PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Police Department is reforming its cold case investigation branch that was forced into dormancy as homicides surged across the city and stretched resources thin. "It was very unfortunate, but the cold cases ended up going by the wayside," Captain Jason Smith from the department's homicide unit told FOX 29's Kelly Rule.
There are currently more than 4,000 unsolved murders in Philadelphia dating back to 1990, and just last year the city set a historically bloody benchmark of 562 killings.
Smith said as homicides continued to pour in, he was forced to begin assigning investigators from the Cold Case Unit to probe active homicides. MORE LOCAL HEADLINES"We will continue to work those investigations, but in order to do that effectively I need a team of investigators dedicated to that purpose; to work on cold case investigations," Smith said.
The department's revamped Cold Case Unit currently consists of two teams and four investigators, but Smith expects to double the unit's manpower by mid-September.