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By Steve Daniels, Chair of the Cold Case Team
Early in February, I offered a very brief presentation regarding the cold case team to
the Wisconsin Sheriff’s and Deputy Sheriff’s annual conference. In discussion with
some of the attendees prior to the presentation, I learned that many agencies are
still unaware that this service provided to members free-of-charge. So, I am
assuming it is a lack of awareness, rather than a refusal to use the service-for any of a number of reasons- that our referrals have hit a slump.
When this service was originally proposed, in an earlier newsletter, the response was
overwhelmingly positive with a large number of members indicating they would either be willing
to serve on the team or to refer cases for review. We have no shortage of
members who have volunteered to offer their services at no cost, however the
referrals have not met the expectations that were generated by that early
article.
In response to the overwhelming response, the board of directors, officers, and
chairs voted to offer a free cold case review team to members and their agencies, and voted to
implement a budget for the team to use as needed. The budget is sitting virtually
untouched due to lack of referrals. I have never been one to spend someone else’s
money foolishly, however, the team and the money are waiting to be used.
Some member agencies have had reviews completed on open murder cases, and there is movement
on those cases. The team, in an effort to obtain referrals, made the process as simple as could be, you can find the steps to refer a cold case to the team for review in that section
of the WAHI newsletter (see below of this article for the procedure). As I mentioned, I truly hope the lack of referrals is due to lack of awareness, and not because the process has been deemed too cumbersome.
In closing, I must say that it usually takes a period of time for any new program
to catch on. Remember, the presenters at the Eau Claire conference on cold cases opined that
this is a fantastic service made available to members. Hopefully, you will take advantage
of it.
In order to have a confidential case reviewed by the team, the following criteria must be in place:
1. Only the agency in control of the case can request a review, not family members, victim-witness advocates, etc.
2. The case must be at least three years old.
3. All evidence has been processed and reports have been received.
4. The complete file, including still photographs, as well as videos must travel with the requesting investigator.
If you have a case (or cases) that meet the above four criteria, the simple referral for review process is as follows:
· A request for review should be sent on agency letter head to:
· Steve Daniels
Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators
P O Box 11342
Green Bay, WI 54307-1342
· A review will be set for either the morning (9:00) or afternoon (1:00) of one of the following dates:
The fourth Wednesday of January, May, August, October of each succeeding year.
· The requesting agency will send two investigators to the scheduled review
· Prior to the review, a chronological history of the case to date will be sent to the above address, or to this e-mail address
· On
the day of the review, the agency must have ready a 40-60 minute power
point presentation of the case, to include crime scene photos, autopsy
photos, victim information and particulars of the case
· Team
members will offer feedback to the investigators during and after their
presentation. If requested, a written report will be afforded to the
agency in approximately 14 days from the review.
All confidential reviews will be hosted at:
Concordia University/Green Bay Center
1150 Springhurst Dr.
Green Bay, WI
(920) 498-2551
If presenting investigators need to stay over night, the Ramada is about 3 blocks from the review site. |