Organization for retired police investigators helps public safety by solving cold cases

On the website, their mission statement reads, “Restoring America’s faith in law enforcement and continuing the tireless pursuit of criminals in the interest of victims of violent crime.”

The RIG’s mission is to create safer communities in America by restoring faith in law enforcement and continuing the tireless pursuit of criminals in the interest of victims of violent crimes.

With law enforcement agencies often being overworked and understaffed, many cases are falling into the cold case category. An increasing amount of these are violent crimes. Cases are going unsolved and perpetrators are sometimes free to go without punishment. Something needed to be done for the victims of these crimes and their families.

The Retired Investigators Guild (RIG) had been formed to help with that issue. They created a coalition of individuals, agencies, companies, and nonprofit organization to work together and provide a much-needed resource to our nation’s law enforcement.

RIG teamed up with pro=law enforcement clothing brand, Midnight Platoon to release a t-shirt.

Law Enforcement Today recently interviewed the founder of the organization, Mike Marty. Marty explained the founding of the organization, saying, “The RIG was born from vision, with the help of my cofounder Jeff Munks, we have created this amazing group of individuals who volunteer countless hours working decades old cold cases. The RIG has been a registered nonprofit corporation since 2022.”

Marty said, “As a national nonprofit we strive to effect change in communities to truly make America safer.” He also spoke about how the shirt collaboration came to be, adding, “The RIG and Midnight Platoon collaborated on this T-Shirt to serve several functions. To raise awareness for the RIG and to hopefully increase donations to support our cold case homicide investigations. Further, Midnight Platoon is as passionate as we are, so this was a natural fit.

“Most of The RIG volunteers are supporters of Midnight Platoon and regularly wear their merchandise. I reached out to Andrew, the owner of Midnight Platoon, who is also a retired detective like myself and a friendship/partnership was created.”

Incredibly, Marty said, “There are currently over 350,000 unsolved cold case homicides in the United States, with that number growing every year. If The RIG is to succeed, and if the number of unsolved cold cases is to go down, then funding The RIG is paramount. Each cold case costs The RIG approximately $30,000, or more.

“We currently have over 70 cold case homicides we are working from several agencies across the United States. Without funding, we cannot operate.”

He outlined a goal for the future, saying, “In the next few years, I’d like to see the RIG gain further outreach into more local and state agencies.”

There are apparently some misconceptions of the organization that he also addressed. “One major misconception from the public,” he said, “is that we can solve a cold case in an hour, like they observe on TV. Many of these cases have sat dormant for decades and there is a lot of housekeeping that goes along with getting these cases in a position to be furthered for prosecution.”

Marty also addressed what is most rewarding about the work that he gets to do. “This is a multi-faceted answer,” he said. “First, providing answers to victims’ families is something that is irreplicable. Second, breathing life into retired detectives’ lives and giving them purpose again is incredible.”

You can support by purchasing the shirt here.