JPD Searching for Ways to Fund Cold Case Unit
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Six months after it was disbanded due to lack of funding, the Jackson Police Department’s Cold Case unit is credited with solving two big cases. As 7 Eyewitness News reported Monday, Walter Stitts pleaded guilty to two previously unsolved murders, the 1998 murder of Cornelius Martinez and the 2008 murder of James Gruggett. Prosecutors said without the work of the unit, made up of four, retired investigators, these cases may have never been solved. That is why now more than ever, the department is looking for either a new grant or new funds to bring them back. “Through one of the federal grants or state pass through grants, those are kind of lean right now,” said Capt. Mike Holt of the Jackson Police Department. “The federal government has cut back a lot of that money and of course beyond that we’re kind of limited, you know. It would be, have to be something that would have to come out of the city’s regular budget.” According to Captain Holt, one of the city’s 309 murders since 1970, 43 of them remain unsolved. He said funding the entire four-man unit, who work part-time, would cost the city the equivalent to a sergeant’s pay and benefits. “I consider this experiment to be a great success, again, it was very cost effective, it was a good expense of the money, and I think we were good stewards with the money that we got from the grant program,” said Holt.
