Now that the media and the public travel everywhere with cameras, it may be time for law enforcement officers and other first responders to have that same capability. Video from cruiser cameras has been used as evidence in traffic court cases and in use of force incidents. However, dash cams can only capture whatever happens in front of the vehicle. In contrast, body cameras go everywhere an officer goes.

They are "designed to be the eyes and ears during police encounters," www.CBSNews.com. Deputies in Orange County California will run a trial with a few body cameras provided free by the manufacturer. "Unlike a dash camera, the body cameras will capture everything that happens once a deputy gets out of his or her vehicle and approaches a suspect or victim with full video and sound," www.WFTV.com

TYPES OF BODY CAMS

• Shirts or lapels
• Eyeglasses
• Helmets

Sometimes called Point-of-View cameras, these high tech devices give the officer's perspective during use of force incidents and record statements made during drug, DUI, or domestic violence cases. Both advantages and concerns have been expressed over the use of body cams in law enforcement.

CONCERNS/WATCHING THE COPS

"A federal judge ordered New York city's police department to begin testing the devices after ruling that its stop, question, and frisk policy was unconstitutional," www.PoliceOne.com. Mayor Bloomberg argued that the body cams are not the answer. He asserted that it would provide fodder to further question police actions and motives. He thought that an officer who failed to record something might be accused of intentionally looking a different direction to avoid proof of the incident.

A helmet camera recorded the response to a plane crash in which a fire rig ran over a survivor at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, 2013, www.SFGate.com. Afterwards, the San Francisco fire chief banned firefighters from using personal cameras until a policy on their use is resolved. Chief Joanne Hayes-White stated that a concern for the privacy rights of firefighters and victims drove the decision. Cameras have also been banned in Houston and Baltimore, www.SFGate.com.


SUPPORT/DOCUMENTING THE INCIDENT

While some departments have concerns about officers being forced to wear body cams, others see it as a way to verify the claims of good officers doing good work. Chief James Brooks of the Laurel, Maryland, Police Department had a video of a traffic stop at his department go viral. Brooks said, "It shows that these guys were actually doing exactly what they were trained and how they were trained to do it...It was flawless," CNN.com.

Some cameras have a feature in which they capture 10 to 30 seconds of video that took place prior to an officer hitting record. This helps to document the unexpected. Officers can play the video when writing reports to accurately log statements and actions. "I think the biggest benefit is to be able to record a crime scene and the people and exactly how they're telling you the information," said Lt. Bob Wood of the Bellevue, Nebraska, Police Department, www.KETV.com.

Departments can also use videotaped incidents for training. Some of what is preserved will not be flattering. "The camera doesn't lie - it just shows what happened," said Arin Pace, a lieutenant with the Jacksonville, Florida, Fire Department, www.SFGate.com.

MOTORCYCLE OFFICERS

In Salt Lake City, Police Chief Chris Burbank praises the evidentiary value of helmet-mounted cameras for his motorcycle officers. A speeder may claim that obstructions affected the radar or that the officer was threatening until a video of the violation and interaction is shown in court. "Well, you see very clearly that that car is the only vehicle on the overpass. You now have the radar gun and the digital readout on the radar gun visible in the camera, the car in the background, and you've got a pretty good accounting of what that officer did," www.DeseretNews.com.

Chief Jack Baldwin of the Pigeon Forge Police Department in Tennessee also wants personal cameras for his motorcycle officers. "If you're wearing the camera, you've got your audio and video no matter where you are," www.TheMountainPress.com.

DRUG RAIDS

After a series of questionable drug raids, the San Francisco Police Department began equipping plain clothes supervisors with $1,000 chest cams. The allegations of officer misconduct stemmed from security video footage. "We can have a recording of the conversation at the door with regard to consent on consensual entries or the announcement on search warrant entries," Police Chief Greg Suhr said. "The main goal is to capture for purpose of evidence preservation the conversation at the threshold," www.PoliceOne.com.

