On the television show Homicide, this was called a "red ball"
 

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/imag...ing_murder.jpg From angry celebrity David Simon's book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, upon which the show was based, "red-ball case," meaning a politically sensitive case that the media is following:

"A red-ball case can mean twenty-hour days and constant reports to the entire chain of command; it can become a special detail, with detectives pulled out of the regular rotation and other cases put on indefinite hold."

From the NOLA Info press release machine:

<blockquote>FBI Offers to Assist in Identifying and Locating Carjacking/Murder Suspect

(January 26, 2012)- FBI Agents will meet with New Orleans homicide detectives this afternoon to assist in identifying and locating the man suspected of killing an Algiers father yesterday morning.


Agents contacted New Orleans police yesterday to offer their help, and detectives accepted the offer because of all the FBI brings to the table.? [ Read more ]

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