In 2019, the Michigan State Police (MSP) Fifth District Headquarters–Special Investigation Section began a collaborative effort with Western Michigan University (WMU) to leverage university students’ assistance in cold case homicide investigations. Both the MSP and WMU are public organizations, and both have faced challenges over the past decade. Michigan has a high number of cold (open-unsolved) homicide and missing person cases with minimal resources to work on them. WMU was facing a decline in student enrollment and retention. The university recently instituted a new policy of “experience-driven learning” to give students real-world training that would assist them in developing professional references and careers upon their graduation.

Since then, this police-university collaboration has assisted the MSP and 10 other police agencies in their cold case investigations and recruiting efforts, while helping WMU to recruit new students, retain current students, and deliver experience-driven learning. The collaboration has also provided closure to several victims’ family members by working 35 cold cases. Additionally, the collaboration has resulted in three arrests in three separate cold case homicides. As of writing, 102 students have participated in the program—3 of those students have graduated from an MSP Recruit School, 5 work for U.S. federal law enforcement agencies, and several additional WMU students are applying for 2025 MSP recruit schools.

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