USE OF FORCE

Chief Burbank of Salt Lake City also argues that video can be crucial in use of force cases. "You see the proximity of what's going on. You see the interplay that takes place and really what the officer's processing," www.DeseretNews.com. It can also be useful in domestic violence cases. The cameras can capture statements and allow officers to accurately transcribe them into reports.

It may be that officers conscious of wearing a camera are more disciplined in their use of language and use of force. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that when police wore personal video cameras in Rialto, California, it "led to an 88 percent drop in complaints against officers and a 60 percent drop in the use of force in a one-year period," www.DeseretNews.com.

CONCLUSION

More than 400 police departments across the U.S. use high tech body cams. Whether worn on a lapel, eyeglasses, or a helmet, body cameras go wherever law enforcement officers go. Those in favor of body cams claim they will protect citizens and law enforcement officers. Others fear they are another means of monitoring officers and raising liability concerns for agencies.

"I think you are going to find out that once this equipment is out there that our officers are performing in a professional manner and have been all along," said Martin Halloran, President of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, www.DeseretNews.com. Like their predecessors, the dash cams, body cams are likely to grow in popularity across the country.


RESOURCES:

• Burns, Kenneth, "Pigeon forge police getting new body cameras to wear on shirts/lapels," www.TheMountainPress.com, Feb. 18, 2013.
• CNN video, "Cops Use Eye Cams to Capture Crime," www.CNN.com, August 22,2013.
• Eversley, Melanie and John Bacon, "Judge Rips NYPD Stop-Frisk Policy; City Will Appeal," www.USAToday.com, Aug 12, 2013.
• KETV article, "Bellevue Police Get Another Set of Eyes," www.KETV.com, August 2, 2013.
  
• Miller, John, "Cop Cams: 400 Police Depts. Use Tiny Devices," www.CBSNews.com, Aug 30, 2013
• Reavy, Pat, "Eye on crime: Police Chief Pushes for Body Cams on Officers," www.DeseretNews.com, Deseret News, Nov. 14, 2012.
• Van Derbeken, Jaxon, "Plainclothes SF Cops Fight Misconduct Allegations with Body Cameras," www.Policeone.com, August 28, 2013.
• Van Derbeken, Jaxon, "SF Fire Chief Bans Helmet Cameras in Wake of Crash," www.SFGate.com, August 19, 2013.
  
• WFTV, "Orange County Deputies Test Out Body Cameras," www.WFTV.com, Sept. 2, 2013.

Capital punishment has been a fiercely debated issue in Nebraska since the drafting of the state's constitution. If you are interested in the history of Nebraska or criminal justice, I encourage you to watch the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications show ...Until He is Dead online. It includes an interview with descendants of the one man killed by the state of Nebraska who was later exonerated.

A total of 37 men have been executed by the state of Nebraska. Fifteen years after statehood, Nebraska conducted its first state execution by hanging, NETNebraska.org. Hanging continued to be the method of execution until 1913 when the state legislature took up the debate. They considered eliminating the death penalty. Instead, they kept it and changed the method to electrocution.

After using the electric chair 15 times, Nebraska ended up being the last state in the union with electrocution as its sole method for capital punishment. When stopping that practice in 2008, the seven-justice majority of the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on the evidence of pain during electrocutions. "It is the hallmark of a civilized society that we punish cruelty without practicing it," CNN.com. Although never used, lethal injection has been the only option for capital punishment in Nebraska since 2009.

                                           Time Line of Capital Punishment in Nebraska

• First execution by Nebraska territorial court, Cyrus Tator, August 28, 1863.
• Nebraska became a state, March 1, 1867.
  
• First legal execution in Nebraska, Samuel D. Richards, April 26, 1879.
• Death of the only executed prisoner in Nebraska later exonerated, Jackson Marion, March 25, 1887.
• A man was hanged twice after the rope broke on the first attempt, Albert Haunstine, May 20, 1891.
  
