I'm writing a graphic novel and have a question about the specific law
enforcement response to a robbery. Here is the situation:

A piece of proprietary property capable of being a public health
hazard if handled incorrectly valued in the tens of thousands of
dollars is
stolen from a SF-based cryonic research clinic. The police are called
in to investigate. They are able to get information on the woman who
stole that the item, but are unable to locate her. Although a local,
it is obvious that she has fled the state with the item. A warrant
would be issued for her arrest (I'm assuming).

My question is: what would the law response be to this and who would coordinate it?

*  Would the SF robbery cops keep tabs on it? 
*  Since the suspect has fled the state, would it be passed along to a
Federal agency (FBI or US Marshals)?
*  If the SF cops do stay involved, would they go after her if she was
spotted in, say, Baltimore?

Kill her off and chuck her down a mine shaft

However, unknown to her former 'patrons' there is a lateral entrance

- let some kids find the corpse, also the weopon 
- a curious East European piece that excites interest from the spooks

Atypical new inhabitants turn up in town, all squeaky clean - but just .. wrong
- say five families 

Oddly they all have a family member with a new job at the clinic
- the two from the 'IAC' recognize the other three, but cannot place them
- are they the 'opposition', 'friends' or is it 'need to know'

You could swap a few wives in the interest of national security
- also run a 'cute' sub plot with their kids levelling and not letting on.

I would also suggest that they are all after a (well confirmed) rumour
that anti Alzheimer drug seems to have unexpected effects on non
sufferers, say a 100% IQ boost.

Your finale could be having the whole (mutually suspicious, but not
sure) lot rounded up and given a forcible 'vaccination'

When, after a few graphically described days, the drug 'takes' and
thay walk out - with parting words

   'Buy a tropical island, no son, we're going to build one'
   'We can build an island on junk, and get well paid for it'
   'In five years a coconut tree won't know the difference'

Hmm I can see a book in this, 
- shame I'll not remember the embellishments tomorrow

I would call it 'Sadie's Brain'

(also pay 5% royalties to Stephen King whose formula and 'hang loose'
style I've pretty much 'deconstructed' ( <- a word to be removed from
the E. Lang.))

I'll offer an answer to your question here.

By the way, you describe a BURGLARY here and NOT a robbery.  ON good
evidence, a warrant could be issued for her arrest.

Once stolen property crosses a state line, it is involved in
"interstate commerce."  As such, the Feds can get involved.  Usually,
they only get involved in interstate kidnapping cases as local can
deal with stolen cars and the like.

Because there is a biohazard (and the possibility of terrorism and the
like, say a similar situation to biological weapons) --- the Feds
would probably get involved.  Probably the Center for Disease Control
and the Federal Bureau of INvestigation would become involved. 
Without more in the way of details, it's hard to say what else might
happen.

Dr. Deftly

Oh, also the original jurisdiction is ALWAYS involved in a crime of
this type.  LOCAL prosecutors are the ones who prosecute ALL crimes in
this country.  Only rarely does a criminal case go to a FEDERAL judge.
 Therefore, the local cops would be involved in this one start to
finish.

Dr. Deftly

First let?s say someone breaks into a building and takes an
experimental jug of super X. The lab manager shows up in the morning
and finds Super X missing from the shelf. He calls the local police to
files the report. Law enforcement shows up and starts the
investigation. The investigation would consist of talking to any
witness, fingerprinting, photos and what ever would be applicable to
the situation.

Once they have determined that Mr. / Mrs. Smith is the suspect they
will petition the court for an arrest warrant. If the warrant is
granted then the information is put in to a system. What is the
system..  the system is a unified law enforcement data base. This data
base is accessed by all law enforcement agencies. OK now think back to
your last law enforcement agency encounter (traffic stop, filing a
report, etc..). Remember when the officer asked you for your driver
license and or social number? What they are doing is running you threw
the system for any warrants, cautions, etc.

Ok now let?s say Mr. / Mrs. Smith was stopped on a traffic stop in
Missouri. The officer would run the name threw the system. The system
shows up as Mr. / Mrs. Smith having a warrant for her arrest. Now what
the officer does first is find out if the warrant is extraditable.
What this means is will the agency that filled the warrant pick the
person up from the local Missouri jail. In most cases they will only
extradite in the state that the report was filed in. The biggest
reason is the cost of picking the person up out of state. Some states
will extradite out of state for big crimes such as murder, major
assaults, large drug positions, some burglaries and other serious
crimes. Minor burglaries, traffic offenses, simple assaults, minor
drug sales and infractions are almost always instate only.

Ok now lets say that the warrant is an instate extradition only. The
officer will look at this and inform the person of the warrant and let
them go on their way. The reason for not arresting on the warrant is
that if the agency that filed the warrant refuses to come pick up the
subject the officer in Missouri has no legal reason to hold that
person. It?s a big mess I know.

Know lets say that Mr. / Mrs. Smith has a warrant where the
extradition is out of state. Smith will be picked up on the warrant
and taken to jail where she will wait for the other agency to come
pick her up.

In reality the officer that initially investigated the case will file
for the warrant and once he does that he will forget about the case
until he goes to court on this. The officer isn?t a bad person for
this and would like to stay on the same case till the end but please
keep in mind that he can take any where from 5 to 10 reports in a
single day. If he just deals with your case 8 hours a day then he
fails to do his job with the other remaining calls.

And as for the FBI or US marshals getting involved?. Well to put it
bluntly No they will not. They will only assist if the case is a major
case such as a multiple homicide or something so outrages that they
have to assist. Once again they are not bad people but they have
thousands of cases a day come in that take priority over a simple
burglary. As Dr. Deftly said Usually, they only get involved in
interstate kidnapping cases as local can deal with stolen cars and the
like.


Sometimes is seems unfair that it happens like this but that is reality. 



?Leave the big words and grammar out of this and just answer the question?