Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4032 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JULY 2016 recording suspect interviews in homicides generally pre- dict better clearance rates. So what’s to be done about the fact police are clearing 15 percent fewer murders than they were in 1975 de- spite all the new technology and software? The lead author of the study, David Carter, says there are no silver bullets. “The challenge is not sim- ply to apply a new technol- ogy or implement a promis- ing practice,” Carter said. “Instead, we need to re- examine the role of the ho- micide investigator and the way they conduct homicide investigations. This includes changing some long-held homicide investigation poli- cies that have been thought of as the Holy Grail.” The four-year research project was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the results were recently published in the May issue of the journal Homicide Stud- ies. Findings included: • Assigning full homicide squads both during the day and evening, which led to faster response times. • Developing community trust, which is particularly important during interviews in the first 48 hours after a homicide. • Providing officers ba- sic investigative tools and resources, including cell phone, camera, digital re- corder, laptop computer and a take-home department car on days when the investiga- tor is on-call. As is always the case, teamwork turns out to be important as well. Successful homicide units worked with a variety of people, units and other agencies during investigations. “In successful agencies, patrol officers are viewed as partners in the investiga- tion,” David Carter said. Continued from page one Solving homicides is easier for some, harder for others I n Colorado, a bill that seeks to increase transparency regard- ing the hiring of po- lice officers is moving forward and expected to become state law. The bipartisan proposal is pretty simple. The bill would require police agencies to re- quest and review personnel records and internal affairs files on prospective hires from departments where ap- plicants previously worked as police officers. In addition, a prospective hire’s former agency would be required to provide those records to the agency where the officer is signing on. Current Colorado law requires sharing personnel records only in those cases where officers are found to have lied while under oath or during the course of an investigation. Under the proposal the agency in charge of certi- fying police in Colorado would have access to this information before it issues the certification required to do law enforcement work in the state of Colorado. The law also seeks to tight- en up a deferred judgment loophole that has allowed police with past felony guilty pleas to work as law enforce- ment officers in Colorado. According to an article from the Denver Post, the proposed changes would bring Colorado closer in line to hiring standards in states such as Texas and Florida, which consider felony guilty pleas as disqualifying of- fenses for police work. The bill is supported by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Colorado Municipal League. The Colorado sheriffs and police chiefs associations are pushing to broaden the leg- islation to encompass other agencies, such as police forces at universities. “People in this profes- sion go back and forth, and making agencies account- able for these background investigations is what we’re seeking,” Michael Phibbs, chief of the Auraria Campus Police Department, told the House Judiciary Committee recently. Seems like a pretty good idea Cop comes to pup’s rescue Police in Orlando recently saved this little guy that was stolen from a pet shop in Florida. Police spokeswoman Mi- chelle Guido says three teen- age suspects just grabbed the pup and ran. Officers searched the area and quickly found one of the suspects, a 16-year-old girl, hiding in a yard with the puppy. Guido said a second suspect, a 16-year- old boy, was also found and arrested. The third suspect man- aged to evade capture. “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx Editor’s note: If you’re interested in the changing face of interrogation techniques oc- curring in some agencies right now, Google search for an ar- ticle called “A Severed Head, Two Cops, and the Radical Future of Interrogation,” from Wired magazine.