‘The police aren’t doing anything about’…or are they?

People complain that law enforcement officers are not doing anything about certain issues just because they don’t hear anything about an investigation into the matter.
They were saying the same thing about the murders of four students in Moscow, Idaho. Even family members of the slain students were complaining.
Now that some of the details of the investigation have been released through the “probable cause affidavit,” people are finding out just how false those accusations were.
Those details in the affidavit outline what a meticulous investigation was being carried out behind the scenes. Every piece of information was examined until everything fit together perfectly. Then an arrest was made nearly across the country in Pennsylvania.
It was amazing that so many people and so many agencies were involved in the investigation, yet there were no leaks of any of the information they were gathering. It had to be difficult knowing how much criticism they were getting at the time for moving too slowly.
Even before the crimes were committed, police had made a traffic stop in which the man accused of the murders had given that officer his cell phone number. This turned out to be a key to solving those murders, having that cell phone number and using it to track the suspect before and after the murders.
Police used this cell phone information to track the suspect to a store, where he was caught on video. This information precluded the suspect from claiming someone else was driving the car in question.
Then there was the witness who was in the apartment building at the time of the murders, who overheard someone crying and a man’s voice trying to calm that person down, saying he was going to help.
DNA evidence was collected from a sheath the murder weapon is thought to have been carrying the knife used in the attacks. That DNA evidence was compared to other evidence found at the scene. DNA was also compared to that of the suspect’s father.
Make no mistake about it – the suspect has not yet gone to trial, where he must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by 12 jurors. However, it is clear that police were not just sitting on their hands the six weeks between the time of the murders and the time an arrest was made.
It is easy to complain about the speed with which the police seem to be going when there is a case people care about or have a vested interest. The murder case should show that just because you don’t hear anything about a particular case doesn’t mean there is no progress being made.
There are times officers may wish they could tell relatives of crime victims and others about the latest details of a case, but they know if they do, it could compromise their investigation. For this reason, law enforcement officials usually keep this information close to the vest, which may give people the false impression they are not fully investing the case.
This article is a public service from the Community Policing/Crime Prevention Division of the Lake Township Police Department. Township residents may obtain further information on crime prevention and public safety topics by contacting Ron Craig, crime prevention specialist/community policing officer, at 419-481-6354.