Sherlock Holmes Profiler

Many people believe in the fictional Sherlock Holmes profiler where he uses observation and knowledge of human nature to catch the suspect. Criminal profilers help narrow down the search and focus the police's effort more accurately by telling the police about the suspect's background, family history, intelligence, educational record, possible employment, race, marital status, hobbies and interests. The profiler does not directly identify the suspect like Sherlock Holmes (Owen). Even though a criminal profiler does not directly catch the suspect they help the police focus their efforts to find the right suspect faster and more efficiently.

To be able to read about criminal profiling you first need to know what the definition of it is. "In

one of the most cited definitions, Vernon Geberth, author of Practical Homicide Investigation, views profiling as an educated attempt to give investigative agencies specific information about the type of person who committed a certain crime (Petherick).” Also in an article by Deborah Schurman-Kauflin who has a Ph.D and is a criminal profiler said "The reader should recognize that profiling does not catch killers or criminals by itself. Old fashioned police work and forensic science help catch offenders. However, behavior does reflect personality; therefore, behavior at a crime scene can disclose information about the perpetrator. The more behavior evident, the better a profile can be. And the more one can profile an offender, the better the prediction value. The first place to start in understanding how a profiler works is by understanding Locard's Principle of Exchange. Locard's Principle means that when something makes contact with something else it always leaves a trace. The Locard Principle is very important in forensic science, criminal profiling, and criminal investigations (Petherick). Criminal profilers also aim to answer six questions about a crime, the who, what, when, where, why, and how. The how is an offender's modus operandi, or MO, the steps the offender took to successfully commit their crime. Five factors that contribute to an offender's MO are: offense location, what weapon they used, what restraints they used, their precautionary acts, and transport to and from the crime scene (Petherick).

The criminals MO can help the profiler determine what kind of personality traits they have by looking to see if the the victim was stabbed, strangled, shot etc. Another aspect of the crime a profiler looks at is the suspect's signature. A suspect’s signature is a reflection of their psychological and emotional states. A signature is used to describe anything the offender did that they didn't need to do to complete the crime. An example is the offender forcing the victim to put on specific clothing (Petherick). The suspect can give a criminal profiler an idea of how they are psychologically and idea how their personality is just based upon how they committed a crime.

Criminal profilers have helped in many cases throughout the years. One of the very first cases where a profile was used was in the case of “Jack the Ripper”. Jack the Ripper has fascinated criminal profilers for a very long time. Jack the Ripper was a serial killer that reigned in 1888 in Whitechapel, London. He killed and mutilated the bodies of five prostitutes which terrified the community. The police asked the opinion of Thomas Bond, a police surgeon, initially on the suspect surgical skill but also gave a behavioral profile. Even though the police were

not able to convict Jack the Ripper the profile of the serial killer is imprinted in history (Petherick). The next time the United Kingdom used profiling was in the 1980’s to try and help catch the “Railway Rapist”. The Railway Rapist was the largest investigation since the Yorkshire Ripper. The Police finally caught the Railway Rapist after David Canter, a psychologist, created a profile of the rapist. The rapist, John Duffy, was caught after he was found stalking a woman in a residential park. Duffy was convicted of three murders and 24 rapes. After Duffy's apprehension it was showed how accurate Canter's profile was. Canter profiled the suspect as someone who would live in a small town in northwest London and Duffy lived in Kilburn which is a small town in London. Canter also profiled the suspect to be married with no children, only have two close friends, he would be small in stature, have light colored hair, he would be in his mid to late twenties, he would have a semiskilled job with knowledge of the railway system, and would have a criminal history of aggression. John Duffy fit David Canter’s profile perfectly. (Petherick). Another time where a profile was used was on Hitler during World War II. The Office of Strategic Services asked Walter Langer, a psychiatrist employed by the OSS, to create a profile of Hitler including his state of mind and future actions. Langer's profile was divided into five sections: how Hitler saw himself; how Germany saw Hitler; how Hitler's associates saw him; his psychological analysis and his future behavior (Petherick). Langer profiled that at the end of the war Hitler would most likely commit suicide and that's exactly what happened. One of the most prominent cases that used profiling was the case of the “Mad Bomber of New York”. In 1940 there were a multitude of explosions in public areas of New York caused by the "Mad Bomber of New York". The Mad Bomber left explosives in movie theaters, in telephone boxes and on the street for around 16 years. On the first explosive which went off at the Con Edison building there was a note which said "Con Edison crooks, this is for you" (Petherick). Police decided to bring in Dr. James Brussel, a psychiatrist, to help identify the "Mad Bomber of New York". Brussel viewed all the evidence and made a profile very similar to the actual bomber, George Metesky. The most famous point in Brussel's profile was what Metesky would be wearing at the time of his arrest. Brussel stated that "When you find him, he will be wearing a navy blue double-breasted suit, but buttoned. George Metesky was originally wearing his pajamas when the police found him, but he asked the police if he could change and when he did he changed into a navy blue, pinstriped, double breasted suit (Petherick). Without the profilers help the police would of never caught those criminals or it would've taken the police a lot longer and more innocent lives could've been taken.
Even though profilers have helped with many cases they are not perfect.

One problem about profiles is they can be too vague and general. If a profile only claims that the offender is white and ages 17 to 24 they could be anyone, and most cases are committed by those types of offenders (Petherick). Not all profilers profile that way. Most profilers do have very detailed profiles and help the police. In 1981 the FBI conducted a study on the value of profilers. In 88 cases respondents said that in 72% of cases they located the suspect, in 17% the profilers directly identified the suspect, and in 20% of the cases they located the suspect (Petherick). Another reason why profilers are highly debated is because a lot of studies have shown that if someone knows the basic characteristics of criminals they can do as well as profilers (Radford). That also might not be entirely true too. In the 1990 Pinizzotto/ Finkel study four groups were studied to see the different processes used to create a profile. Profilers had the highest average of correct profile characteristics at 29.1, detectives at 15.8, psychologists at 10.8, and then students at 6.3. No human being can predict how someone will heal or react. Medical doctors don't know for certain if a medicine will heal a patient but they use their experience and knowledge to treat them. A profilers works the same way, profilers might not be completely accurate but they use knowledge from other cases and use their experience to make a

profile (Schurman-Kauflin). In an interview Deborah Schurman-Kauflin was asked if profiling should be done with, she answered the question with the question “What does a medical doctor do?” the interviewer was confused and Schurman-Kauflin explained that a medical doctor prescribes you with medicine based on past cases and their knowledge of medicine. The doctor doesn’t know if the medicine will heal you but they take a chance. Criminal profilers do the same thing but you don’t see the public questioning doctors.
Criminal profilers have shown throughout the years that they aid in the apprehension of criminals. Profilers help the police by showing how criminals think and what their next move will be and also their appearance. Criminal profilers should be given more credit than they are currently given.