Michaela’s Muses: crime in Rio Rancho

I love reading the crime watch Facebook page, NextDoor and some letters to the editor we get here at the RRO.

When it comes to crime, people let their imagination run wild.

As someone who writes about crime almost every day and sees the records of arrests made in Rio Rancho, I can say that most of the conspiracy theories people come up with are usually never true.

Several people also only rely on the police scanner to give them the facts. However, more occurs off the scanner than people think.

It is easy to assume things, even on my part, but usually I have the reason to say, “Wow. I was completely wrong about that theory.”

There are a few stories that have occurred over the past year that remind me of this every time I write one.

There was one where a man shot and killed the woman he was looking after. She was in hospice care. My first instinct told me that he killed her as a mercy because assisted suicide is more common than we think.

When I got the report, though, it was not that at all. He in fact shot her because he was tired of taking care of her.

Many people go through life with preconceived biases for the news. It is my job to leave that bias at home when I come in to work.

I am not immune to bias, no one is. However, I can separate it from my work life.

I think movies, TV and books influence our bias. True crime and mystery novels give people a fanciful understanding of how things work in the real world.

Unfortunately, crime, like other things in life, is not cut and dry. The crimes themselves are almost never the same and justice isn’t served as quickly as portrayed in media.

Most cases, depending on how severe, take months or even years to go to trial, if it does go to trial. Then, the trial can take just as long.

The sad thing is, I think people are unemotional about these crimes because they have been stunted by watching too many crime shows and reading too many novels.

These are real people. Most of them had or have jobs and families. Most of them show remorse for what they have done. And most of them are just having a hard time so they do anything to help themselves.

The more I read about some of these crimes, the more that I understand that some of these people have been robbed of life. Whether it was their choice or not, I don’t know.

Crime, in real life is not just a TV show for you to watch. It is real people, struggling to live.