Claire Riley: Not Like The TV Shows
Being ten feet away from a murderer was something that I never thought about in my life before. During the summer of 2024 I did an internship with the Greenwood City Police Department. I did many exciting things during the six weeks I was doing the internship, such as riding along, sitting in during court, looking at evidence, conducting interviews, and much more. The most notable was when I sat in on the indictment of someone who committed a murder.
In the days before the indictment, city police as well as the county police (which is the sheriff’s office) were out searching and patrolling the roads for this individual. He had shot his friend over a card game and went on the run. On top of that he also tried to set his grandmother’s house on fire. Finding him was a big priority for both the city and county police. They found out he was in a restaurant a day or so after he committed his crimes, but because he knew that he was being watched, he slipped out before the police could catch him there.
I was involved in riding along and searching for the murderer. This was very exciting for me, because this was the first time during my internship that I was experiencing a case as big as this one. It was also exciting because during the time I got to ride along with officers we only pulled people over for minor traffic offenses like speeding, a broken taillight, or improper turning signal usage- not searching for someone on foot after he had just committed multiple crimes.
During the ride along looking for the suspect, the officer and I passed him on some railroad tracks. We were beside the railroad tracks but could not cross them due to woods being behind them. Because of that, we were not able to catch up to him or turn around, so we were not able to catch him that day. It took a couple more days to search for him. Most people not involved in law enforcement would wonder why it took so long to search for him. Because the suspect committed multiple violent crimes, you have to approach/search with caution and be very careful.
The next time I came in for my internship shift, the officers who were over my internship and the activities that I did for the week informed me that the murder suspect had been caught. Piedmont Technical College police caught him on their campus during the middle of the night and were able to arrest him and take him to jail in the city of Greenwood. The officers also asked me if going to his indictment, the formal reading of his crime, rather than doing a ride along would be something I was interested in, and of course I said yes. When it was time for the indictment, we had to go through the jail. It was me and a handful of officers who were going. The room where it was happening was almost like a small court room, which I never knew was in a jail before.
Example of what the room looked like
When we were all upstairs in the indictment room, we lined up against the wall and waited for the inmates to come in. Most of the inmates were there for small crimes such as shoplifting, traffic violations, or minor drug charges (these crimes may not sound “small” but compared to other crimes like burglary, murder, etc., they are more minor offenses). As we were listening to the other inmates’ bonds and time they would be in for, I noticed something that made me feel more sensitive towards the situation. I noticed that in the small room, the seats behind the inmates were full. The seats were full of the victim’s family. The family looked heartbroken to see the person that took away the life of their loved one. It was also heartbreaking to see their faces full of hurt and anger as the suspect showed no mercy or sign of guilt. It made me realize that many people enjoy true crime stories and a good crime story on TV, however it is easy to forget that people are victims in the stories, and that it is real life for some. It made me feel a sense of sympathy, not just this family in particular, but all families who are victims of violent crimes like this one. While true crime and TV shows are interesting and fun to watch, my internship made me see the real-life situations in law enforcement, such as court processes, how arresting people work, and much more behind the scenes situations. I am very thankful for the experience that I got with the internship, as it will help me be more prepared for a law enforcement job in the future.
Claire Riley is a senior criminology major with minors in psychology and human services. She will graduate in spring of 2025 and plans to attend graduate school after in hopes to get her masters. Her big dream is to be an FBI agent in the future.