NATIONAL
CENTER FOR THE ANALYSIS OF VIOLENT CRIME
The
mission of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC)
is to combine investigative and operational support functions, research,
and training in order to provide assistance, without charge, to federal,
state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies investigating unusual
or repetitive violent crimes. The NCAVC also provides support through expertise
and consultation in non-violent matters such as national security, corruption,
and white-collar crime investigations.
The experienced FBI
Special Agents and other professionals who comprise the NCAVC staff provide
advice and support in a variety of investigative matters and other law
enforcement related functions. Typical cases for which NCAVC services are
requested include child abduction or mysterious disappearance of children,
serial murders, single homicides, serial rapes, extortions, threats, kidnappings,
product tampering, arsons and bombings, weapons of mass destruction, public
corruption, and domestic and international terrorism. The operational services
of the NCAVC are supported by research and training programs. Requests
for NCAVC services are typically facilitated through NCAVC coordinators
assigned to each FBI field office.
To accomplish its mission,
the NCAVC is organized into three components:
Behavioral
Analysis Unit (BAU) -- East/West Regions
The mission of the BAU is to provide behavioral based investigative
and operational support by applying case experience, research,
and training to complex and time-sensitive crimes, typically involving
acts or threats of violence. The program areas addressed include
Crimes Against Children, Crimes Against Adults, Communicated Threats,
Corruption, and Bombing and Arson Investigations. The BAU receives
requests for services from Federal, state, local, and international
law enforcement agencies. Response to these requests for BAU assistance
are facilitated through the network of field NCAVC coordinators.
BAU services are provided during on-site case consultations, telephone
conference calls, and/or consultations held at the BAU with case
investigators.
BAU assistance to law
enforcement agencies is provided through the process of "criminal
investigative analysis." Criminal investigative analysis is a process
of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective.
It involves reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting
offender behavior, and interaction with the victim, as exhibited during
the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the crime scene. BAU staff
conduct detailed analyses of crimes for the purpose of providing one or
more of the following services: crime analysis, investigative suggestions,
profiles of unknown offenders, threat analysis, critical incident analysis,
interview strategies, major case management, search warrant assistance,
prosecutive and trial strategies, and expert testimony.
In addition to the above
services, the BAU staff produced the "Child Abduction Response Plan" to
assist investigators faced with these challenging and time-sensitive investigations.
Recently, the BAU released "The
School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective" report to guide
school administrators, teachers, parents, and law enforcement in identifying
and evaluating threats in our schools. The BAU maintains a reference file
for experts in various forensic disciplines such as odontology, anthropology,
entomology, or pathology.
- In April 2000, the
University of Iowa Injury Prevention Center sponsored the Workplace Violence
Intervention Research Workshop. The goal of this workshop was to examine
issues related to violence in the workplace and to develop recommended
research strategies to address this public health problem. The workshop
brought together 37 invited participants representing diverse constituencies
within industry, organized labor, municipal, state and federal governments,
and academia. Workplace
Violence--A Report to the Nation is the product of this effort.
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Child
Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC)
The Morgan P. Hardiman Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative
Resources Center (CASMIRC) was established as part of Public Law
105-314, the Protection of Children From Sexual Predators Act, passed
by Congress on October 30, 1998. The legislation provides that the
Attorney General shall establish within the FBI's NCAVC a CASMIRC
in order to provide investigative support through the coordination
and provision of federal law enforcement resources, training, and
application of other multidisciplinary expertise, and to assist federal,
state, and local authorities in matters involving child abductions,
mysterious disappearances of children, child homicide, and serial
murder across the country. Therefore, the overall strategic goal
of CASMIRC, as set forth in the legislation, is to reduce the impact
of these crimes.
Additionally, CASMIRC has been tasked to accomplish the following:
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improve
the investigation of major violent crimes through the establishment and
coordination of CASMIRC with federal, state and local authorities;
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provide,
if requested by a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency, on-site
consultation and advice;
establish
a centralized repository based upon case data reflecting child abductions,
mysterious disappearances of children, child homicides, and serial murder
submitted by state and local agencies;
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increase
the efficiency of the FBI's NCAVC as an operational entity designed to
provide operational support functions to any law enforcement agency confronted
with a child abduction, mysterious disappearance of a child, child homicide,
or serial murder;
-
improve
the behaviorally based operational support services provided by the FBI
in an attempt to reduce incidences of violent crime;
-
identify
and prioritize those areas of research necessary to address existing
and emerging violent crime problems in the areas of child abductions,
mysterious disappearances of a child, child homicide, and serial murder;
and,
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provide,
in coordination with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, appropriate
training to federal, state, and local law enforcement in matters regarding
child abductions, mysterious disappearances of children, and child homicides.
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Violent
Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP)
VICAP's mission is to facilitate cooperation, communication, and coordination
between law enforcement agencies and provide support in their efforts to
investigate, identify, track, apprehend, and prosecute violent serial offenders.
What is VICAP?
