Portland's streets might just get a bit safer as the city's Police Bureau brings back a crew of detective's to crack open the books on old murders and violent crimes. After a brief hiatus in 2022, the Portland Police Bureau announced the return of the Cold Case Unit, a team originally assembled in 2004 to investigate unsolved homicides using the latest technological advances.
The Cold Case Unit was disbanded during the tumultuous year due to a shifting of police resources, rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, and a wave of retirements and resignations. The city also saw a sharp uptick in homicides and gun-related crimes, according to a statement from the Portland Police Bureau.
Thanks to a $2.5 million boost from the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, this resurrection of the detective squad isn't just for show. The cash infusion will finance a quartet of sleuths and pony up $300,000 for cutting-edge testing methods like Forensic Genetic Genealogy. Chief Bob Day sounded optimistic about the unit's potential to deliver justice, saying, "Clearing unsolved cases will hopefully provide some amount of closure for victims' families. Work in this space can also reduce crime through the apprehension of prolific violent offenders." The program's reach will not be limited to homicides but will expand to include unresolved missing persons cases and unsolved violent acts such as robberies, and assaults.
The reintroduction of the Cold Case Unit has the potential to make significant dents in Portland's backlog of more than 270 cold cases. These seasoned detectives managed to clear upwards of 50 cases from their pile in the past, leading to over 30 homicide-related charges. The bureau has outlined that the cold case pecking order will take the severity and statute of limitations into consideration in their fight to close as many cases as possible.
