LitPick Review
TRACKRS by Michael Jacobs is a sharp and detailed record of a string of brutal crimes committed in the late 70s and early 80s by a serial rapist and murderer. Jacobs served in the office of the district attorney for Orange County in California and pieced together evidence decades later on these cold cases to finally bring the perpetrator to justice. TRACKRS (Task Force Review Aimed at Catching Killers, Rapists, and Sex Offenders) was a team of people and a database of information designed to catch other serial criminals and to severely reduce the numbers of cold cases. This book is not for the faint of heart: the descriptions are accurate, detailed, and can be brutal. This is not a TV drama series, but real police and legal investigation. The reader is left imagining what more resources and more skilled police officers and insightful prosecutors might do in the fight against crime in the country. Another reality that sadly can crush the hopes of families longing for brutal crimes to be solved is the fact that not all of the law enforcement agencies communicate with each other well, nor do they clearly communicate with the offices of district attorneys. The reader is also left wondering how many other unsolved crimes exist, given the body of evidence that can go uncatalogued, undocumented, or criminals that go unnoticed because agencies do not communicate clearly and in a timely fashion. Jacobs’ prescient and careful approach to solving these murders drives the retelling of these stories. His determination and resolve to solve these cases and bring the perpetrator to justice must have swelled the hearts of the affected families - and those are the ones left to suffer still in the aftermath of such horrific devastation. I’m thankful there are men and women like Jacobs, Tippin, and Tarpley, as well as the other detective and investigators mentioned in this book, who are determined to seek justice for those who are harmed by others.
Opinion:
TRACKRS by Michael Jacobs is a book about crime and solving some particularly brutal crimes. But it’s not a dramatic book that could be translated into a television show. It’s detailed and to the point. It is not a quick read, but definitely a worthwhile read. If you want to get a glimpse - just a peek, really - into what real detectives and police officers have to see and deal with, and what prosecutors have to go through to get evidence put together, this is a book for you. Bureaucracy always seems to make doing good things harder to do. But the efforts are clearly worth it in the end. Spoiler alert: I’m sad to read at the end that TRACKRS as a program has ceased to function, even though it had really been gutted of its core purpose about ten years before its official close. The potential for the program was enormous and you can read the personal disappointment from the author by the end. As I wrote above, I hope there are always good people out there in law enforcement and in district attorney’s offices that are as determined as Michael Jacobs to serve and protect the people of their communities.
