Geographic profiling helps police catch serial violent offenders and property criminals by creating a profile of the offender and the area where the crime was committed. The Rossmo formula is used to determine where the suspect lives, works, or frequently visits. This formula has also been applied to some predatory animals, including great white sharks.
Geographic profiling is one method that can help police or other law enforcement officials catch a suspect. This criminal investigative method is often used to catch serial violent offenders, but can also sometimes be used to find criminals committing property crimes. Many times, if law enforcement officials believe that there is a serial killer or rapist terrorizing a specific jurisdiction, geographic profiling can be used. Investigations into a series of arson or burglaries believed to be related also benefit from this procedure.
A psychological profile of the offender and the layout of the area where the crime was committed are used as a basis for geographic profiling. In some cases, a serial killer may dispose of a victim’s body in a different location than where she killed her. This location, commonly referred to as a body dump, is often known as a secondary crime scene. Witness accounts and crime scene or secondary crime scene details are also important for geographic profiling.
If the victim’s body was dumped in a different location than where she was killed, criminal profilers can reasonably assume that the killer had access to a personal vehicle, not just public transportation. When putting together a geographic profile, this little detail can make a big difference. Most killers usually have some knowledge of both the areas where they commit their crime and the areas where they dump the victims’ bodies. Studying the location of landfills, along with the layout or street map of a given area, can help law enforcement locate an area that is likely to be significant to the perpetrator, which is usually his or her home or place of work.
In a geographic profile, many profilers take into account the quality and quantity of roads in the area of the crime scene(s). Some streets may be favored by assassins due to some desirable attributes. The road may have fewer stop signs or brake lights, or it may just have better scenery. Many scientists and police believe that a perpetrator is usually familiar with an area before committing a crime.
A complicated formula, known as a Rossmo formula, can help investigators piece together a geographic profiling model. This complicated formula was created by a Canadian law enforcement official, Kim Rossmo, while working for the Vancouver Police Department. By considering the areas and distances between each crime scene, detectives can usually get a good idea of where the suspect lives, works, or visits frequently.
Scientists have also discovered that Rossmo’s formula works not only on humans, but on some predatory animals. This formula has been applied to some shark attacks. The results showed that the great white sharks that were killing seals actually waited in a specific area, stalking their prey, before attacking. Although serial killers have been compared to great white sharks due to this study, there is a major difference between these two types of killers. Sharks kill for food and survival, while serial killers typically kill for the sheer pleasure of it.
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