The proposed bill to fund a cold case homicide unit has been all over the media and most of the reporting has involved very emotional testimony from the survivors of these cases. In theory, it sounds like it might be moving in the right direction, but as unpopular as I might be for saying so, I have my reservations.

I looked up the bill on maine.gov and only found two pages. Nothing about where the half million is coming from, on what departments budget it will appear, or how those funds will be appropriated.

One news agency reported that a similar bill was passed authorizing a cold case unit for the State Police and they never received the funding, so passing a bill without follow through is even worse for the families involved, since it gives them false hope.

Another thing is cost effectiveness. How much bang for the buck would be derived from such a unit? There must be efficiency data available for states who do indeed have such a unit up and running. Is it possible that the money might be better spent in support of the law enforcement agencies already working on these cases, perhaps a state cold case fund that could be tapped by municipal and state investigators for a pre-determined amount of man-hours per case?

While I fully realize every loss is tragic, if we look at the big picture, Maine has the fourth lowest unsolved homicide case file out of all 50 states. (Only North and South Dakota and Wyoming are lower) with a clearance rate of 80 percent ”“ not too shabby, some would say.

Again, not to minimize the loss of a loved one, but I hope a lot more research and thought goes into this in the work sessions before it comes up for a vote.

Bill Thomas, Sanford