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by Ryan Turner and Rachel Kosa
Conventional wisdom in homicide investigations holds that speed is of the essence. The notion is that any case that is not solved or that lacks significant leads and witness participation within the first 72 hours has little likelihood of being solved, regardless of the expertise and resources deployed.
Over time, unsolved cases become "cold." Cases most likely to be classified as cold include gang- and drug-related deaths; cases involving immigrants, transients, and homeless or
unidentified people; unclassified deaths; and unsolved police shootings. Cold cases are among the most difficult and frustrating cases detectives face. These cases are, in effect, cases
that other investigators, for whatever reason, could not solve.
Law enforcement agencies, regardless of size, are not immune to
rising crime rates, staff shortages, and budget restrictions. Rising
crime rates can tax the investigative and administrative resources
of an agency. More crime may mean that fewer cases are pursued vigorously,
fewer opportunities arise for followup, or individual caseloads increase
for already overworked detectives. Transfers, retirements, and other
personnel changes may force departments to rely on younger, less
experienced investigators to work cases, often unsuccessfully.
An increase in homicide rates can increase the caseloads for the
staff of crime labs and county coroners’ and medical examiners’ offices.
This, in turn, can lead to reports that are delayed for months,
increased chances for error, and overlooked evidence. Support services,
if available at all, may be spread thin during high-profile cases
that force investigative labs to expend large amounts of manpower
disproportionately. These overloads can either slow investigations
or discourage some detectives from using the support services at
all. Criminalists and evidence technicians can also face backlogs
that prevent them both from attending all crime scenes and from
conducting prompt followup work. As a result, crucial scientific
evidence, especially blood and trace evidence, goes uncollected.
Investigators with heavy caseloads may be forced to rely on photographs
of evidence or on witness testimony, which may be strongly challenged
by defense attorneys.
All the obstacles that hamper homicide investigations in their
early phases contribute to cold cases. Cold cases may even allow
more murders to be committed. People who have killed once, if not
arrested, may continue to kill. Police failure to solve murder
cases and to put the offenders behind bars often leaves the community
feeling helpless. If they feel the police are not doing their job
in protecting the community and witnesses of crimes, members of
the community may also be less willing to cooperate with police.
July 2003 |
