Importance Of Geographic Profiling

Importance Of Geographic ProfilingThis paper shall cast a comprehensive discussion approximately the importance of geographic indite to aid in investigative methods employed by government agents and patrol officers in pinpointing predatory culpables. The sophistication of the techniques in abuse pellet investigating have kept pace with the rapid development in the tools and technologies utilise in the field, and this has enabled guard authorities to employ a variety of methods to befriend them pinpoint culprits in the to the highest degree accurate, efficient and sentencely way.The renewed populace interest in the formerly esoteric field of forensic skill has been sparked by a serial publication of television shows that argon focuse primarily on the techniques and tools used by abomination spotlight setting investigators in the racecourse of their daily work. For example, Coetzee (2008) noned the popular TV series Crime blastoff Investigation (CSI) in all its diametric seasons have helped to throw somewhat light into the work performed by crime scene investigators.As has already been mentioned, new and to a greater extent sophisticated ways of doing crime scene investigation is be designed every day. On the one hand, this is meant to keep up with the developments in the field of forensic science. On a much(prenominal) functional note, however, developing new techniques and tools pass on help law of nature authorities to derive their cases faster and to a greater extent efficiently and allow them to stay on extremum of all their assignments.Likewise, the reality is that more and more perpetrators ar employing more subterraneous methods to keep themselves out of the reach of the law, and so law force investigators must be able to devise ways to speed up the proceedings of their cases in such a way as to effect speedy justice. on that point be various ways by which crimes be solved, and it is by no room alone the jurispru dence investigator who is responsible for the successful declaration of a vile case. The investigation of a crime involves a spacious array of activities and force fields of expertise, such as DNA pen to examine garb prints, toxicology and handwriting abbreviation (Sjerps, 2008). Other scientific experts argon also routinely called upon to testify in court depending on the nature and circumstances manifold in the crime at bar.The solution to a crime starts with the signifi shadowert nurture that a dutiful crime scene investigator justtocks offer (Coetzee, 2008). He or she identifies, interprets, and provides the necessary rolls and leads for the investigator in hot flash to follow. The ever-increase importance of the detection and identification of somatogenetic evidence left in a crime scene in order to bring about a successful pursuance also underscores the critical nature of a crime scene investigators work.The Locard principle-that every refer leaves a reconstr uct-is the primary precondition on which crime scene investigation rests. Thus, when ii objects come together, there go forth inevitably be mutual contamination and it is through the strait-laced tracing and identification of these contamination points that crimes wad be possibly solved. hint evidence is any object that clear be brought back to police laboratories that whitethorn help investigators determine who committed a crime and why (Thompson, 2006).Because of the critical nature of the evidence, they must be preserved properly and study accurately in order to withstand the rigors of court examination. An investigator may probably be able to work with very small amounts of trace evidence, but the persistence and purity of such evidence is important for him or her to cull all important(p) information from the same.Whether or not they savages are mindful of it, they actually leave something in the surroundings, while at the same time taking something with them from the ir contact with the victim or the objects at the crime scene. Traces of contact evidence are also very different to detect with the sore eye, and that is why illegals butt endnot always erase all the evidence that they leave behind. These traces are important for the crime scene investigator to find, tag and identify. They are sometimes referred to as silent evidence as they point out crucial leads that the investigators elicit follow by giving material bases for the leads that they follow passim the investigation (Kaza, n.d.).Some of the most common types of trace evidence instal at the crime scene include bloodstains, paint, hair, textile fibers, and glass fragments. microscopic particles are also important because they may give clues as to what is inherently a part of the surroundings in which the crime took place and what is link to the crime committed.There are times, however, when the perpetrator leaves traces that are hard to analyze in order to gain a probable phys ical exposition of him. For this reason, sad investigators employ a variety of early(a) methods that are not dependent on tangible evidence left behind by the perpetrator, relying instead on the behavioural way of lifels and the modus operandi of the fishy to gain a clue as to his possible whereabouts, his state of mind, and hopefully his neighboring supposed victim.The judgement is therefore to read such intangible clues and get into the mind of the perpetrator to prevent him from committing another crime and hurting another person. While these information may not be helpful in the actual prosecution of the case, they would oftentimes lead the police officers into valuable leads that can help them master down the suspect. Among the non-physical evidence based methods used by guilty investigators are execrable pen and, more recently, geographic compose.These methods are used to figure the subsequent actions of the perpetrator based not tho on the physical evidence tha t he left behind but also on the conscious or