Csi: Crime Scene Investigation

Nearly every week, there are at least 3 different CSI shows on TV - CSI Las Vegas, CSI Miami, CSI New York and sometimes a combination of CSI and some other series.

Nearly every week, there is a discussion in our house about whether watching CSI is a good idea, especially for younger people.

These shows are certainly fascinating and suspenseful, keeping the viewer interested the whole time and introducing a wide variety of crime scene investigation techniques and police methods, each set in a different city with its different kinds of problems.

Another good thing is that the main characters are people who like their job and feel it is an important contribution to the society they live in, which makes them positive role models. Throughout each series, we also get to see glimpses of their personal lives, showing us other challenges they must face as human beings, which can only increase our appreciation towards them.

And, of course, at the end of each episode, the bad guys are brought to justice by our diligent and creative crime scene investigators.

Having said that, all these CSI TV shows feature a dark world, where humans are divided between criminals, victims and police officers. In their world, many people are referred to as "Vic" (short for "victim") or "Perp" (short for "perpetrator"). The investigators suspect many, only to catch few, going through a parade of suspects with complete disregard for what the investigation might do to them if they are innocent.

Real criminals can seriously hone their skills just by watching CSI. Although the methods shown may not be the latest and greatest, surely there is much to be learned about cleaning up a place to make the police's life harder. If you consider the amount of time it takes to solve a crime vs. the time it takes to commit it, the CSI shows are telling criminals that they are outnumbering the police by huge factors and that they can commit many crimes by the time they are caught, if that ever happens.

Some criminals in the series are just like everybody else, but most of them are not. Many of them are very rich, driving around in luxury cars, dressing up in expensive clothes and spending their time in exclusive nightclubs. Particularly in Miami, rich people are closely associated with large-scale, ruthless crime.

Most people, especially grown-ups, think they are immune to the messages on television, but research shows this is not true. However, over time, we become conditioned by the shows we watch on TV and bring the feelings and situations we see into our own world.

Watching CSI, we start believing that criminals lurk everywhere, waiting for us to make the wrong move. After all, we see them in Las Vegas, Miami and New York. We identify with the heroes, adopt their points of view and then, little by little, our own world becomes darker, scarier and more polarized.

[8 May 2008] Gary Dourdan, who plays CSI Warrick Brown, was caught in possession of drugs. Perhaps he thought he knew enough about crime scene investigations to get away with it…

Is this really what we want in our life?