NCJ Number
148184
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 61 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1994) Pages: 45,47-50,52
Date Published
1994
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Two members of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Investigative Support Unit (ISU), offer a look at the ISU, which was featured in the award- winning movie, "Silence of the Lambs."
Abstract
Crime analysis assistance is primarily the responsibility of the ISU. It offers listings of likely personal characteristics of an unknown offender, linkage analyses of multiple violent crimes, equivocal death evaluations (homicide, suicide, accident, or natural causes), expert witness testimony, interview strategies, investigative strategies, personality assessments, prosecutive strategies, threat analyses and assessments, and search warrant affidavit support. Ideally, before preparing an analysis, the ISU will study victimology, demographics, crime scene evidence photographs, autopsy reports and photographs, police reports, toxicology reports, forensics reports, and maps and aerial photographs relating to the victim(s) and crime scene(s). Over time, the ISU has entered cases at earlier stages. In a recent kidnaping case, the ISU produced a flawless offender profile, and recommended a strategy that led to one of the offender's revealing the location of the victim, who, regrettably, had been killed. In a recent multiple-murder case, the ISU studied victim evidence and found a "signature" that indicated that one offender had committed all three murders. The ISU is available to all law enforcement agencies.