D. C. Sniper Case Analysis

Identification Strategies
In this day and age, the amount of communities that have a strong relationship with their local police department is on the decline. The cases that feature corrupt cops all over the media has many believing that all cops function in this same manner. There are several strategies to enlist public help in identification, but there are none guaranteed to work for every community. For the most communities, despite any possible tensions between the people and the police, majority will cooperate with whoever they need to in order to stay safe. With this in mind, the most beneficial investigative technique includes informing the public of the severity of the situation in order to acquire a reliable eyewitness testimony that
Sniper case, law enforcement used computer profiling, geographic profiling, and alert tips to find the shooter. In the beginning stages of the investigation, preventative measures were taken through active SWAT teams throughout the area who were prepared for a shootout, and undercovers scattered among the area all hoping to catch the killer in the act. One of the search methods used was to use trained snipers to go out the locations of the shootings and plot out what exactly happened. Through this method, they had found their first lead. Ballistics Specialists’ measured the trajectories of the shots taken, and they found that they couldn't have been from a rooftop. Investigators deduced that in order to get away with this type of crime with no forests or abandoned buildings to hide in, a vehicle would have been the killer’s best bet. After this, a witness claimed he saw a white panel van at one of the crime scenes, giving the force their second lead. Another strategy they used was the one mentioned previously of using fear to reach the public. In this case, the force did not have any control over the amount of fear instilled in the people. Citizens were terrified due to the spontaneity of the crime and the terroristic events prior. When the departments asked for help, the precincts lines were off the charts. Over 100,000 tips came in, all with people who claimed to know the killer. In the sense of getting the community engaged in the investigation, this tactic worked, but it was a complicated task for the departments to uphold. Too much fear was instilled in the people, and unhelpful calls overpowered the helpful ones. The department tried their best to use the info that the people were giving, but there were just too many frantic, inconsistent calls that did nothing but take time away from callers who actually had substantial information that could have been of use. In the D.C Sniper case, detectives had to step out of their comfort zones in order to