unconscious choices that made before, during, and after the delegacy of the crime. These methods are not as accurate or detailed as forensic science itself, but they do provide valuable clues as to the undermentioned tints that the police should take in order to catch the criminal faster.Criminal profile through geographyIn general, criminal profiling is the art of weaving together traces left in the crime scene to develop a apparent story about the criminals plan, his method of operation, his thoughts, and his next target. The aim is to provide a map of sorts that will help police investigators and forensic psychologists to nail down the perpetrator.Criminal profiling methods are get more and more sophisticated as well, with the help of not only advanced technological tools but also developments in behavioural sciences, specially psychology and psychiatry. Winerman (2004) mention that informal criminal profiling had its beginnin gs in the 1880s, when two physicians named George Philips and Thomas Bond utilized crime scene clues to discover the genius of the British serial murderer Jack the Ripper.In the decades to come, criminal profiling methods remained largely informal and the police investigators were often left to use comprehension in track down their quarry. It is only in the 1970s when the US Federal Bureau Investigation opened its Behavioral Science unit that criminal profiling became an actual scientific process. From then on, it became widely authorized in law enforcement circles as a reliable technique for ringing criminal behaviour.From the nature of these techniques, it can be deduced that profiling works best only when the police investigators already have a string of clues from different crime scenes at hand. Moreover, they are also likely to have an idea of who the suspect is, or at least they have a shortlist of surmise offenders. The trick is therefore pinpointing exactly who among these souls actually perpetrated the crime, and to catch him before he does it again.Some of the most common things that criminal profilers look at when deciphering cases where the criminal has committed a series of offenses are the following Antecedent what is the criminal plan or fantasy behind the action? Method of operations victims identity, weapon(s) used on the victim, degree of hostility or cruelty exhibited by the act, the existence or lack of sexual overtures to the crime, method of body disposal Post-offense behaviour is the suspect trying to give false leads to the media or to the police authorities?While methods are beginning to resemble an exact science, it cannot be denied that most of the data that investigators follow up on are unstained guesswork and speculations backed up by circumstantial evidence. Thus, there was a need to develop a more foolproof method that will police authorities to limit their investigation to a particular body politic or community, and thus crack down on the perpetrator in a shorter amount of time.It is at this juncture that criminal geographic tracking (CGT) or more commonly known as geographical profiling came to be. Knowledge of criminal mobility and the geographical characteristics of crime scenes concurrently prompted investigators to look for a way that will allow them to manage their time and resources more in effect by confining the investigation to the most probable arrangement of the perpetrators dwelling or his hub of criminal activity (Holmes and Holmes 2002).The most popular name that is associated with geographical profiling is Kim Rossmo, who started to make this method of investigative profiling more exact and accurate through his doctoral dissertation at Simon Fraser University in 1995 (Ramsland 2010). He developed a computer software called the criminal geographical tracking or (CGT) that is meant to assist in cases involving violent serial crimes. It feeds a function of important geographica l characteristics into the software, which in turn tries to zero in on the most probable area of residence of the offender.CGT was meant to be an information perplexity system that can help law enforcement agents cut down on their investigation time and resources by locating an exact area where the perpetrator is most likely to reside or to operate. This pioneering technology was offset printing altered by the Vancouver Police Department and was later on utilized by a number of other police districts across Canada.As a method of investigation, geographic profiling works by utilizing the fixtures of connected series of crimes to come up with the most probable area of residence of the offender. Oftentimes, it is used in cases where serial murder, rape, arson or robbery is involved, but it can also be applied in instances of single crimes like carnapping, burglary, bombing, and others. The most important element of this physical body of investigative technique is the presence of di stinguishing geographical features that can point the police officers to a specific place to stomach their investigation.Rossmo likened geographical profiling to looking at the traces left by a garden sprinkler on a lawn-there is no exact way to predict where the water droplets will fall, but it will leave a pattern that will show whoever is looking at it to guess where the sprinkler was most likely located amidst the marks on the wet ground (Grierson 2003).Grierson (2003) noted that Rossmo noted four important principles underpin geographical profiling. Rossmo borrowed two concepts from the original crime-pattern possibility proposed by his teachers. The first idea is that offenders often leave a modify zone around their area of residence in order to exert their anonymity, while the second posits that there is a distance decay that can be interpreted from the actions of offenders. That is, an offender will be more impulsive to trigger off outlying(prenominal)ther from home if he thinks that the payoff for the crime will be that much greater, meaning