I’ve always considered myself a pretty understanding guy in terms of facing the reality of any situation. In terms of crime and violence I know that the world isn’t a perfect place and all we can do the best we can to fight it. But what do we do when those we entrust, those we pay to help keep us safe don’t do the job? In St. Louis, this often seems to be the case when crime and the local police meet.Perhaps I should frame this statement with the recent occurrence that has brought this to mind. I received a call from one of my clients yesterday with a very sorry tale. His general contractor, someone I know pretty well, was the victim of a pretty violent crime during the night following Thanksgiving.

Apparently two masked men thought this would be a good time to break into his house to rob the place. The thing is, he and his wife were home and these guys knew it. He was woken up with a baseball bat to the head. Obviously he was hurt really badly. I am not sure the extent of his wife’s injuries, but I don’t believe it was anything too severe. Physically at least.

After putting him out of commission, the two burglars grabbed everything of value and then took the man, who had been beaten with a bat to the head, to the ATM where they made him withdraw all his money. They followed that up with a threat that he needed to produce more money within a certain time frame or they would come back and kill him and his family.

Three days later he is still in the hospital with a metal plate in his head and an eye he will possibly never see out of again. As horrible as this kind of thing is, it happens everywhere from time to time. You hear about things like this involving strangers, but when its someone you know it hits closer to home.

Being a victim is in of itself a horrendous experience, but the most frustrating part of the story isn’t over. The real fun part that disturbs me more than anything: The police don’t seem to care. This incident took place in the heart of the Benton Park Neighborhood near to Trueman’s Bar and Niche. People have a sense in the area that things are safe and I thought justifiably so. Apparently that’s just luck because the police aren’t doing much to stop crime there. These criminal weren’t just a couple kids having some fun. They were violent criminals and if caught would be put in prison for a long time for what they did. Not worth the effort though, judging by the great detective work so far.

When the police got involved they immediately started out in an adversarial position with the victim. As if he brought this on himself. Since the suspects faces were covered getting an ID would be tough. The only noticeable mark the victims noticed was that one of the guys had a tattoo on his neck that had two “z”s in it. When the police heard this they dismissed it and said it had to be a swastika. “Guys don’t have tattoos like that,” they said. The victim was certain that it was two “z”s like ZZ Top, but the police just shrugged it off.

At this point it is my understanding that the police still haven’t even looked at the surveillance tapes from the ATM. As for suspects, they say it is probably someone the victim knows so he should figure that out for himself. They seemed pretty convinced that it had to be someone on his rehab crew and would not divert from that despite the fact that this crew is comprised of the man’s son and men he has known for over 20 years. Seems like he should recognize them even with masks on. But do the police care? No.

I’m probably coming off a little jaded here, but this is a major issue. And this is certainly not the first tale of this sort I have been told. I appreciate the fact that crimes like this are hard to solve. Real life isn’t like CSI after all. In the end there is only so much that can be done to stop determined criminals. What disturbs me is that the police don’t even make an attempt.

The cops are so jaded themselves that they don’t even try anymore. I don’t know if it is laziness or they just aren’t qualified for the job, but these guys are simply creating an environment where criminals can thrive because nobody tries to stop them.  If they take this attitude in supposedly “good” area like Benton Park, I can’t imagine how they act elsewhere. And people wonder why homicides are up so much this year.

Situations like this just go to show that you are never truly safe. Locks, alarms, lights and possibly a weapon are your only real defense. Don’t count on the men in blue to come and save the day. They’re too busy writing traffic ticks and busting public urinaters at Mardi Gras to worry about solving important crimes that shatter lives. Get well soon Wayne.