• Last legal public hanging, George Morgan, October 8, 1897
• Method of capital punishment changed from hanging to the electric chair, March, 1913.
• First execution by electrocution (two men in one day), December 20, 1920
• Most notorious criminal executed in Nebraska, Charles Starkweather, June 25, 1959.
• U.S. Supreme Court blocked capital punishment, June 29, 1972.
• Nebraska Supreme Court issued rulings on four death penalty cases in one day to clarify the use of capital punishment, February 2, 1977.
• The last state execution to date, Robert Williams, December 2, 1997.
• Nebraska Supreme Court ruled electric chair violates ban on "cruel and unusual punishment," February 8, 2008.
• Lethal injection replaced electric chair as means of state execution, September 1, 2009.

 
         "There is a real easy way to avoid ever getting the death penalty. Don't kill anyone else."
                                                                                   --Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning

Early death sentences were carried out by the counties. Since 1903, death sentences have been carried out at the state penitentiary. Of the 70 inmates who have sat on Death Row in Nebraska, 23 have been put to death. One, Charles Starkweather, murdered 10 people on a killing spree in 1958. It was the kind of case in which it is easy for proponents to argue the merits of capital punishment.

                                                              "The state should not kill."
                                                                                   --Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers

In one case, this state took an innocent man's life. William Jackson "Jack" Marion was convicted of shooting to death a friend named John Cameron in 1887. The dead body was paraded into the court. The conviction came after three trials and little evidence. The Clerk of the Gage County Court recorded his sentence: "He shall be taken by the sheriff to the place of execution and be hanged by the neck until dead, dead, dead" NETNebraska.org. 

The Omaha Bee recorded Marion's final words on the gallows, "I have made no confession and have none to make. God help everybody. That is all I have to say" NETNebraska.org.  About four years later, someone who did not believe John Cameron was the dead man found him in Kansas and brought him back to Nebraska. It was a century later, in 1987, that Governor Bob Kerry signed a pardon for Jack Marion.

The history of the death penalty in Nebraska presents extreme examples of a state struggling to create a system of justice. How does it sit with your views on crime and punishment?


Resources:

Kelly, Bill, "Until He is Dead: A History of Nebraska's Death Penalty," NETNebraska.org, premiered 2-8-2013.
Kelly Omaha, "History of the Death Penalty in Nebraska," Dipity.com, 1-20-2013.
Mears, Bill, "Nebraska court bans the electric chair," Cnn.com, 2-8-2008.
Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, "Capital Punishment: Rules & Regulations," Corrections.state.ne.us, (accessed 2-20-2013).
Young, JoAnne, "Nebraska Electric chair becoming historical artifact," Journalstar.com, 6-26-2008.

In 1984, Jennifer Thompson was raped at knife point. Her description of the attacker was used to develop a composite. Police received a tip that Ronald Cotton, Jr. was the man in the drawing. Two days after the attack, Thompson viewed a photo lineup of six men.

She wanted to be positive. Although she quickly eliminated four of the men, she took 4 to 5 minutes trying to decide between two others. Then she picked up Cotton's photo.

THOMPSON: This is the man who did this.
POLICE: Are you sure?
THOMPSON: I'm positive.
POLICE: We thought that was the guy.

Later, after a live lineup in which Thompson chose Cotton again, she asked if she did okay. An officer said, "You did great, that was the guy you picked out in the photo lineup."

With this positive feedback, Thompson felt 100% positive of her identification by the time the case went to trial. Her strong, believable ID is what sent Cotton to prison for rape. It took 11 years before DNA exonerated him and led law enforcement to Bobby Poole, the actual rapist.

Since then, Thompson and Cotton have co-authored a book, PICKING COTTON. You can view the video Getting it Right: Eyewitness ID with both of them and the police chief who worked the case at the Innocence Project website.

Although Thompson had been told that her attacker might not be among the photographs, she felt compelled to do her part to take a rapist off the streets. She couldn't do it quickly despite research findings that the strongest memories are the easiest/quickest to retrieve (Economist.com). Thompson, a Caucasian, struggled to identify her Black attacker. Studies have shown that people have more difficulty distinguishing faces of people of other races (Salon.com). She studied two of the photos until she chose one as her attacker.

