Opinion | Do we have a 'cold case crisis'?

Jim Adcock
Guest columnist
The homicide analysis sheet from Memphis' oldest unsolved murder is nearly 100 years old.

Between 1980 and 2016, the U.S. accumulated over 242,355 cold cases (unresolved homicides). Here in Memphis, those numbers exceed 1,500.

Considering that in 2016 the rate of solving homicides nationwide was at its lowest in our history at 59.4 percent, these unsolved cases are increasing each year.

According to a study by the Murder Accountability Project  there is a direct correlation to the rise in number of homicide incidents and a police departments failure to solve others.

In other words, as clearance rates go down, the number of homicide incidents rises. As a result, families are going without answers, justice is not being served, and hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on investigating violent crimes.

Only 18 percent of all police agencies that have cold cases have a dedicated Cold Case Unit where detectives are concentrating their efforts on them.

Since April 2015, I have been a contributing member of the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Cold Case Working group formulating a "Best Practices" guide, which should be published in the fall of 2018.

In the latest draft of this document it clearly states that we have a "cold case crisis" that becomes more critical as each year passes and needs our immediate attention. It further reflects that having a dedicated Cold Case Unit is not a luxury but rather a necessity.

Why is this all happening?

First, policing today is about the present and the future with little attention to the past -- unless a family member knocks on their door asking for answers. Research shows us that picking up a case for review because someone is asking questions versus having a dedicated Cold Case Ynit investigating them on a regular basis are rarely solved.

Second, as in Memphis, many police agencies are suffering large manpower loses.

Third, there is a lack of funds to support a specialized initiative like a dedicated Cold Case Unit. They are basically chasing their tails just trying to maintain security and protect their communities the best they can.

Agencies with a significant number of unresolved homicides (Memphis, for example, just do not have the manpower nor the funds to have and support a dedicated unit.

What these agencies don’t realize is that investing in the process of solving cold cases in conjunction with the hot cases (simultaneously but separate) they are taking criminals off the streets who we know are committing additional crimes that are costing us/them, directly and indirectly, thousands of dollars to investigate each additional crime.

I started a new nonprofit called the Mid-South Cold Case Initiative (MSCCI). I believe it's a unique approach. The goal is to use donated funds to help the Memphis Police Department (MPD) solve some of the 1,500-plus cold cases they have on the books.

Many agencies that did not have a Cold Case Unit applied for/received government cold case grant funds, then initiated a speical unit to work those cold cases. But when the money ran out, the units were dismantled. Money talks.

The MSCCI subscribes to the belief that working cold cases with a dedicated unit will:

  • Help to serve justice
  • Provide some answers to the families
  • Restore and inspire more confidence in our police and the justice system
  • Provide a safer community by taking bad actors off the streets who are committing more crime which will undoubtedly save hundreds of thousands of dollars

As a result, the MSCCI, upon request from a police agency that has a dedicated cold case unit, can request funds to:

  • Augment the salary to acquire crime analysts in the cold case unit
  • Augment reward fund levels to CrimesStoppers for homicides and cold cases
  • Purchase equipment such as computers, programs, printers, scanners, etc. as needed for the cold case unit
  • Pay for expedited forensic services from a certified forensic laboratory (presently it takes them 10-12 months to get a DNA result from the state crime laboratory)
  • Provide advanced training on the nuances of dealing with cold cases, staged crime scenes and behavioral considerations in unresolved homicides
  • Provide funds to cover travel by cold case detectives to interview key witnesses versus asking another agency to conduct the interview for them because they don’t have the travel funds

Other requests may be considered on a case by case basis.

Our cold case crisis is only going to get worse if we do not find innovating ways to ebb the flow of unresolved homicides. That means having and seriously operating a dedicated Cold Case Unit.  There is no other answer, the less we solve the more incidents we have.

Dr. Jim Adcock, a retired Army Supervisory Special Agent, is president and founder of the Mid-South Cold Case Initiative.

Jim Adcock