THE 20-year-old murder case brought to court this week will be the last long-running investigation to result in charges until the dedicated Cold Case Unit is reinstated, the Police Association has warned.
Police Association president Randolph Wierenga said the arrest of Lake Leake man Stephen Roy Standage, 59, for the alleged murder of 37-year-old Ronald Federick Jarvis showed the ``true value'' of the unit that was disbanded last year due to budget cuts.
Mr Standage was arrested after two years of ``hard-slog investigation'' by detectives in the unit, former officer-in-charge Glenn Lathey said yesterday.
``Without the Cold Case Unit, the investigation into the death of Mr Jarvis would still be on the backburner,'' Inspector Lathey said.
Sergeant Wierenga said other long-running murder investigations would be ``gathering dust'' since the unit closed on December 31.
The 1996 murder of Paul Byrne at Rossarden, the 2009 shooting of Shane Barker at Campbell Town and the murder of Italian tourist Victoria Cafasso in 1995 are among the still unsolved cases being targeted by the unit.
``The people responsible for those horrific and violent crimes are today breathing a sigh of relief, knowing that a specialist team is no longer on their trail,'' Sergeant Wierenga said.
Tasmania Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Geoff Smith said the unit had done ``excellent work'' and would be reinstated if the budget allowed.
Until then it would be up to detectives in each district to review long-running cases, or one-off teams set up for a particular case.
``We have not discounted re-establishing a specialist review unit at some stage in the future should the budget situation allow,'' Mr Smith said.
But Sergeant Wierenga said district criminal investigation branches did not have the specialist skills and resources to solve long-running cases.
Opposition police spokeswoman Elise Archer has called for the Cold Case Unit to be reopened, and labelled the decision to cut it as ``short-sighted''.
Police Minister David O'Byrne said the decision to close the unit rested with Tasmania Police.
``I have confidence in the management of Tasmania Police to make decisions regarding the deployment of officers in the manner they see as most effective,'' Mr O'Byrne said.
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