No one asked Thompson how certain she was of that first ID before proceeding. Instead, she was relieved to be told that she'd picked the "right" man. Police officers, family members, and even other witnesses can unconsciously shape a witness's memory and influence his/her level of certainty (Salon.com).

Research suggests that lineups should be double-blind and administered sequentially (See blog: Your Lying Eyes: How to Improve Police Lineups), neither of which were done in this case. Let's look into the roll that positive affirmations play on eyewitness testimony.

A study reported in Psychological Science, found that confirming feedback led witnesses to not only feel better about their identification/misidentification (the murderer's photo was not in the lineup), but it also distorted their memory of how confident they had been initially and how good of a look at the perpetrator they believed they'd gotten.

Of "the eyewitnesses given positive feedback - 50% rated their confidence at either a 6 or 7 on a 7-point scale." In addition 47% of those getting positive feedback thought the grainy security camera footage was clear (6 or 7 on the 7-point scale). In contrast, of those who got negative feedback, only 15% rated their confidence high, and none of them thought the poor footage was clear (PSYBLOG).

Witnesses should make a statement about their level of confidence in their own words. "The legal system should...collect the primary dependent measures (confidence information and other statements) from the eyewitnesses prior to debriefing them regarding the status of the identified person" (Psychology.iastate.edu).

Itiel Dror, cognitive neuroscientist with the University College of London, stated that psychological research has shown "time and time again no correlation between confidence and accuracy" (Salon.com) Yet, confidence sells an identification to juries.

Changes to police procedures have been slow in the US and in the UK (PSYBLOG). Law enforcement agencies are getting more pressure to adopt policies on eyewitness identifications which are supported by research (Officer.com). The following procedures, excerpted from Wisconsin's Model Policy and Procedure for Eyewitness Identification, were developed in an attempt to minimize eyewitness errors and secure court-admissible identifications.

1. Utilize non-suspect fillers chosen to minimize any suggestiveness that might point toward the suspect;
2. Utilize a 'double blind' procedure, in which the administrator is not in a position to unintentionally influence the witness's selection;
3. Give eyewitnesses an instruction that the real perpetrator may or may not be present and that the administrator does not know which person is the suspect;
4. Present the suspect and the fillers sequentially (one at a time) rather than simultaneioulsy (all at once). This discourages relative judgment and encourages absolute judgments of each person presented, because eyewitnesses are unable to see the subjects all at once and are unable to know when they have seen the last subject;
5. Assess eyewitness confidence immediately after identification;
6. Avoid multiple identification procedures in which the same witness views the same suspect more than once.

In addition to those practices, the Innocence Project also recommends that lineup procedures be videotaped. This protects innocent suspects and also documents legitimate police procedures. "Officers should also be prepared to articulate in court how the procedures they used ensure the greatest reliability of the eyewitness evidence gathered" (Officer.com).In the future, most lineups may be conducted on computers to further remove human influence.

Our judicial system may place too much weight on eyewitness testimony...especially when it runs counter to more tangible evidence. Even an honest eyewitness ID, like that of Jennifer Thompson, can be completely wrong. We must eliminate practices that we know can lead to miscarriages of justice.

Other Links:

• Dean, Jeremy, "Wrongful Conviction: 50% of Mistaken Eyewitnesses Certain after Positive Feedback," PSYBLOG, February 6, 2008.
• Economist, "Unusual Suspects: How to Make Witnesses More Reliable," The Economist, March 3, 2012.
• Russell, Sue, "Why Police Lineups Can't be Trusted," Salon.com, September 29, 2012.
• Van Brocklin, Val, "Defending Your Lineup in Court," Officer.com, July 18, 2011.
• Wells, Gary L, and Amy L. Bradfield, "Distortions in Eyewitnesses' Recollections: Can the Post-identification Feedback Effect be Moderated?" Psychological Science, 1999.

