Skip to main content

Coming Soon!

Cold Case Handbook

The Cold Case Handbook

By: Joseph L. Giacalone

Welcome to the home of the Cold Case Handbook and everything cold case related. The Cold Case Handbook was authored by Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD Sergeant SDS and former Commanding Officer of the Bronx Cold Case Squad. 

The Cold Case Handbook is the first book of its kind that not only includes ideas and suggestions for law enforcement personnel, but the victims’ families and the true crime community as well. It also includes the two new federal laws passed in 2022 that are helping to close some of America’s toughest cold cases.

New Federal Laws for Cold Cases

The two new federal laws signed by President Joe Biden in 2023 are: The Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act and the Help Find the Missing Act. Both laws are bound to set cold cases moving forward. There is however, some points that need to be addressed in The Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act. For instance, it is unclear if a federal agency must have jurisdiction or just involvement in the case. 

The Cold Case Trilogy 

This site will follow along with the Cold Case Handbook and will be designed to include information on the Cold Case Trilogy of cases:

  1. Cold Case Homicides
  2. Missing Persons
  3. Cold Case Sexual Assaults

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Freedom of Information Offices by State

Freedom of Information Offices by State By: Joseph Giacalone Freedom of Information Offices can be your greatest teammate in the effort to solve cold cases. If you are, or want to be, a cold case advocate, then you will need this list of the Freedom of Information Offices by state. The National Coalition of Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) has created a page on their website that provides access to each state that has a FOIA Office. Writing Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests will be part of your routine when investigating and helping out victims’ families searching for information on cold cases. It is a vital part of obtaining official documents from a variety of governmental entities. Whether it’s the police department, courts, or the medical examiner / coroner, you will need to understand what is available through a request and what is not. For instance, reports from the medical examiner / coroner are generally not available to the
Post a Comment
Read more

What is a Cold Case?

What is a Cold Case? By: Joseph Giacalone I am often asked for the what is the definition of a cold case? That’s part of the problem. There are too many definitions of what makes something a cold case. There are over 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States and some like to explain it as 18,000 ways of doing things. There are no national standards for just about any policy and procedure - not even issues related to U.S. Supreme Court decisions.  I created this YouTube short to explain the definition of  how cold cases are defined. It depends on your jurisdiction and which law enforcement agency is leading the way. Some locations the job falls on the police, in others, the district attorney. That is part of the journey and the problem of investigating cold cases in the United States.  Suggested Definition of a Cold Case If we want to close more cases, I believe that law enforcement needs to have a common definition of what defines a cold case. I would lean towards the workab
Post a Comment
Read more