Grants

The IHIA had received grant funding and administers the grant programs to benefit the membership, as well as the community of homicide investigators and associated forensic professionals. Bob Lowery, Past President of the IHIA, served as the Grants Coordinator. Bill Hagmaier , Executive Director of the IHIA, provided adminstrative oversight to the grants, and is identified as the Grant Manager.

"National Registry of Unidentified and Missing Persons" Grant Program

The seriousness of missing person cases is all too well known to those of us in law enforcement. Each day in the United States nearly 100,000 active missing person cases exist; nearly 55% of them are juveniles, and the remainder are adults over the age of 18. Many of these are considered long-term missing person cases and may possibly be matched with unidentified decedents, bringing much needed closure for the families and loved ones of these victims. Also, proper identification will greatly assist in the investigation of the death, especially in cases of homicide. However, despite the capability of DNA testing to identify human remains, DNA analysis currently remains an underutilized tool and is not routinely used in missing person cases. As such, many identifications remain elusive, evidenced by the 5,000 plus active cases of unidentified persons currently in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.

This project was funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, will address the complex issues of missing persons and unidentified decedents in the care and custody of coroners and medical examiners throughout the United States .

The Working Group will be asked to examine several factors including the scope of the problem, the manner in which cases are reported, the available resources, and very importantly, make recommendations for improving the criminal justice response so that these victims may be properly identified in a timely manner.

Briefly, what we accomplished is definitive improvement of reporting information about missing persons and unidentified deceased persons and, if appropriate, develop a procedure/program whereby a single inquiry will resolve the status of a missing person if their remains have been located anywhere in the United States .

With the guidance of the Working Group, the grant staff crafted the prototype of an investigative guide of protocols, procedures, and best practices to be disseminated to law enforcement agencies, coroners, and medical examiners throughout the nation.

"National Homicide Standards of Training" Grant Program

This project, funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, examined training needs for those investigators and related professionals who are either recently assigned or are being considered for a position responsible for homicide and death investigations. The goal of the project was not only the creation of a comprehensive standard training curriculum for homicide investigators, but also to design a system for delivering the program to maximize participation.