Implement a cold case unit as a separate, defined unit within an agency. Position the unit in an existing bureau, division, or branch responsible for investigative activities. Applying these modern investigative methods to cold cases is an important step toward success in clearing them. But law enforcement agencies across the country can also improve their results in solving some of the hardest cases that come across an investigator’s desk by allocating resources efficiently through agency partnerships and prioritizing cases based on solvability. Cold Cases, Contemporary Methods

Dr. Rebecca Campbell, Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University, is a nationally recognized practitioner trainer on sexual assault and the neurology of trauma. Dr. Campbell's SAKI TTA role is to provide assistance in developing strategies, testing plans, victim notification protocols, and training. SAKI is critical to enhancing the criminal justice response to sexual assault and ensuring justice for victims. SAKI funding will not only help link victims to advocates and needed services but will also help jurisdictions implement best practices and comprehensive reform to help bring people who commit sexual assault to justice and increase safety in communities by preventing future sexual assaults. Access SAKI performance metrics Assign investigators to investigative duties only. Delegate all other operational activities of the unit to support staff. Assign administrative work to non-investigative personnel or others to increase the efficiency of the unit. As an investigator with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, I believe that someone who was lost many years ago is no less important than someone lost today. Identifying the Victims of John Wayne Gacy But there was one big problem: Gould had died in 2007 and his remains had been cremated, according to the Tribune. The only way to prove his guilt or his innocence was to test the DNA of his remaining relatives.Appoint a project lead to oversee the implementation of the cold case unit. Choose an individual who understands the agency, the process of unresolved case investigations, and the jurisdiction’s administration.

Used Forensic Genetic Genealogy analysis in 2020 to identify a serial sexual offender with Dallas cases from the 1980's; this case is the first of its kind to be solved in this manner in Dallas County. Currently, only a fraction of U.S. law enforcement agencies have dedicated cold case units, and only one out of five departments has formal protocols for initiating cold case investigations. (See Figure 1.) Figure 1. Percentage of Cold Case Units in U.S. Law Enforcement Agencies Dedicated cold case units, all surveyed departments Source: Robert C. Davis, Carl Jensen, and Karen E. Kitchens, Cold Case Investigations: An Analysis of Current Practices and Factors Associated with Successful Outcomes (RAND Center on Quality Policing, 2011). High-Level Justifications for Cold Case Units A particularly important breakthrough was in the case of Lynette White, the young woman who was killed in Cardiff. This was a really brutal murder for which the Cardiff Three were wrongly imprisoned. Include a detailed plan for communication with victims and victims’ families in the cold case unit protocols.It’s also providing answers to victims through the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative which gives funding to law enforcement agencies to test kits, investigate, and provide resources for survivors. At least 200,000 cases are getting looked at again." SAKI is critical to enhancing the criminal justice response to sexual assault and ensuring justice for victims. SAKI funding will not only help link victims to advocates and needed services, but also help jurisdictions implement best practices and comprehensive reform to help bring perpetrators to justice and increase safety in communities by preventing future sexual assaults. Identified 79 serial sexual offenders who have sexually victimized a total of 325 women and children.