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WA Police shows how it’s now near impossible to get away with murder thanks to its use of data and technology

Is it almost impossible now to get away with murder? Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Tony Longhorn wouldn’t go that far. But he says it would certainly be very difficult — especially here in WA. “I think the chances of being caught are significant,” he said. “And I’d like to say we have the resources and the smarts to solve anything.” Remarkably, WA Police have not had a homicide case go unsolved on their watch now for almost a decade. The State’s most recent cold case is the tragic death of grandmother Valeria Fermendjin in a violent home invasion in January 2016. Police believe Ms Fermendjin, 70, died at her Melville home on Leach Highway during peak hour on a Tuesday morning soon after she returned with ironing she did for other families. Her daughter, Violeta, found her body two days later. Despite an extensive investigation, her killer — or killers — have never been found. One of the reasons unsolved cases are now so rare, Mr Longhorn said, is because of WA Police’s nation-leading embracing of technology and data. The amount of data at the fingerprints of police today is almost endless. And it’s one thing to collect it — and another to analyse it. Social media. CCTV. Number plate recognition technology. Mobile phone data. DNA profiles. Facial comparison capabilities. Historic databases. Stored footage from 7000 police officers’ body-worn cameras. It’s a long way from the days of detectives hitting the pavement to doorknock for clues. “One thing that WA Police do exceptionally well is overlay and process the data, which quite often, leads to an early identification of a suspect or suspects,” Mr Longhorn said. “So while the data may not be evidentiary, if it points you in the direction of a subject early on, if you’re able to apply those then more traditional investigative and forensic capabilities, the less time in between the offence being committed and the suspect being identified, reduces the time that evidence can be destroyed or lost. “If we can identify suspects using data and forensics and all that technology capability that we’ve got, if we reduce the timeframe from the identification to the location stage, the likelihood of us capturing good forensic evidence and CCTV to implicate that person with a much stronger brief is increased significantly. “I think the longer that an investigation goes from when the offence is committed to when the suspect is detected, there’s a greater chance of the forensic evidence perishing, or you’re relying on witnesses, CCTV overrides itself, all that other data, it has a life.” Mr Longhorn said nowadays when a homicide case is unfolding, there are data scientists and analysts sitting with forensics and detectives in the same room. “It’s multi-disciplined but the data certainly provides an edge,” he said. “But having the right people to know what to do with the available data is critical as well. “So it’s boots on the ground and at the same time you’ve got analysts and data people processing all the vehicle data, the telco data, who was in a particular area, because then that enables us to focus in on the CCTV that might be relevant earlier rather than later. Because if we have data that puts a person or a vehicle in a particular area then we can reverse engineer. “If you can identify that vehicle, get the rego, identify who is driving it, look at the telco data, get some CCTV, you’re well on your way to identifying a suspect.” Homicide squad Detective Acting Inspector Jessica Securo said these advances make it “really unlikely for offenders of homicide to escape justice in Western Australia”. Det-Insp Securo pointed to the example of a recent homicide in Perth’s northern suburbs where the offender was unknown to the victim — but by interrogating CCTV and other tracing forensics was able to track down a suspect within six hours. “It just shows how beneficial these tools are,” she said. Det-Insp Securo added, “I’d like to think a majority of our homicides are solved within that 24-72 hour mark, which is amazing compared to the solvability rates that we used to face when we didn’t have all of this data at our disposal”. So far this year, there have been 66 homicides in WA, compared to 81 at the same time last year. Supt Natalie Jackson, of the forensic division, said forensic officers now work closely and collectively with the homicide squad, as well as external agencies like PathWest and ChemCentre to get fast results. “They allow us to assist homicide in progressing cases faster, because at the end of the day it’s all about that investigation and identifying the suspect as soon as possible,” she said. And while technology has already evolved rapidly in recent years, there are other game-changing advances on the horizon, including further developments in genetic investigative technology.. Soon, police hope this technology — which famously led to the arrest of the Golden State Killer in the United States and is currently being used to crack cold cases — could be used in real time. WA Police was the first policing agency in Australia to use the cutting-edge method, which involves using genetic information from commercial and publicly accessible DNA databases. “Whilst we are using it for the those historical matters at the moment with some success, it’s only a matter a time and the capability will be refined as such where we will be able to use it in real time investigations where we have a partial or unknown DNA profile and it will point us in the direction of a particular family line,” Mr Longhorn said. “So that’s a really promising line of forensic capability that will again strengthen our ability to solve matters.” However, Mr Longhorn said it should not be forgotten there are still dozens of unsolved cases and families who are waiting for justice, promising them police would never give up finding answers for them, too. “We haven’t always got it right, and we haven’t always delivered maybe what the community has expected of us,” he said. “So we can’t just celebrate recent history and say we are the best because we haven’t always got it perfect.” If you have any information regarding Ms Fermendjin’s death of any other unsolved crime, call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

The West Australian exclusiveWA Police shows how it’s now near impossible to get away with murder thanks to its use of data and technology

exclusive
WA Police shows how it’s now near impossible to get away with murder thanks to its use of data and technology