The Berkowitz serial murder case was a big step in New York City after it was solved. There was mass hysteria around the city simply because the randomness of how the murders were committed, and were they were committed as well. I think that it opened the eyes of many of the officials and people in the city about how psychotic and deranged people can really be.
Some of the things that it probably affected, had to do with his capture. The police had the name of the killer months before by someone who was close to him for a short amount of time and had put the pieces of the puzzle together. They just sat the information in the folder and did not decide to look at it until many more people had been hurt. Perhaps after this case, the authorities realized that maybe taking in random leads and actually putting a little time to investigate them could be beneficial to everyone. Yeah, there are going to be some false leads, but for the ones that are actually true, you could save multiple lives. Also, Berkowitz was captured due to a speeding ticket. Yes the police had an idea that he was the killer, but there was no hardcore evidence against him, simply a few pieces of the puzzle. Even though serial killers are smart enough to be able to committ multiple crimes, greusome ones at that, and not get caught, that does not mean you need to fall off the scent. The police followed Berkowitz with background checks and such until he finally made a mistake, allowing them access to the last piece of evidence they needed to get him red handed.
Also, the letters were definitely helpful in apprehending the culprit. Writing letters to taunt the police and achieve a status among the media has been going along for a long time, and i think had technology been what it is now, he would have been apprehended faster. Document analysis experts and handwriting experts could easily now figure out who wrote something, especially if they continued doing so over and over again.
And to close it out, there was a movie made after the Son of Sam. I think that this movie does many things as well as letting the world know there are people like this out there. David did not care who he killed or where he did it, and that is what caused most of the panic throughout the entire city. People need to realize that there are those types of people out there who just want to cause the world pain. This movie does a good job relaying that message and possibly making people aware of some of the signs of these serial killers and how to help catch them.
Some of the things that it probably affected, had to do with his capture. The police had the name of the killer months before by someone who was close to him for a short amount of time and had put the pieces of the puzzle together. They just sat the information in the folder and did not decide to look at it until many more people had been hurt. Perhaps after this case, the authorities realized that maybe taking in random leads and actually putting a little time to investigate them could be beneficial to everyone. Yeah, there are going to be some false leads, but for the ones that are actually true, you could save multiple lives. Also, Berkowitz was captured due to a speeding ticket. Yes the police had an idea that he was the killer, but there was no hardcore evidence against him, simply a few pieces of the puzzle. Even though serial killers are smart enough to be able to committ multiple crimes, greusome ones at that, and not get caught, that does not mean you need to fall off the scent. The police followed Berkowitz with background checks and such until he finally made a mistake, allowing them access to the last piece of evidence they needed to get him red handed.
Also, the letters were definitely helpful in apprehending the culprit. Writing letters to taunt the police and achieve a status among the media has been going along for a long time, and i think had technology been what it is now, he would have been apprehended faster. Document analysis experts and handwriting experts could easily now figure out who wrote something, especially if they continued doing so over and over again.
And to close it out, there was a movie made after the Son of Sam. I think that this movie does many things as well as letting the world know there are people like this out there. David did not care who he killed or where he did it, and that is what caused most of the panic throughout the entire city. People need to realize that there are those types of people out there who just want to cause the world pain. This movie does a good job relaying that message and possibly making people aware of some of the signs of these serial killers and how to help catch them.