Colorado § 24-33.5-425 - Cold case homicide team.

§ 24-33.5-425. Cold case homicide team.

(1) There is hereby created a cold case homicide team in the bureau, referred to in this section as the "team".

(2) (a) The team shall develop a database that shall contain information related to each homicide investigation that is open in a Colorado jurisdiction for more than three years from the date of the commission of the crime and was committed since 1970. The bureau shall adopt rules that specify the information that shall be collected and maintained in the database, including the information required pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section.

(b) Each law enforcement agency in the state shall provide the information required for inclusion in the database for each homicide investigation that is open in a Colorado jurisdiction for more than three years from the date of the commission of the crime and was committed since 1970. The law enforcement agency shall maintain the physical evidence and investigation file for each such case unless otherwise agreed by the law enforcement agency and the bureau.

(3) (a) The team may provide assistance to local law enforcement agencies, upon request and within existing appropriations, on homicide investigations. If the team declines to provide assistance to a local law enforcement agency after a request is made pursuant to this subsection (3), the team shall provide the local law enforcement agency with a written explanation for its decision, which may include but need not be limited to lack of resources and shall include the written explanation in the database created in subsection (2) of this section.

(b) A family member of a homicide victim may request that the local law enforcement agency investigating the homicide ask the team for assistance in investigating the homicide. The local law enforcement agency shall decide whether to ask the team for assistance. Within thirty days after receiving a request from a family member, the local law enforcement agency shall notify the family member whether it will seek the assistance of the team. If the local law enforcement agency decides not to seek the assistance of the team, it shall inform the family member of its reasons for the decision in writing and provide that same information in writing to the bureau for inclusion in the database created in subsection (2) of this section. If the local law enforcement agency decides to seek the assistance of the team, it shall contact the team and request the assistance. Within thirty days after receiving a request from a local law enforcement agency, the team shall notify the local law enforcement agency regarding whether it will offer assistance to the local law enforcement agency. If the team decides not to offer assistance to the local law enforcement agency, it shall inform the local law enforcement agency of the reasons for its decision in writing and include those reasons in the database created in subsection (2) of this section.

Source: L. 2007: Entire section added, p. 1894, § 1, effective June 1.