the violence involved in the commission of the crime will also be greater.Rossmo also added his own ideas to these a priori concepts. He incorporated what he called the least political campaign analysis wherein he postulated that an individual will not act without performing some kind of cost-benefit analysis for his proposed course of action. The last concept in the puzzle is that of routine-activity theory, which states that crimes can happen at the junction of opportunity and familiarity. In other words, the ending to commit the crime in a particular manner is influenced by where the criminal finds himself at the time he decided on pushing through with his criminal design.This method is highly dependent upon two basic assumptions1. That the set of crimes being analyzed belong to one and the same series only. This can be soundated only by exhausting other police methods that will confirm that a partic ular set of discrete offenses can be actually be attributed to the same person.2. Accurate and valid geographical modelling that can show travel distance to the crime sites relative to the type of crime committed, type of offender, and the area or location being studied.Geographical profiling links the geographical characteristics of the crime scene and the known propensities of serial criminals in terms of choosing their victim and the location for deed. The dissolver of the corresponding analyses will be a map that shows the offenders area of criminal activity. The locations of the occurrence of the crime would often belie a certain demythologized choice on the part of the offender, which would then help the investigators to trace him to his place of residence.Geographical information systems can be adapted to fit different scales, from globular to small-scale investigation. Most geographical profiling occurs at the spiritualist scale level, applying to particular cities or ne ighbourhoods. Smaller areas such as individual buildings can also be subjected to geographical profiling to determine more and more specific locations for the crime, such as an elevator shaft or a fire exit.According to Harries (1999), mapping crime is an important step in criminal investigation because it helps to provide a visual original of the course of the investigation and what the authorities have found so far based on the active evidence. Rossmos CGT would come up with either 2D or 3D map that can show the criminals most probable locations of activity based on the prehistorical crime scenes and corresponding the true rates. This map represents the offenders mental map of the city based on his past experience and activities deep down the area, his travel routes, and reference points.Some offenders stay within a particular geographical region, while others are willing to travel great distances in order to perpetuate their criminal design. The chances of the offender being a stable or a mobile one depends on a number of factors, such as his past travel experiences, means for transportation, predatory motivations, sense of personal security and even his preferred mode of attack. Rossmo also makes the assumption that the more crimes the offender is able to commit successfully, the more confident he feels about his particular mode of operation and the more willing he is to expand his area of activity.Geographic profiling can help the investigation in a variety of ways, such as choosing the most appropriate and efficient investigative strategy, prioritizing tips and evidence, running searches on existing DNA and fingerprint databases, neighbourhood canvasses and questioning of key people associated with the suspect, and address-based searches of police records. It is not meant to be a standalone technique to solve a crime, but rather to point the investigators to a particular locality where they can more extensively concentrate their investigation effort s. Ramsland (2010) noted that some law enforcement experts are actually more confident in the turnouts that geographical profiling can give rather than the traditional investigative methods that have been used in the past.ConclusionAt present, the future of geographical profiling methods seems promising because of the increasing sophistication of crime mapping techniques and technology. Geographic information systems like Rossmos CGT was the first important step in the evolution of this branch of criminal investigation in the past decade, but it seems likely that we will be visual perception more and more non-conventional and innovative methods in present-day investigations. Harries (1999) predicted that technologies like global positioning system or GPS, digital photography, local police databases and even the Internet as invaluable aids to police investigations.Spatial analysis giving police investigators a definite edge over their criminal counterparts, therefore shortening the c riminal investigation considerably and allowing the prosecution grade to happen earlier. One of the most important advantages that technologies like geographical profiling can offer the law enforcement circle is its ability to reduce wastage of time, effort and resources by pointing the investigators to the most probable area of activity that the offender inhabits. sort of of spreading the manpower of the authorities over a large area and spending too much time chasing down false leads, the police can now focus on a specific location and conduct a more narrowly-tailored search.Rossmos CGT has spawned a series of new technologies that are now aimed at making police work more scientific and accurate. Even if the earliest beginnings of criminal profiling were largely dependent upon share and guesswork, advances in science and technology have made it possible for criminal investigations to proceed with more certainty. Thus, it is important for investigators to also continue using it to cleanse upon the technology and make it more prevalent in law enforcement.