts, making them more likely to be brushed off by authorities who might misinterpret what’s going on.
Many years ago, I read an article where a serial rapist who (mainly) preyed on elderly women failed to get caught as quickly as he could’ve been because his very first “test” victim was a teen girl in a foster home. She reported it to authorities, but it turns out that because she came from a bad home and had been raped before, police brushed her off as being attention-seeking because she “didn’t act” like they imagined a rape victim “should” act (because she already had mental defenses in place from prior sexual violence–so she didn’t act as "hysterical’ as they thought a rape victim “should”.) It was a female detective later down the line who put the pieces together, and connected her report to the ones with the elderly women.
People absolutely have existing baggage and ideas of what certain events “should” look like, which don’t necessarily line up to reality.
THAT is the kind of training cops should get.