Essay On Geographic Profiling
Recent Developments in Geographical Profiling
Geographical profiling is defined as a method for evaluating locations connected to a crime in order to identify the probable area of an offender’s home location, place of work, or other relevant locations based off of nomothetic data and assumptions (Turvey, 2012). Dr. Darcy Kim Rossmo, a Canadian criminologist, is accredited for his influence on geographical profiling. Rossmo concluded in his research that offender’s geographical correlation to a crime is routinely based on offender residence, workplace and leisure activity (2012). Based on this theory, the Vancouver Police Department launched it’s first Geographic-Profiling Section in 1995. Since its establishment several agencies world wide, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), have enlisted assistance from the Geographic-Profiling Section at the Vancouver Police Department to aid in their investigations.
However, in 1997 Dr. Rossmo co-founded the Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI) and helped develop the ECRI’s Rigel software that allows investigators to prioritize suspects and …show more content…
focus on areas they may have otherwise overlooked in their investigations (Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI), 2015). Unfortunately, to apply the Rossmo formula in the Rigel program, an investigator must have a minimum of four linked crime series to produce accurate results. During the investigation of the high profile D.C. Sniper case, Dr. Rossmo used his Rigel software to aid investigators in predicting the killer’s ‘hunting area’ in addition to pinpointing where the suspect was likely to live. However, many critics of Rigel felt like the software did little to make any real progress in the case, likely because of the level of variation in the data collected from the shootings. After the arrests of John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, the two men involved in the sniper case, it was found out in the investigation that the two men were nomadic, highlighting the fact that offenders may not always fit under geographical profiling theories. (Turvey, 2012) Therefore, like criminal profiling, geographical profiling should be used only as tool to aid in the allocation of resources in an investigation by narrowing down a theoretical search area, rather than a means to solve the crime on its own.
In December 2000, the Vancouver Police Department faced budget cuts and disbanded their Geographical Profiling Unit on the grounds that it was not as beneficial as once believed (Turvey, 2012). Today, Rigel, and similar geoprofiling software, is used in serial murders, rapes, arson cases, serial bombings, linked robberies, and property crimes by many national, regional and local police agencies. Caution should be used when applying Rossmo’s formula as one should not assume that a criminal will not commit crimes in a "buffer zone" close to his or her home, and that they will not travel far from home to carry out a
crime.
Geographical profiling is defined as a method for evaluating locations connected to a crime in order to identify the probable area of an offender’s home location, place of work, or other relevant locations based off of nomothetic data and assumptions (Turvey, 2012). Dr. Darcy Kim Rossmo, a Canadian criminologist, is accredited for his influence on geographical profiling. Rossmo concluded in his research that offender’s geographical correlation to a crime is routinely based on offender residence, workplace and leisure activity (2012). Based on this theory, the Vancouver Police Department launched it’s first Geographic-Profiling Section in 1995. Since its establishment several agencies world wide, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), have enlisted assistance from the Geographic-Profiling Section at the Vancouver Police Department to aid in their investigations.
However, in 1997 Dr. Rossmo co-founded the Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI) and helped develop the ECRI’s Rigel software that allows investigators to prioritize suspects and …show more content…
focus on areas they may have otherwise overlooked in their investigations (Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI), 2015). Unfortunately, to apply the Rossmo formula in the Rigel program, an investigator must have a minimum of four linked crime series to produce accurate results. During the investigation of the high profile D.C. Sniper case, Dr. Rossmo used his Rigel software to aid investigators in predicting the killer’s ‘hunting area’ in addition to pinpointing where the suspect was likely to live. However, many critics of Rigel felt like the software did little to make any real progress in the case, likely because of the level of variation in the data collected from the shootings. After the arrests of John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, the two men involved in the sniper case, it was found out in the investigation that the two men were nomadic, highlighting the fact that offenders may not always fit under geographical profiling theories. (Turvey, 2012) Therefore, like criminal profiling, geographical profiling should be used only as tool to aid in the allocation of resources in an investigation by narrowing down a theoretical search area, rather than a means to solve the crime on its own.
In December 2000, the Vancouver Police Department faced budget cuts and disbanded their Geographical Profiling Unit on the grounds that it was not as beneficial as once believed (Turvey, 2012). Today, Rigel, and similar geoprofiling software, is used in serial murders, rapes, arson cases, serial bombings, linked robberies, and property crimes by many national, regional and local police agencies. Caution should be used when applying Rossmo’s formula as one should not assume that a criminal will not commit crimes in a "buffer zone" close to his or her home, and that they will not travel far from home to carry out a
crime.