Maine Cold Case Accountability Act of 2019

The Maine Cold Case Accountability Act of 2019

is for EVERYONE! It supports law enforcement, victims, and families' rights. It includes victims of unsolved homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons, kidnappings, and other unsolved crimes.

According to Murder Accountability Project, there are more than 254 unsolved murders in the United States. This means there are 254 families without answers and victims without justice. This could also mean there are 254 or more violent offenders still free, walking our streets, and living in our communities.

By signing the petition, you can make a statement to law makers that you care about law enforcement's fiscal and human resources, your community, you care about people who have been affected by and lost loved ones to violent crime, and that the Maine Criminal Justice Committee must respond.

Currently, law enforcement fiscal resources are not enough to solve the Maine Cold Cases, 76 reported missing person cases by NamUs, 18 unknown deaths and the unknown number of unsolved cases removed by the State of Maine over the years. The current number of detectives can't handle the problem let alone to handle the incoming pending cases our men and women in blue are bombarded with daily. This misalignment of fiscal resources leaves law enforcement officers overworked, under paid, and unable to handle all the cases that need their attention, cold case victims without justice, families without answers, and violent offenders in society with the opportunity to reoffend.

It is most likely that there is not a detective in Maine that wouldn't do everything he or she could if funding was in place to solve Maine Cold Cases. It is a fact that Maine's local and state law enforcement is underfunded and undermanned. Crime lab scientists are limited by financial thresholds that keep them to testing only a handful of items per case. Families beg for help and get nowhere. Some law enforcement agencies fiercely fight for their cold case families while others won't even give a family an update. Some families have not heard anything about their loved one's unsolved case in years...there are so many reasons for this. Some families have waited decades for "someone to do something."

Becoming a Lifetime Member of the club "Families of Unsolved Homicide Victims" and cold cases is unfathomable to all except those who have been inducted. Will you join the club? Can you say with certainty that your family would never be personally affected by homicide, missing person, kidnapping, sexual assault and that you would not need to fellow citizens to rise and fight with you? No. None of us know that. Any of our lives can be changed forever in an instant by a violent offender who takes action. Any of us can become a family member of a murdered loved one or seriously affected by violent crime...it doesn't just happen to "other people."

Law enforcement needs money, education, and training, more officers, and families of cold case victims needs laws giving them rights to do more. The proposed Maine Cold Case Accountability Act of 2019 aims to support law enforcement so they have the fiscal and human resources to address the Maine Cold Cases, missing, victims, and families to include law, such as but not limited to due annually by December 31st: 

    Accountability Reports: For every cold case jurisdictional agencies will submit a Standardized Cold Case Evidence Accountability, Update, Status, & Investigatory Plan Report

    Family Updates: For every cold case jurisdictional agencies will update the family in writing and in person the non-confidential results of the Standardized Cold Case Evidence Accountability, Update, Status, & Investigatory Plan Report

Every missing person, unsolved homicide, suspicious death, unknown death or unclaimed body should be listed on the State of Maine website in one location with location, jurisdiction, status and date listed on site.

And after 24-months the above, plus:

    Accountability Reports: For every cold case jurisdictional agencies will submit a Standardized Cold Case Evidence Accountability, Update, Status, & Investigatory Plan Report

    Family Updates: For every cold case jurisdictional agencies will update the family in writing and in person the non-confidential results of the Standardized Cold Case Evidence Accountability, Update, Status, & Investigatory Plan Report

    Outside Agency Case Review: Case Review by an approved law enforcement agency

    (Optional) Private Sector Experts: At the Family's expense, Private Sector Experts can consult with jurisdictional agency

And after 36 months, if all leads have been exhausted, there is no where else to go with the case, the family has right to, all of the above, and:

    Accountability Reports: For every cold case jurisdictional agencies will submit a Standardized Cold Case Evidence Accountability, Update, Status, & Investigatory Plan Report

    Family Updates: For every cold case jurisdictional agencies will update the family in writing and in person the non-confidential results of the Standardized Cold Case Evidence Accountability, Update, Status, & Investigatory Plan Report

    Second Outside Agency Case Review: Second Case Review by an approved law enforcement agency

    (Optional) Private Sector Experts: At the Family's expense, with access to the entire case file, Private Sector Experts can conduct a private independent death investigation

    (Optional) Private Sector Evidence Testing: At the Family's expense, physical evidence using advanced technology and/or retesting at a Certified Private Laboratory

(Optional) Families be allowed to ask national Networks using experts in cold case investigations to help investigate, test and be allowed to do an independent death investigation.

While it could be true that errors are to blame in cases across Maine and it is true that many families blame law enforcement for alleged shortcomings, corruption, coverups, etc. The truth is Maine law enforcement is underfunded, which mean there is no money for training that could help them avoid mistakes. And the truth is out of the 2,569 law enforcement officers across Maine, the majority are outstanding individuals who do their jobs above board: one bad doesn't mean all bad. Fiscal resources must be reallocated in the Maine Legislature and the State departments towards public safety to add 8 new cold case detectives to the Unsolved Homicide Unit. The unit detectives, crime lab tech and advocate should not be removed from the unit to work other cases within the State at any time.  

The Cold Case Accountability Act aims to address the Maine Cold Case failures with achievable, creative solutions that will realign critical objectives pointing the future trajectory squarely towards justice, increased public safety, federal legislation, access to advanced technology, enhanced investigative education, support for victims' families, and heightened public awareness.

Thank you for your time and thank you for considering signing this petition towards Justice for All.

We implore you to share and reshare frequently towards capturing as many signatures as possible.

For more information visit www.mainecoldcases.org