Do police detectives become obscessed with their cases?

Question

Hi my parents went to see this movie the Black Dalia. I wanted to go but they said it was R and inappropriate for me. Maybe they just wanted to be alone to make out (lol lol just kidding). I think its about a criminal in London England who went around attacking women at night in the fog. Anyway my dad is a police detective and my mom sometimes says hes too obscessed with his cases. The Black Dalia movie is about the London Scotland Yard and they were obscessed with this case. I kind of hope its true because my dad does some wierd things sometimes and I hope he isnt like losing it. Case in point, one night I was sleeping and having a bad dream (very unusual for me) and I woke up and went in my parents room (I was scared and wanted them to be close to me). My dad was putting on his police stuff and getting ready to leave. I asked him if he got called out and he said no but he was dreaming about a case and said he had to go to stop something. Anyway I went back to sleep, etc

Answer 1

Yeah sometimes. I know a few cops who are obsessed because the victim was a young kid, who brutally raped or murdered. Or when a fellow officer gets killed, the whole department is tensed up. They just want to bring in the bad guys.
I would call it zeal though as opposed to obsession. A zeal to try and undo a wrong.

Answer 2

Actually, the case of the Black Dahlia is from Hollywood.

Detectives are just ordinary people who sometimes see horrible things. Most of the time, just so they don't lose it, they distance themselves emotionally from what they see everyday. There is so much more evil going on everyday than most people realize. The only way to deal with it is to keep it very distant, very impersonal. As much as possible, a case is just a case.

Sometimes, though, there are those cases that are either so horrible or where something about the case just touches something very personal for the detective, that they can't help but become emotionally involved in the case. The only way to get those cases out of your mind is to find the suspect and get them convicted. If you never find them, or if they somehow get off, the case can haunt you for a very long time. It's hard to let those cases go, but in the end, that's what you have to do.

So yes, detectives do sometiems become obsessed with certain cases. It doesn't happen with every case, but it does happen. If your dad seems more stressed than usual, just give him a hug and tell him you love him. At the tough times, loved ones can make all the difference.

Answer 3

Police detectives become emotionally involved in some cases but obsessed is probably not a good choice of words. When a child or a women is involved and a detective has a family they can become so emotionally involved that it could appear as though they were obsessed.

Answer 4

the london case was jack the ripper. the black dahlia
was a hollywood actress wannabe. the murder was
very violent and you parents were right not to let you go.
now your question; can a detective become obsessed
with a case? depends upon the individual. anything
can become the object of an obsession with the right
person.

Answer 5

I think some do....like a case that's high profile or something or one that involves a child that they really want to solve and that it bothers them so much that it remains unsolved and so they become "obsessed" in trying to solve it.

Answer 6

Heck, they are so high on adrenalin that on a slow day, they have to dig the fix.

That's why they can't rest.

Answer 7

only in the movies .. and just mybe just one or two or three or four or five or six or seven or eight well you get the picture ...

Answer 8

No, Just on TV!

Answer 9

On tv, yea.