VICAP is a nationwide data information center designed
to collect, collate, and analyze crimes of violence - specifically
murder. Cases examined by VICAP include:
- solved
or unsolved homicides or attempts, especially those that involve an
abduction; are apparently random, motiveless, or sexually oriented;
or are known or suspected to be part of a series;
- missing
persons, where the circumstances indicate a strong possibility of foul
play and the victim is still missing;
- unidentified
dead bodies, where the manner of death is known or suspected to be
homicide; and
The
FBI provides the software to set up the ViCAP database to state and local
law enforcement agencies, free of charge. The program has been embraced
by many large and small agencies nationwide.
The Process
Cases meeting the ViCAP submission criteria with an arrested or identified
offender can be entered into the ViCAP system by law enforcement investigators
for database comparison and possible matching with unsolved cases. Additionally,
criteria cases with an unidentified offender may be submitted for database
comparison.
Once a case is entered
into the ViCAP database, it is compared continually against all other entries
on the basis of certain aspects of the crime. The purpose of this process
is to detect signature aspects/traits of homicide and similar patterns
of modus operandi (MOs), which will in turn, allow ViCAP personnel to pinpoint
those crimes that have been committed by the same offender. When patterns
are found, involved law enforcement agencies will be notified of the results
and they will pursue the information for lead value.
Furthering Law
Enforcement Cooperation
When a pattern of criminal activity is discovered, for example a serial
murder suspect has been identified, ViCAP can then assist law enforcement
agencies by coordinating a multi-agency investigative conference for case
review. The multi-agency conference becomes especially important when the
suspect(s) has traveled throughout the country. A very valuable product of
prior conferences was the sharing of information and coordination of activities
such as interview topics that would connect the cases together, successful
interrogation techniques, specific evidence to identify in search warrants,
and unique laboratory tests to conduct.
ViCAP also offers services
in investigative support (e.g. time lines, NCIC offline searches, NLETS
searches, investigative matrix, etc.), major case management consultation,
coordination, facilitation, and training in crime analysis.
When requested, VICAP
staff will prepare the "VICAP Alert" notice for publication in
the FBI's Law Enforcement Bulletin,
Law Enforcement On-line Newsletter, and other publications. These
notices typically address offender descriptive data, crime(s), background,
MO, maps showing travel and dates, photographs of the offender and vehicles,
and the name and telephone number of a contact person in the requesting
agency.
To
correspond with VICAP, you may write to:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Critical Incident Response Group
FBI Academy
Quantico, VA 22135
A Timeless
Tool
The VICAP database is effective in solving crimes from the present and the
past. Law enforcement may enter cases that occurred in 2000, the 1980s or
even the 1950s; any case that law enforcement feels VICAP can assist in may
be offered.
Case Assistance
Rafael Resendez-Ramirez - A Former "Ten Most Wanted" Fugitive
ViCAP became involved in the
investigation of Ramirez who would eventually be the suspect in various
crimes in Texas and Kentucky. When Texas authorities first learned that
two Texas cases were possibly linked by a common offender, ViCAP was contacted.
Based on certain behaviors and methodology of the offender in their two
cases, ViCAP was able to tell them of a similar case in Kentucky that had
occurred two years before. Investigators followed up with a DNA analysis
which matched the cases, and this became the catalyst for authorities to
realize they had a national serial offender on the loose. ViCAP assisted
the investigation by providing the Texas authorities with other possibly
related cases occurring elsewhere in the United States.
In The Present,
Solving The Past
ViCAP
continues to be used to solve crimes from the past. In 1989 investigators
from Pennsylvania entered a case from 1951 into the ViCAP database. In
this case, a man was found guilty of murdering a young girl. Not long after,
investigators from Illinois entered an unsolved case from 1957, in which
an approximately eight year old girl was murdered. ViCAP analysts noticed
similarities in the two cases. Due to these similarities and other related
evidence, detectives in Illinois were able to solve a crime that occurred
almost 40 years ago
and finally resolve a terrible mystery for the parents.
Recently
(05/2004), ViCAP analysts matched three Florida missing persons to
unidentified dead cases based on physical descriptions and verified
by DNA comparisons.
From East to West
ViCAP
assisted in another case that linked unsolved crimes separated by 3000
miles. In November, 1987, a Norwegian National was last seen in New York
City. Foreign law enforcement personnel submitted the case to ViCAP. The
assigned analyst saw that later in the same month in 1987, a body was found
in California, a case that was never solved. However through ViCAP's assistance,
investigators compared dental records and discovered that the body found
in California was that of the man last seen in New York.
Similarly,
a Key West, Florida murderer, an avid chess player, was talking in
jail about a west coast murder he committed. The case involved a homosexual,
who was beat to death with a baseball bat. A search of the ViCAP system
located the exact case. It was confirmed that he committed the west
coast murder by a DNA comparison of a cigarette butt found in the hotel
room murder site. Also, a chess piece was located at the murder site.
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Mission
Statement |
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NCAVC - National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime |
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Behavioral
Analysis Unit |
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Child Abduction
Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center |
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Violent
Criminal Apprehension Program |
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