Where there’s a crime there’s a way.

Are reality crime dramas the criminals’ guide to committing the perfect crime? 

We all know how reality crime dramas work; first the awful crime, then in steps the hero to save the day with their expert police work or forensic wizardry. Needless to say the villain is captured and good prevails. In TV at least… but what actually happens in real life?

In reality, these crime dramas are taking a huge toll on actual police work. From the ‘cops’n’robbers’ style to the hugely popular CSI shows, people are being fed an exciting, glamorised view of this kind of police work. And it is very enticing; right from the beginning when the gory body is discovered, you are left guessing whodunit through all the twists and turns until at the last minute, a breakthrough piece of evidence is discovered that solves the whole case. But this is affecting our perception of police work in the real world; while in these shows results can be whipped up in no time at all, in reality this kind of forensic work can take weeks, even months – and even then it can’t be 100% accurate. According to the BBC, evidence submitted to forensic labs has shot up as a result of the programmes, at a time when many have large backlogs, and people expect the same accurate and speedy results that the shows deliver.

These shows are also have a far more sinister effect too. There are a number of reported cases of criminals – many violent and dangerous – who have been studying these shows and learning how best to evade the law, and not to leave forensic evidence behind. An example of this is Damien Fincher, who in July last year used knowledge learnt from the show CSI to murder his wife in the hope of not being found out. Some of the ideas he picked up from the TV series were wearing socks on the outside of his trainers to make any footprints less visible and leaving his iPhone at his mother’s house to avoid the signal being picked up and his movements established. Regardless of this Fincher was caught and imprisoned for the murder; however this case reflects a far more worrying trend. Are we handing criminals a guidebook to the perfect crime but openly showing police techniques?

Juries are also becoming increasingly worrying as the ‘CSI effect’ infiltrates the courtroom. Many jurors believe that real life will be exactly as it is on these shows and expect everything to have been tested, and when it is that the results are infallable; that they must be true. So is forensic evidence in the courtroom being misconstrued by the jury – just because of a tv programme?

However it’s not all bad that comes from these shows, as the case of Jonathan Haynes proved. One of his abductees told the Telegraph, “It sounds silly, but I have always been a fan of CSI programmes. I’ve watched so many of them, I know what to do and how things work.” She had the presence of mind, while in the back of his car, to spit on the seat and pull out strands of her hair so that there would be forensic evidence for the police to find. Why did she do it? This crucial spilt-second decision made all the difference and put a dangerous criminal behind bars.

So, it could be said that these shows can and have saved lives, by providing information and awareness to potential victims. On the other hand however, criminals are becoming increasingly clued up on forensics and learning the ways they can avoid detection – making police work, hard enough as it is already, harder still. Is it only a matter of time before criminals prefect the technique of ‘The Perfect Crime’? Let’s hope not.