How the San Bernardino Police Department identified a murder suspect at the scene

KEY IDEAS:

• The San Bernardino Police Department (SBPD) responded to a 911 call reporting a deceased body found in an apartment complex parking lot.
• SBPD detectives used Peregrine’s mobile app to identify the homicide suspect within one hour of responding to the call, without leaving the scene.
• Without Peregrine, the investigation would have taken several days, and witness testimonies may have been more difficult and less reliable.
• Peregrine’s mobile app enables faster, more effective investigations for detectives in the field.

SAN BERNARDINO PD AT A GLANCE:

• Location: San Bernardino, California
• Established: 1905
• Sworn officer count: 300
• City population: 224,775

Sources: San Bernardino Police Department, U.S. Census Bureau

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — In May 2025, officers from the San Bernardino Police Department (SBPD) responded to a call reporting a deceased body in the parking lot of a local apartment complex. Within the next 60 minutes, detectives had:

• Determined that the incident was a homicide
• Identified the potential offender
• Conducted a photo lineup with a witness to confirm the suspect’s identity

Peregrine’s mobile app allowed SBPD’s detectives to scour their databases and surface critical information and connections instantly. They then interviewed witnesses on the spot and confirmed the suspect’s identity — all without leaving the scene of the crime.

Without Peregrine, that process could have taken days, said SBPD Detective Christopher Emon.

“Without Peregrine, the information probably would not have gotten run for another couple days since the call happened at the end of the week,” Det. Emon said. “I probably would have found what I needed at some point, but I would have had to loop through different databases to get there, and it would have taken me a day or two.”

Keep reading to learn how Peregrine empowers SBPD’s detectives to investigate crimes from anywhere, at any time.

How did the case play out step-by-step?

“Events unfold rapidly, so obtaining critical information as early as possible is essential to resolving cases and improving overall solvability outcome.” —Capt. Nelson Carrington, Investigations Division, San Bernardino Police Department

Once SBPD received the initial 911 call, the following unfolded within an hour, all at the scene of the crime:

• Officers from SBPD’s homicide unit dispatched to the apartment complex where the body was found.
• Detectives reviewed video footage from the complex and identified a potential suspect.
• Detectives visited the victim’s apartment in the complex, where they found a prescription pill bottle displaying the name of an individual who did not live there.
• Detectives used the Peregrine mobile app to search the name from the pill bottle.
• Peregrine surfaced an individual with a matching name who had been arrested earlier that year, plus body-worn camera (BWC) footage from the individual’s prior arrest.
• Detectives cross-referenced the BWC footage in Peregrine with the apartment complex’s internal footage and determined that the individual’s face was the same in both videos.
• At the scene, Det. Emon contacted a witness and ran a photo lineup to confirm the suspect’s identity.

Officers then arrested the suspect, who is facing murder charges and in ongoing court proceedings.

“When you have a witness who is pertinent to the case, it’s very important to get as much information from them as you can at that point in time,” Emon said. “To track down witnesses later is very difficult, so to have that information as quickly as I did — to catch the witness while they’re cooperative, and before they leave for work or decide not to answer their door for the police anymore — is helpful. The sooner you talk to them, the better. In this case, Peregrine gave me that opportunity with that information fairly quickly.”

💡 WHY IS SPEED IMPORTANT TO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS? Witness accounts play a central role in many criminal investigations. It’s important to obtain information from witnesses as promptly as possible after an incident occurs because the quality of witness accounts declines as time passes. Plus, witnesses tend to become less cooperative over time.

Source: Psychological Contributions to Cold Case Investigations: A Systematic Review

How Peregrine saved SBPD days on this homicide investigation

“By utilizing Peregrine, we were able to save detectives several days of investigative work. Identifying a suspect within an hour is an exceptional outcome.” —Capt. Nelson Carrington, Investigations Division, San Bernardino Police Department

Peregrine enabled Emon to run a photo lineup with a witness within minutes of responding to the call — a process that would have otherwise been delayed by several days. Here’s why:

• The Peregrine mobile app allowed Emon to identify a potential suspect at the scene without having to return to the department.
• Emon could then run a photo lineup with a witness to confirm the suspect’s identity at the scene.
• Without Peregrine, Emon would have had to wait until the next time he was at his desk to run leads through his other investigative tools.
• Since the incident took place at the end of Emon’s workweek, he wouldn’t have returned to the department for another couple days.
• Once at his desk, Emon would have had to manually search through multiple disparate databases to find the same connections Peregrine surfaced in minutes.

“I was impressed with the Peregrine mobile app when it pulled up the information I needed right away,” Emon said. “I usually sit at my desk and run information through my databases from there. I didn’t realize you could even get BWC through Peregrine. So when it all popped up and I was able to play it on the spot, I was excited about that. And then the fact that it gave me what I needed pretty much right away was even more impressive.”

💡 KEY TAKEAWAY: Moving quickly in a criminal investigation tends to make witness interviews…

• Easier because the witness is more likely to cooperate immediately after the incident
• More accurate because the incident is fresher in the witness’s memory

How to solve crimes at the scene

Capt. Nelson Carrington of SBPD’s Investigations Division said the agency’s technology investments have enabled faster, more effective investigations — which is especially helpful amid resource limitations and industry-wide challenges with recruitment and retention.

“We are continuing to leverage technology as a force multiplier, and Peregrine allows our personnel to process information far more efficiently than traditional manual methods,” Carrington said. “In this case, Peregrine helped investigators identify key leads and solve a homicide in less than an hour from the time they arrived on scene, highlighting the powerful role this technology plays in improving investigative effectiveness.”

Peregrine turns fragmented data into operational impact for public safety agencies. To learn more, explore how Peregrine supports law enforcement.