Probably the only scenes I found objectionable in the classic movie Casablanca was when Inspector Renault utters the line: “Round up the usual suspects.”
Of course, in the context of the movie, the line is heavily ironic not to say satirical because Renault knows exactly who the criminals are, but he deflects suspicion away from Rick Blaine by saying that.
In reality, however, rounding up the usual suspects is not only sound police procedure, it generally solves about 90% of the crime, as seen here (and read it all because it’s good):
Almost every perpetrator of horrific crimes is a “known wolf.” Most of the violent crime in our society is committed by a very small group of easily identified criminals, and most of them have had many interactions with law enforcement over the years.
Violent crime in U.S. cities is not evenly spread. Not culturally. Not geographically. Not mathematically.
It’s concentrated – absurdly concentrated – in fractions of fractions of the population. This isn’t ideology. It’s decades of DOJ, PD, and academic data all pointing at the same tiny cluster:
• ~0.5% of residents linked to 50–70% of shootings
• Most homicide suspects have 8–12+ prior arrests
• Victims usually know their attackers
• Violence clusters block-to-block, not citywide
We all know this, but when I say “we”, I’m referring to people who live in the here and now and can read statistics unencumbered by dreamy and mistaken dogma and its mantras, e.g. “Ban guns and violent crime will end” or some such crap.
Honestly? I’m heartily sick of talking about this because I’ve banged on about it so often in the past that I don’t want to talk about it ever again.
But as long as these assholes keep on with their bullshit, the more I feel I have to rebut it, again and again and again and fucking again.
I think it’s time I let off some steam, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the range.
Besides the reason that I like the fuck out of them, another reason I own guns is to protect myself and my wife from the criminals the criminal gov’t employees won’t dispose of.
If the criminal gov’t employees had spent the past 70 years of my life doing their job properly I might have a diff attitude on this.
BTW Kim, I saw this this morning and thought you might enjoy it.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93w8xxj09jo
interesting story, thanks for the link
The ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system is so evident that it must be intentional. Anything else I might say on the matter would put me on a list. Which I’m probably on already, but still. No sense Fed-posting this early in the morning.
Heard this over Thanksgiving from my brother, “At some point things are too stupid to merely explain away by stupidity”
we all know who the usual suspects are. Too many imbeciles yell racism when these numbers are revealed. The crime rates in certain communities are far to high to become a jaundiced look at the data. The trigger to get the event into the data set is the crime itself. Demographic information on the perpetrators and victims are secondary to the crime itself.
Justice has little to do with our legal system.
Usual suspects indeed. We lived in Chico CA for 30 years. Escaped Kalifornia in 2015. Chico has always been a homeless magnet. Weather, college town, liberal city council with “catch and release” policies. Both Chico PD and county sheriff deputies were on a first name basis with many of the bums and leeches (cough-cough) I mean the homeless.
Just put a little extra flavor on it–
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19831006.2.31&e=——-en–20–1–txt-txIN——–
There are killers who could be described as “lone wolves.” But they’re also “known wolves.” Just not in the same way as the gangs. These are the violent paranoid schizophrenics; they’re probably mostly too disorganized and antisocial to be of much use to gangs, though if groomed properly they could probably be used.
These crazies aren’t unknown wolves. As they get worse, they have a lot of contact with the police. And other first responders. They commit violent (and to the reasonably sane observer,) random crimes at a rate way out of proportion to their numbers. Like stabbing strangers on subways or lighting them on fire. An easier civil commitment process reduces murders of this type (and assaults committed by crazies.)
For an excellent and readable account of what happened to civil commitment laws and public mental hospitals, read Clayton E. Cramer’s My Brother Ron: A Personal and Social History of the Deinstitutionalization of the Mentally Ill.
Take a look at this gem
https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/08/man-serving-life-sentence-now-facing-charges-in-killings-of-2-homeless-men-in-mass.html