Tracking violent crime - Australian Institute of Criminology

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as well as police The NMPU also coordinates the Police Consultative Group on Missing Persons and is responsible for public awareness and the provision of investigative support when requested. In 1997, the Unit has the responsibility of coordinating National Missing Persons Week in August. • Threat assessment • Product contamination, extortion and kidnapping (where extortion is involved) • The Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS) LINKAGE SYSTEMS The concept of linking violent serial offenders and offences is not new. The FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) was developed after a Los Angeles Police Department detective named Pierce Brooks, recognised the difficulty in comparing murders in the United States. In 1958, he was investigating several murders and believed that the offenders would have previously killed elsewhere in the United States. There was no national repository to ascertain this information, so he began researching in the city library where he reviewed major newspapers looking for media reports of similar cases. After receiving funding from the United States Department of Justice in the 1970’s, a task force of homicide investigators, crime analysts and behavioural experts developed the ViCAP system, which officially became operational in 1985. ViCAP is not a form of artificial intelligence but manipulates the data collected in order for an analyst to examine possibly related cases. It provides a national forum for modus operandi, as well as offender and victim behaviour to be examined. The ViCAP system is administered by the FBI working from the National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), and is supported by regional FBI offices. The success of the system relies heavily on information received from each policing agency. There have been difficulties in the ViCAP system which is not surprising considering there are approximately 14000 separate police agencies in the United States, not all of which contribute to the ViCAP system. BACKGROUND TO ViCLAS The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) examined and evaluated their own Major Crime File System (MCFS), ViCAP and other systems available worldwide, before developing ViCLAS. 4
As well as Canada, ViCLAS has now been adopted by several areas of the United States, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, England and Australia. Although New Zealand may not adopt ViCLAS, they are examining methods to make their systems compatible, to ensure information flow between our two countries. HOW DOES ViCLAS WORK ViCLAS works in a similar manner to ViCAP, but is more user friendly, as it runs in a Windows environment. Data is collected for specific violent crimes and entered onto the ViCLAS system. The categories of crime include • All solved or unsolved homicides and attempts; • Solved or unsolved sexual assaults of a predatory nature; • Unidentified dead bodies, where the manner of death is known or suspected to be homicide; • Outstanding missing persons - those still missing after sixty days or where the circumstances of their disappearance is immediately suspicious. • All non parental abductions and attempts; and • Known or suspected false allegations of sexual assault. ViCLAS requires a trained analyst to manipulate the data and come to a conclusion as to whether cases are linked. The analysts then advise the appropriate investigators, who liaise. Training of the specialist analysts is vital. ViCLAS relies not only on the traditional Modus Operandi (M.O) information but also on behavioural information from the crime scene. The analysts will have to be able to differentiate between the M.O and signature aspects of the crime and to understand this, will have to be trained in the basic concepts of criminal investigative analysis. The M.O. of a crime describes the way in which an offender carries out the crime. It is learned behaviour that is developed over time and is dynamic. The M.O. may change over time as the offender gains experience and confidence. An example of this is the offender who breaks into a house through a window without wearing gloves. He may be apprehended through fingerprint evidence and so the next time breaks into a house through a window, but wears gloves. The signature aspects of a crime are somewhat different. This is a unique and integral part of the offender’s behaviour, which often goes beyond the actions needed to commit the crime. The signature aspect of a crime often has it’s beginnings in the offender’s fantasies, is related to his particular needs, and the theme generally remains 5
Page 1 and 2: AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF CRIMINAL INTEL
Page 3: BACKGROUND TO AVCAC The proposal to
Page 7 and 8: Modern transport enables offenders
Page 9: CONCLUSION The AVCAC has been inter

Tracking violent crime - Australian Institute of Criminology

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