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Independence council backs plan to earmark $100,000 for rewards and DNA testing for cold homicides
Summary
Council members discussed a proposal to set aside $100,000 from the marijuana sales tax fund to offer rewards and to pay for DNA testing in unsolved homicide cases; staff will add a resolution to a forthcoming regular meeting agenda after council consensus.
Council members on the Independence City Council on April 14 discussed a staff-backed plan to earmark up to $100,000 from the city’s marijuana sales tax fund to provide rewards for tips and to pay for DNA testing in unsolved homicide cases.
The program as described by Councilman Bryce Stewart and Independence Police Department officials would allow the city to earmark up to $10,000 per case for advanced DNA testing or reward payments and to highlight selected cold cases through an established tips hotline. “We’re not reinventing the wheel,” Major Michael Onka, commander of the police department’s investigations unit, said, describing the department’s plan to use an existing tips hotline and to assign detectives familiar with each selected case.
The city’s chief of police, Adam Dustman, said the proposal is…
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