LAPD's first-of-its-kind partnership with the FBI will place sought-after homicide case information a click away for detectives, who sometimes spend weeks tracking down a file's location, reports the LA Times . When the database is complete, investigators will be able to search any aspect of a "murder book," including license plate numbers and gang monikers.
First, the department plans to digitize more than 4,500 files from the southern part of the city — long the deadliest — between 1990 and 2010. Eventually, cases from the entire city will be included. Officials plan to open the doors to a brick-and-mortar library where families can go for answers and detectives can check out files.