roamingirl
Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2017
- Messages
- 45
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Dear Mr. Hargrove,
I am one of the many who found (and joined) this site after learning about it while watching The Killing Season. (As an aside, which REALLY shouldn't be relegated to an aside, what Tricia has done here is AMAZING!!! ULTIMATE KUDOS!!!)
I saw what you had done with the Murder Accountability Project, and I think it's an amazing tool. As an attorney (now "retired" due to disability) with a background in criminal psychology and childhood development, I think what you are doing here is wonderful. Especially since the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit is now stretched thin (and taken away from these kind of cases), it gives those of us who don't normally have access to this informationbut have the ability to digest, interpret, process, and hopefully come up with helpful conclusions/solutionsaccess to it.
That said, two things you said really stuck with me (I haven't watched the final two episodesI'm saving them for a bit of "binge watching"but you said this on an earlier episode): this is (1) entirely voluntary for law enforcement participation, and (2) often law enforcement is understaffed/overbudget and doesn't have the time to enter old cases into the database. So, my big question for you...
Do you think there is a way for us to form community volunteer groups where we could go in and do data entry for local law enforcement on old cold cases? I know that those participating would need to be properly vetted before LE might be willing to open up their files, which might be a time/financial burden and therefore be a non-starter. However, I can't help but think there has to be a way that some of us who are interested, willing, and very upstanding citizens, working as volunteers, could help to get a lot of old files entered across the country if we can get LE on board. I'm an attorney by trade, but not in criminal law. But given my specialty area, one subset would lead me to believe there has to be a way to get grants or other funding to do the background checks necessary to allow willing volunteers vetted to the satisfaction of local LE and get some of these old cases entered into the database.
As you said (and I'm paraphrasing here): the lack of data is holding things back, as well as the lack of entering cold cases. (Yes, I took great liberties in my paraphrasing! My sincerest apologies!!!)
I'm just thinking that if we can get over the hurdle of data entry by using properly vetted volunteers, I would think that it would significantly help the database at a minimum, and perhaps help solve some of these cases at the best.
Anyway, thanks for reading this and "hearing" me out. And thank you for what you've done in building this databasebeing a math/Excel/database "nerd", I can't thank you enough! (If you ever need any help, feel free to contact me!)
And Trish, you are AMAZING!!! Keep up the wonderful work you do every day, just by keeping this site up! You do so much good in this world, just by being you with the mission you have found for yourself in life!!!!
Thanks to all!!!
Also a data nerd here! Upload, download, excel, etc. [emoji851] gather, then organize, synthesize, analyze... love it!
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