There’s a new show on BBC America about the early New York police department in the years just following the end of the Civil War. It’s called Copper. I was afraid they were going to white-wash the story a bit, but they haven’t. So if you are interested in law enforcement history, while this is a fictionalized account, they are getting some things right.

And, as long as I’m on the subject, a book called Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, by Richard Zacks, chronicles Roosevelt’s attempts to clean up the mess depicted in Copper. From the Amazon review, where it was listed among the Best Books of March 2012:

“Those living in New York City today may be surprised (or not!) to read about the state of their city in the 1890’s; overrun with prostitution, gambling, boot liquor and Tammany Hall, NYC was known as the “Island of Vice.” Enter the ever-ambitious Theodore Roosevelt, years before he became president, who stepped-in as the NYC Police Commissioner and made it his mission to clean up the city. Richard Zacks’ enthusiastic account of this period is a fun read—an adjective rarely used to describe history books. It would be difficult to invent a cast of characters as exuberant and flawed as those involved here, and Zacks brings them all to life with ease. He clearly enjoys the subject, elevating this well-researched book into something memorable.”

A detail from a photograph in Jacob A. Riis book, How the Other Half Lives. The caption for this photograph reads: Police station lodgers waiting to be let out.

I posted this on my personal blog and I realized I should also put it here. When I was researching my book about the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad, one of the things I did was go down to the Municipal Archives and copy sections from the NYPD’s Annual Reports, going back to 1860.

I wanted to learn everything I could about murder in NYC over the years. This was from a section in the 1887 annual report called “Miscellaneous Statistics.” It’s one of many sad lists I came across.

The conference will take place from Aug. 13-17 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The very impressive list of instructors and presenters listed in the email announcement:
 
• Detective Sgt. Pat Postiglione, Metropolitan Davidson County (Nashville) Police Department’s Cold Case Unit
 
• Dr. Lee Meadows Jantz and Dr. Joanne Bennett Devlin of the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Forensic Anthropology Department (The Body Farm)
 
• Jerry Findley, renowned veteran criminologist
 
• Special Supervisory Agent  Lydia Pozzato of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit
 
• Dr. J. Randall Pearce, forensic odontologist with the National Forensics Academy
 
• Nick Beres, Emmy Award-winning TV journalist and veteran Murfreesboro Police Department spokesman Kyle Evans
 
• William C. Whitesell, Tennessee’s 16th Judicial District Attorney General, and ADA J. Paul Newman
 
• Lt. Bill Sharp and Sgt. Dan Goodwin, RCSO Cold Case Unit
 
• Cold case murder victims’ surviving loved ones
 
Also from the email:

Attendees are being asked to bring at least one open-unsolved murder case to present to the entire class and instructors. A group discussion of investigative strategies will follow.
 
Tuition is $450, but agencies sending three investigators can add a fourth or more for half-price. DoubleTree is offering a conference rate on rooms of $77 per night for a king-room and $97 per night for a double-room.

The 2012 Conference curriculum and agenda has been certified by Tennessee’s Police Officer’s Standards and Training Commission. Bethel University in Jackson, Tenn., will confer one (1) semester hour of undergraduate credits to each attendee.
 
The 80 officers from 60 agencies across the USA and Canada who attended our 2011 conference gave it extremely positive reviews.

To reserve a conference slot, or for more information, contact:
 
Capt. Steve Spence: 615-904-3062, sspence@rutherfordcountytn.gov
 
Cpl. Greg Wassom: 615-904-3020, gwassom@rutherfordcountytn.gov

Dr. Lee Meadows Jantz, one of the presenters.

When I was working on my book about cold cases, it wasn’t unusual for people to ask me things like, “What does it matter after all these years?”

I’d try not to judge the person, but questions like that really made me wonder about their inability to empathize. I suppose we all should be stronger, but everyone recovers at different rates, and some things you never quite recover from.

Lisa Kroeyr was murdered in 1985 in Saginaw, Michigan, and 27 years later her caring and loyal relative still works tirelessly to find her killer.

Perhaps you know something that you were unable to share all those years ago, but maybe now you can. Imagine if it was your cousin, or sister, or daughter. Imagine how you’d feel about her killer going on to enjoy 27 free years of life after robbing your child of hers?

If you think you can help, please contact the Saginaw Crime Stoppers line at 1-800-422-Jail.

In fact, anyone reading this who knows something about any murder anywhere, make this the year you summon the courage to tell someone. Make this the year you bring even just a tiny bit of peace to the heart of someone who lost a person they cared about. You can be the good guys.

More information about Lisa’s case can be found here.