It's well known that in the past two years, the worldwide recession has been especially unkind to the industrial midwestern United States. In Flint, Michigan, the birthplace of General Motors, unemployment has reached a staggering 28.1%.
Flint has been forced to cut its police force significantly. In a city of 124,000, 40 officers were laid off just last month. Estimates place the current police-to-person ratio at 1 officer to every 1,000 citizens. These numbers are especially jarring in the context of the FBI's list of the most dangerous American cities. According to the Bureau, Flint has the fifth highest crime rate among the nation's cities. It has long been one of the most dangerous places in America. The last thing Flint needs is a depleted police force, but that is exactly what they're working with. Now this:
On Tuesday the Michigan State Police expressed their belief that a serial killer is at large in Flint. They say five people have died so far and fourteen have been attacked. The killer approaches lone, vulnerable-appearing men in the dead of night asking for help or directions and stabs his victims without warning. Survivors describe the killer as a muscular white male, age 20-30, around 6 feet, and 180-200 lbs. Of the fourteen people attacked, thirteen were black and one was white.
I wonder if the recession has birthed this killer. Although I have no inner knowledge of the investigation, I suspect the killer to be one of the many former cops in Flint. If I were advising this investigation, I would recommend a hard look at every officer laid off in the past year and a half.
Could populist, dispossessed anger be igniting this? I doubt it. Serial killing very seldom stems from hatred of actual victims. Hate crimes are usually one-offs, while sustained serial murders are usually stranger murders, though projection plays a huge part. Racial hatred almost never goes this far on an individual basis. But when a white killer attacks thirteen black people, it's a sensible assumption. This, though: Flint is a city with a black population of greater than 50%. Whites are less than 40%. It may just be that the vulnerable people encountered at night by this man have mostly been black. And he did attack one white male. And these are just the attacks that have been reported.
Police release sketch of Flint's suspected serial killer | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Flint has been forced to cut its police force significantly. In a city of 124,000, 40 officers were laid off just last month. Estimates place the current police-to-person ratio at 1 officer to every 1,000 citizens. These numbers are especially jarring in the context of the FBI's list of the most dangerous American cities. According to the Bureau, Flint has the fifth highest crime rate among the nation's cities. It has long been one of the most dangerous places in America. The last thing Flint needs is a depleted police force, but that is exactly what they're working with. Now this:
On Tuesday the Michigan State Police expressed their belief that a serial killer is at large in Flint. They say five people have died so far and fourteen have been attacked. The killer approaches lone, vulnerable-appearing men in the dead of night asking for help or directions and stabs his victims without warning. Survivors describe the killer as a muscular white male, age 20-30, around 6 feet, and 180-200 lbs. Of the fourteen people attacked, thirteen were black and one was white.
I wonder if the recession has birthed this killer. Although I have no inner knowledge of the investigation, I suspect the killer to be one of the many former cops in Flint. If I were advising this investigation, I would recommend a hard look at every officer laid off in the past year and a half.
Could populist, dispossessed anger be igniting this? I doubt it. Serial killing very seldom stems from hatred of actual victims. Hate crimes are usually one-offs, while sustained serial murders are usually stranger murders, though projection plays a huge part. Racial hatred almost never goes this far on an individual basis. But when a white killer attacks thirteen black people, it's a sensible assumption. This, though: Flint is a city with a black population of greater than 50%. Whites are less than 40%. It may just be that the vulnerable people encountered at night by this man have mostly been black. And he did attack one white male. And these are just the attacks that have been reported.
Police release sketch of Flint's suspected serial killer | detnews.com | The Detroit News
