Post by TVFan on Sept 21, 2004 10:38:46 GMT -5
I was reading my regional paper online today (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and I came across an article on cold cases in the area. It mentions our Cold Case, and how the show has affected law enforcement. I can't link to the artilce b/c you have to have a subscription, but here are the parts that relate to our show:
**Some in the Gwinnett Police Department dream of creating a cold case squad, a group of detectives that would focus only on unsolved homicides. The concept has become more in vogue this year with the premiere of the CBS cop drama, "Cold Case," featuring a male and female detective team who solve ancient whodunits. Occasionally, Jean Wallace watches the hit series at her Pensacola home and dreams that television detective Lily Rush will arrest the man who killed her daughter, Lisa Geise.**
**Cold case units are becoming more common across the nation. Retired Phoenix police Sgt. Jim Givens said he successfully lobbied for the creation of a unit in the Arizona city more than a decade ago. The four-investigator team was set up in 1993, Givens said. It solved a handful of high-profile murder cases, including two from the early '70s, said Givens, a 21-year veteran who supervised the Phoenix unit. "It's not easy to allocate the resources for cold cases," Givens said. "These cases are cold because they are hard to solve. These cases take time and resources. I've sent detectives from coast to coast working cold cases." Givens said the TV show has prompted three law enforcement agencies to contact him, seeking advice on launching cold case units.**
**New investigative advances such as fingerprint databases and DNA can be instrumental in solving old homicides, Givens said. "Also, the passage of time helps," Givens said. "Relationships change over time. Sometimes, people who wouldn't talk before are more willing to talk."**
The rest of the article deals with local cold cases, but I thought the snipets from above were interesting. It looks like CC is pretty accurate. I know I've seen critics blast it in the past saying that it makes police departments look inept, and there wouldn't be so many cold cases. But in this article, it mentions one smaller community's police department, and they have 80 unsolved murders since 1960. So, it doesn't seem improbable to me that Philly would have a lot seeing that it's a large city.
**Some in the Gwinnett Police Department dream of creating a cold case squad, a group of detectives that would focus only on unsolved homicides. The concept has become more in vogue this year with the premiere of the CBS cop drama, "Cold Case," featuring a male and female detective team who solve ancient whodunits. Occasionally, Jean Wallace watches the hit series at her Pensacola home and dreams that television detective Lily Rush will arrest the man who killed her daughter, Lisa Geise.**
**Cold case units are becoming more common across the nation. Retired Phoenix police Sgt. Jim Givens said he successfully lobbied for the creation of a unit in the Arizona city more than a decade ago. The four-investigator team was set up in 1993, Givens said. It solved a handful of high-profile murder cases, including two from the early '70s, said Givens, a 21-year veteran who supervised the Phoenix unit. "It's not easy to allocate the resources for cold cases," Givens said. "These cases are cold because they are hard to solve. These cases take time and resources. I've sent detectives from coast to coast working cold cases." Givens said the TV show has prompted three law enforcement agencies to contact him, seeking advice on launching cold case units.**
**New investigative advances such as fingerprint databases and DNA can be instrumental in solving old homicides, Givens said. "Also, the passage of time helps," Givens said. "Relationships change over time. Sometimes, people who wouldn't talk before are more willing to talk."**
The rest of the article deals with local cold cases, but I thought the snipets from above were interesting. It looks like CC is pretty accurate. I know I've seen critics blast it in the past saying that it makes police departments look inept, and there wouldn't be so many cold cases. But in this article, it mentions one smaller community's police department, and they have 80 unsolved murders since 1960. So, it doesn't seem improbable to me that Philly would have a lot seeing that it's a large city.