"He did it," the witness proclaims from the stand. Eyewitness testimony sways juries...but what if there is no other evidence against the accused? Should it hold enough weight to convict?

You have seen countless police lineups on TV shows and movies. The practice of bringing in one suspect along with four or five "fillers" and lining them up along a wall marked with heights is being questioned by research findings and defence lawyers. Everything about which persons/images are chosen for a lineup and how they are presented affects the likelihood of witnesses selecting the real culprit rather than identifying an innocent person.

In practice, police rarely bring in live people for a lineup. It is much more common for a photo lineup to be used. I remember pulling together 6-packs for some of my cases years ago. This was a term used to describe a single page showing the photos of six possible suspects at one time. Research now suggests that there are two big problems with the procedure I used: the method and the administrator.

Whether using live people or photographic images, there are two primary methods of presenting a group of possible suspects to a witness. They are simultaneous and sequential. The simultaneous method, as pictured in the silly photo above, shows all of the five or six possible suspects to the witness at one time. The problem: people tend to compare the faces to each other. Even if the perpetrator is not in the lineup, the witness is inclined to choose the closest match.

"While we like to think that our eyes won't mislead us, mistaken eyewitness identification accounts for more than 70% of wrongful convictions that are ultimately overturned by...more objective DNA evidence" (Time.com). 

The sequential lineup method, shows each suspect individually. The witness is forced to compare the person  to his/her memory, rather than to people next to them. According to David Harris of the University of Pittsburgh Law School, "Agencies should bring in suspects one at a time" (Minnesota.publicradio.org). However, he is not suggesting that the suspect should be the only person presented to the witness.

Maurice Caldwell spent 20 years in prison for murder based on eyewitness testimony. Of four witnesses, only one identified him, but that one identification persuaded the jury despite a lack of physical or forensic evidence. Caldwell was seen in the area after the crime was reported. Police brought him to the witness and they asked her if he was the man she had seen. The process confirmed in her mind that he was involved in the crime (CBSlocal.com).

According to a CBS affiliate in San Francisco, "Even without realizing it, an investigator can send nonverbal cues to the eyewitness." It may be a deep breath, the way they lean, or a facial expression. The one way to completely guard against this influence is to have an uninvolved officer administer a sequential lineup.

A police officer who does not know which image is the actual suspect cannot manipulate the witness's response. This is called a double-blind lineup. Dallas police have taken this to the extreme. They have a special unit that does only lineups. They are not involved in investigations and therefore will not influence the witnesses. They have specialized training and follow written procedures for each lineup that include showing photos sequentially (NYTimes.com).

It is imperative that a move toward double-blind, sequential lineups be made standard practice. For more details, you can watch a segment of Rock Center called "Photo ID: Are Police Lineups Reliable?" at this link.

When Caldwell's case was reopened, another man came forward and confessed to the murder. Caldwell is now arguing that his civil rights were violated in a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco. It is unconscionable that a murder case had even gone to trial with so little evidence.

Next week: More of the latest research findings on eyewitness identifications.


Sources:

• CBS 5, "Man Wrongly Convicted In SF Murder Questions Police Lineups," Sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com, 5-7-2012.
• Goode, Erica and John Schwartz, "Police Lineups Start to Face Fact: Eyes Can Lie," NYTimes.com, 8-28-2011.
• Guy, Shoshana, "Police Photo Lineups Challenged after Series of Wrongful Convictions," Rock Center, 4-4-2012.
• Szalavitz, Maria, "How to Improve Police Lineups and ID the Right Culprit," Time.com, 9-4-2012.
• Weber, Tom, "Do We Do Police Lineups Correctly?" Minnesota.publicradio.org, 11-8-2012.

Heartfelt thoughts go to those directly affected by Superstorm Sandy. May you find courage and hope!

I want to discuss something most of us would have once considered to be as unlikely as the confluence of weather systems that caused this tragic storm...a latent fingerprint matched to two different men.

