More than a hundred law enforcement, health care professionals and victim advocates are in Flint this week for a conference on sexual assault, community violence and trauma.
Mayor Sheldon Neeley says the conference is intended to bring together various professionals to provide learning opportunities and re-imagine responses to major crimes.
Carol Rolnick is one of the presenters. She represents a Virginia-based company that uses DNA samples and ancestry websites to solve decades-old cold cases. Rolnick says the technology was used to help catch the Golden State Killer.
James Joseph DeAngelo was arrested in 2018, after a DNA match linked him to a series of rapes and murders dating back to the 1970s.
Rolnick says private funding is helping to make the technology affordable to cash-strapped communities.
“People see this as a huge benefit that can make safer communities…and they’re willing to put their money on the line to help get some of these resolutions to these horrible crimes,” said Rolnick.
The conference also features training from experts in law enforcement, health care, victim advocacy, mental health and trauma.
Mayor Neeley expects Flint’s own team will learn new things during the five-day conference.
“There’s always room for improvement in everything that we do,” Neeley told reporters. “The only charge that we have is to be better than we were yesterday.”
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