Just Improving Fatal And Non-Fatal Shooting Investigations

In episode one of our National Case Closed Project: Supporting Best Practices in Investigation season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Kevin Strom, Director of the Center for Policing Research and Investigative Science at RTI International, and John Skaggs, retired homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, to discuss the goals of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA’s) National Case Closed Project and strategic recommendations for law enforcement agencies to improve their violent crime case outcomes. Nationally, law enforcement agencies clear an average of about half of all gun violence cases, with nonfatal shooting cases cleared at an even lower rate. To help address these low clearance rates, the BJA’s National Case Closed Project conducts assessments of law enforcement agencies across the country, to provide recommendations for improving their approach to fatal and nonfatal shooting investigations. Listen along as Dr. Strom and Retired Detective Skaggs describe the need for a national initiative like the National Case Closed Project, what an agency assessment looks like, and the top recommendations to come out of the project so far. This episode is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (Award No. 15PBJA-21-GK-04008-JAGP).