Police Investigations of the Manson Murders.

The departments working on the two investigations were the Los Angeles Sheriffs Office and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). This would later play a very important role in the investigation in the year and a half due to mass miscommunication between the two departments concerning the two crime scenes.

Lack of communication between the two law enforcement entities put both cases in jeopardy several times during the investigations. For example, the word "PIG" was printed on the door at the Tate scene and the detectives from the LASO approached LAPD detectives and told them of the writing of the words "Death to Pigs" in the victim's own blood at the LaBianca scene. When presented with possible evidence that the two crimes might be linked, Los Angles Police Department (LAPD) inspector K.J. McCauley told reporters "I don't see any connection between this murder (Tate) and the others. They're too widely removed. I just don't see any connection". This was the official stance taken by the LAPD and the detectives proceeded to work solely on their own cases.

In addition to the communication problems, the officers also encountered emotional, political, and mental stress from the shear senselessness of the crimes. One of Charles Manson's most faithful followers would later say "We wanted to do a crime that the world would have to stand up and take notice". As the first officers observed the horrific scene gradually unfold, they began to lose focus of their procedural duties and there were also several mistakes made in the preservation and collection of evidence.

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