[03/22/02]A new routine at the Vicksburg Police Department calls for regular review of case files and requires that crime victims be kept informed, Deputy Chief Richard O’Bannon said Thursday.

O’Bannon and Police Chief Tommy Moffett appeared at a Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Maxwell’s Restaurant and updated members on their work since arriving from Biloxi nearly six months ago.

After finding no established review system for felony case files here, O’Bannon has worked to put one in place.

“Files were always open until someone was arrested,” O’Bannon said. “Investigators were carrying in excess of 200 case files.

“The officer in charge was the only one reviewing the case. If an officer never took a case to the (district attorney’s) office it could literally just die in a drawer.”

In the new system, O’Bannon said cases are reviewed by supervisory officers when they are seven, 15 and 30 days old. The new system makes sure files are being worked on, allows newer officers to be helped by more-experienced ones and gives opportunities for “closure” of files, O’Bannon explained.

After the change in city administrations in July, Moffett, who had retired after a career in Biloxi, was hired to be chief here. He later hired O’Bannon, who also retired from a career as an investigator in Biloxi.

Sweeping changes have been instituted at the police department here, including reducing the number of officers and increasing their pay. Instead of grand jury reports blasting the police for missing or sloppy files, recent panels have offered praise.

O’Bannon said that once all investigative avenues in a case have been depleted, an investigator can now request that a file be suspended. He added that suspension of a file does not prevent that file’s being revisited, and that there is no requirement that cases be disposed of within 30 days.

The number of active case files an investigator would have at any given time would likely be reduced to about 30 once all current cases are reviewed and many old ones are suspended, O’Bannon said.

Developments to communicate to and times to communicate with victims of suspected crimes have also been specified in the administration’s first six months.

A major complaint O’Bannon said he heard after arriving was that victims were not finding out what happened with their cases.

Investigators now are required to call victims within 24 hours to introduce themselves, and to keep them updated on the status of their cases. Court actions and arrests are among developments expected to be communicated, O’Bannon said.