How to avoid cold case calamity

Between 1980 and 2016, the United States accumulated over 242,355 cold cases (unresolved homicides). During that same time frame Little Rock amassed more than 400; more than 100 of those occurred in the most recent past between 2012-2016.

This is not a good indicator in any city, as violent crimes are rising while solve rates decline. In fact, the solving of homicides in 2016 nationally reached an all-time low of 59.4 percent where 4 out of 10 cases were not solved. Little Rock was closer to 40 percent.

So where is Little Rock today? In a recent review of the Little Rock Police Department website it appears that in 2017 it initiated a specialized cold case team consisting of two retired/former detectives. If I interpret it correctly, these two detectives are reviewing the cold case files for solvability factors, and the ones with promise for solving are given to regular detectives in the unit to investigate accordingly.

Congratulations, Little Rock: Your city may have just avoided a cold case crisis.

Law enforcement today is more about the present and the future with little regard for the past unless some one walks in the door and asks questions about their loved one. Research shows that those cases are the least likely to get solved. We also see that many agencies in this country don’t even know how many unresolved homicides they have, which adds to the dilemma of why many have not addressed the issue correctly.

Adding to the problem, police agencies today are claiming to have cold case units where semi-retired detectives are given a place to work for their last six months on the job. Or they are appointed to the cold case unit solely for optics, as they end up spending over half of their time investigating other cases, which is all counterproductive.

This problem can only be properly addressed if we attack the issue from both ends of the spectrum, while investigating the hot cases and having a dedicated cold case unit pushing from the other end as well.

Since 1998 I have been concentrating on the cold case phenomena through research, training of detectives in the United States and in the Netherlands, and writing two books on the topics. I am a member of the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Cold Case Working Group, formulating its best practices guide for implementing and sustaining a cold case unit in police departments.

While this guide is scheduled to be published in the fall, the latest draft makes numerous recommendations. It implicitly calls our situation a cold case crisis; recommends that police consider using vetted outside sources to help them with manpower shortages in solving more cases, and provides multiple reasons why the creating of a dedicated cold case unit is not a luxury but a necessity, suggesting it will cost us far more if we don’t.

There are two major things driving this train full of unsolved cold case homicides into a crisis: 1. lack of manpower and 2. lack of adequate funds to support the operation of a specialized unit. It was for those reasons and others that I created the Mid-South Cold Case Initiative (MSCCI), a tax-exempt non-profit corporation specifically designed to provide pro bono help to police agencies solve more cold cases.

This corporation, coupled with my decades of experience, will assist any agency with the proper design of a cold case unit where all the unresolved cases will be inventoried and reviewed for prioritization of investigation all based on solvability factors and probabilities. Then, as needed to sustain the unit, the MSCCI will consider requests for funds to help augment expenses associated with cold case investigations. It will also provide free basic death investigation training for first responders along with short seminars regarding the nuances of conducting cold case investigations. Other more advanced training may also be available.

Little Rock obviously saw the declining resolution of homicides that in turn increases the number of unresolved cases and took steps to correct the situation, a sign of forward thinking. I only wish more departments would do the same. What your city created is exactly what the NIJ guide will recommend: 1. recognize the problem; 2. create a dedicated cold case team; and 3. utilize outside vetted sources like retired detectives.

While there are many more recommendations, these lead the way and will get the process headed in the right direction by solving cases. In turn, cities like Little Rock will be serving justice, providing answers for families, helping to maintain or restore public confidence in law enforcement and making the community a safer place to live.

The citizens of Little Rock should be proud.