On March 11, 2004, a series of 10 bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, resulting in nearly 200 deaths. A fingerprint found on a bag of bomb-making equipment in a vehicle became a crucial piece of evidence.

The FBI entered the print into its database and 20 possible matches were generated. Each shared a minimum of seven unique traits with the print in evidence. To make a "positive ID," there would have to be 12 matching traits. One set of fingerprints on file for a lawyer in Portland, Oregon, shared 15 traits with the print in evidence. He must be the bomber, right?

At the time, a U.S. counter-terrorism official told Newsweek it was an "absolute incontrovertible match."

Later, Spanish authorities found the prints of a second man, a known terrorist, that also "matched" the sample in evidence. Parts of those fingerprints were so similar that both men were POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED as the bomb maker. It turns out that processing and interpreting fingerprint evidence is not an exact science, yet. It is valuable, but it is not absolute.
   
The National Academy of Sciences studied the discipline. In July 2009, they found there is inadequate "scientific rigor" in the methods and procedures.

This case and others are highlighted in the NOVA program "Forensics on Trial" which aired this month. (It can be viewed online here). It points out human errors in this case. It also introduces CTF impressions, a new technology that replicates the topographic features of fingerprints without altering them. Its possible field use is under review.

More sophisticated methods would be welcome, but we must deal with examiner bias and set reasonable standards to further improve our justice system.

See these sources for more details:

NOVA: Forensics on Trial, Aired on PBS, October 17, 2012
FBI is Cleared of Misconduct in Jailing of Oregon Man, NY Times, January 6, 2006
U.S. Settles Suit Filed by Ore. Lawyer, Washington Post, November 30, 2006
Badly Fragmented Forensic Science System Needs Overhaul, National Academy of Sciences, 2009

The Westminster, Colorado, community can begin to breathe a sigh of relief with the news of an arrest in the Jessica Ridgeway case.

Austin Reed Sigg, a local 17-year-old, was arrested for the October 5, 2012, abduction and subsequent murder of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway. Although innocent until proven guilty, an AP report says that the young man's mother made the call that led Sigg to turn himself over to police. She had no other comment.

In a news conference today, police announced that Sigg would be charged in the abduction and murder of Jessica and also in the attempted abduction and attempted murder of a 22-year-old runner on May 28 of this year. His home, in the area of both crimes, is currently being searched for forensic evidence and a vehicle has been removed from the garage. Police are also searching a Dumpster across the street from Sigg's home. Most of the evidence used as a basis for the arrest is sealed by court order.

If after reading details and seeing Sigg's picture you have more information to report, please contact police:

Tip line: 303-658-4336
Email: PDamberalert@cityofwestminster.us

Even though steps are being completed by the criminal justice system, these crimes are not done for these families or for this community. Especially since horrible crimes were committed against a child, adults will need to continue to provide support.

In How to Talk with Children in the Aftermath of Violence, Scott Hirschfeld explains these steps:

1. Validate feelings
2. Listen first
3. Respond honestly
4. Encourage non-violence
5. Avoid violent imagery
6. Limit media consumption
7. Focus on what's important
8. Counter bias and hate
9. Watch for warning signs

Hirschfeld suggests seeking assistance from a doctor or mental health professional if a child exhibits these symptoms: difficulty sleeping, trouble eating, fear of routine activities, refusal to separate from family members, or changed behavior that may be aggressive or withdrawn.

Some questions will be answered by the continuing investigation, some will not. Best wishes to the family, friends and community of Jessica Ridgeway. Let us continue to put our best foot forward in every missing child case. Hopefully few families and neighborhoods will have do deal with such extreme fear and grief.

Related stories:

Westminster Police arrest 17-year-old Austin Sigg in Jessica Ridgeway abduction, murder case, The Denver Channel.com Oct. 24, 2012.

Arrest Made in Ridgeway Case, Westminster Police Department Public Safety News: Oct. 24, 2012.

