The Role of the Crime Analyst

In 2018, Utah enacted a law mandating that all cold cases be entered into a Law Enforcement Cold Case Database, as outlined in Utah Statute Code Section 53-10-115. When the database was launched, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) created an analyst position to oversee its management. I was hired for this role as the state’s cold case homicide analyst. My primary responsibility was to ensure that all law enforcement agencies entered their cold cases into this database and supplied the necessary information to be entered into a separate website for the victims’ families and the public to access. I also assisted the agencies with their cold cases, helping them to advance their investigations.