The second edition of this book brings welcome improvements from the first. The language is tightened up, all resources have been updated, and new legislation has been added to the text.
Set up
The set up of the book is well done. There is a table of contents, references, an index, and in the preface the structure of the book is explained.
The book has a brief summary of what you can find in each chapter. In other words, the set-up is tailored to your needs and progress when reviewing unsolved cases.
More than murder
The author reminds you that there are other kinds of unsolved cases than homicide. There are missing people and sexual assaults that need your attention.
Loss of resources
The book explains crime statistics, why DNA alone cannot solve the case, and the effect of Covid and the pandemic. Like in other sectors, many people retired. That means cases were redistributed and new people are being hired. However, when senior officers leave they take years of experience with them. The verbal skills to question people, the right body language to make people more at ease, the patience to let people talk and finish before you ask your questions, and the insight to search for suspect information in other cases that happened around the same time and/or location.
Chapters
Every chapter has a grey box with key terms and objectives. All the chapters are well proportioned and each chapter has several headings. The author itemizes, explains acronyms, and at the end of the chapter gives internet resources for further reading.
Where to start
This handbook shows you how to set up a Cold Case Squad but moreover, how to tackle a case. You may have the best intentions but do you know where to start? Do you know where all the files are? Is there a chance that the department has a separate storage facility where older files are kept?
A word of caution. Be careful when opening files. Remember the old fax machines that use thermal paper? The paper is fragile but worse, the ink may have disappeared. And if pages were kept in plastic sheet protectors the ink is on the inside of that protector sheet. You will need to ask the department’s experts to help you preserve the old evidence, digitize it, make several copies, etc. The same thing counts for answering machines with tapes and old cameras with film.
The author has a step-by-step approach to how to start a squad and how to review a file. It is very methodical and clearly based on years of experience. The author tells you what works, where he made mistakes, what he learned from older colleagues, and how he wants to help the next generation.
Open mind
In the handbook, the author discusses the photographic walkthrough of the crime scene. Make sure that if you ever do this kind of work you can actually handle seeing these pictures.
He recommends reading police reports about the case last so your mind remains fresh and open to your own interpretations and thoughts. It is easy to take the view of the original detectives on the case but when you review, you should have your own thoughts, worries, and list of questions about the case.
Media
Of course, there is a section about social media, how useful it can be in cold case reviews, canvassing, and last but not least, being mindful of the victim’s family members. There is a whole chapter dedicated to Victim Families Resources and how to request help from the media. The website that supplements the book is here.
Recommended reading for everyone interested in how old unsolved cases are really reviewed (as opposed to what you see on television), for criminology students, crime writers, and many more.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. My other book reviews are here.