Purple was 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway's favorite color. Purple balloons and flowers now decorate memorials for the recent murder victim. Although hundreds searched for her, they were unable to rescue her from the hands of a monster. Now all efforts must be directed toward capturing and prosecuting her killer.

Jessica left for school on the morning of October 5, 2012. She never arrived. Hundreds of private citizens in her Westminster, Colorado, community joined authorities to search for her. Sadly, they did not find her alive. This is a time line of some of the steps taken to find Jessica and now to find her killer:

• Jessica left for school in Westminster, CO, 8:30 AM 10-5-2012
• Jessica's mother, who works nights, slept through calls from the school, 10-5-2012
• Jessica's mother reported her daughter missing, 4:30 PM 10-5-2012
• Amber Alert issued, evening 10-5-2012
• Family involvement was ruled out, 10-6-2012
  
• Fliers distributed and 100s of volunteers assisted authorities in search, 10-6-2012
• Dive team went on Ketner Lake, 10-6-2012
• Jessica's backpack found in Superior, CO, 6.4 miles NW of her home, 10-7-2012
• Neighbors held a vigil for missing girl. Family talked to media, 10-9-2012
• An unidentified body was found in Arvada, CO, SW of Jessica's home, 10-10-2012
• Crisis Center opened in Westminster, CO, 10-11-2012
• Officials verify that the murdered body was Jessica Ridgeway, 10-12-2012
• A celebration of Jessica Ridgeway's life, 2 PM 10-13-2012
• Memorial service held, 10-16-2012
• Autopsy performed, 10-16-2012

Next, society needs to continue to pursue the murderer and bring that person to justice. When Jessica's body was found, police described it as being "not intact." It took two days to positively identify the young girl who had just wanted to go to school. As Westminster Police Chief Lee Birk announced at an October 12 press conference, "Our focus has changed from a search for Jessica to a mission of justice for Jessica." (Denver Post 10-12-2012)

If you traveled through the Denver area, especially along the Denver Boulder Turnpike, between October 5 and October 10, 2012, try to recall anything suspicious and report it to the Westminster Police tip line: 303-658-4336.

What to Do if Your Child is Missing (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)
On the trail of a killer (Denver Post, 10-13-2012)
Jessica Ridgeway killing: Police look for suspect in two near-abductions (ABC News, 10-15-2012)
A girl's neighbors are left to grieve and fear a predator in their midst (New York Times, 10-16-2012)
3,000 embrace memories, smiles of slain 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway (Denver Post, 10-17-2012)

My husband and I have ordered seed from the Stock Seed Farms in Murdock, Nebraska, many times over the years. We even drove there once to pick up seed and admire fields of prairie grasses such as Big Bluestem and Little Bluestem. Like most Nebraskans, we were shocked to hear that owners Wayne and Sharmon Stock had been murdered in their home in 2006.  There were more surprises during the investigation of those murders that shook law enforcement and citizens in Nebraska.

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET) has produced a one-hour documentary on the case investigation and the evidence initially used to hold two innocent men in jail. It shows the involvement of ex-CSI chief David Kofoed, who has since been sentenced to prison. Kofoed maintains his innocence.

I have to agree with Judge Rehmeier's statement in the Lincoln Journal Star: "Nothing should undermine the confidence in the system." The evidence tampering for which Kofoed was found guilty threatened the lives of innocent men and jeopardized the hunt for the real killers. It also made it harder for other law enforcement investigators to prove their credibility.

The good news is that the innocent men are now free, the guilty are in prison, and Kofoed is no longer working CSI. If you are interested in crime, justice, or murder mysteries, watch NET's CSI on Trial online or on your television.

• CSI on Trial (schedule and links), Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, 2012
• Extended video excerpts and documents from the investigation (Available mid-November 2012)
• "Ex-CSI chief Kofoed sentenced to prison," Lincoln Journal Star, June 01, 2010
• "Was Nebrask Couple's Murder Revenge or Random?" ABC 20/20, September 3, 2010