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CIB to take a fresh look at cold cases
The Criminal Investigation Bureau has reactivated its Special Homicide Activity Resolution Partnership, or SHARP, program to focus on cases that have grown cold over the years.
With funding assistance from the Criminal Justice Planning Agency, SHARP aims to reopen cold cases relating to homicide or missing persons.
According to Public Safety Commissioner Robert Guerrero, the program was reactivated this year because funding was secured.
“Funding was always an issue so we’ve identified funding for that. I think we’ve also identified personnel that we can pull away to work in that particular section. That’s just a section within CIB. It’s not…a completely different section that was created, but it’s been part of CIB that was deactivated because of lack of funding and I think it’s the right time that we activate it. Although we’re still on austerity measure, we’ve identified some federal money to assist in that.”
When asked whether some cases would be prioritized over others, Guerrero said no. “It’s for cold cases in general.” He assured that not one case is prioritized over the other.
According to a DPS statement, the SHARP program originally consisted of five detectives from the CIB division and was active from 2006 to 2010. The program was then extended up until 2014 before it was sidelined because of funding issues.
SHARP, with assistance from the Federal Investigative Bureau and multiple other agencies, was able to solve a homicide case that took place in 2012.
The program is currently looking into cold cases dating back to 1977. Some of the cases include the 1995 homicide case of a female found near the Marpi shoreline, the 1997 robbery homicide of Marsha Kim, the 2016 homicide case of Li Qiang Ding, and the 2014 disappearance of the Yamada sisters.
For those who want to help and report any information or details regarding any cold case, they can reach out to Lt. Simon Manacop at 664-9042. They can also call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 234-7272 to remain anonymous.
