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Through out my career as an FBI agent and criminal profiler, I've often been asked,

what exactly is a profile and how are they created?

Profiling is part science, part art. The science part employs statistics the Bureau has compiled from thousands of violent crimes,

as well as interviews with the founders themselves. But obviously there's way more to creating a criminal profile of an unknown suspect than just statistics.

If that was how to do it, a computer could take the place of an experienced profiler.

The term profiler is really less of an FBI term and more of a pet name given by the media for agents certified in crime scene analysis at Quantico.

And I found that it's interchangeable both to the media and the general public as well.

For that reason, I use the term profiler in my title as it allows people to better understand what I do. I profile unknown offenders of violent crimes.

Profilers use psychology, behavioral and crime scene analysis, as well as information gleaned from the autopsy and police reports to analyze the what, when, where, and how of the attack.

We scrutinize even the most minute details to see if they suggest a pattern or offer a useful clue as to the offenders' personality.

By comparing the attack to similar crimes committed in the same way, profilers can pull out the most common characteristics of those known offenders to create a personality and lifestyle sketch of the unsub or unknown subject.

Profiles are most effective at targeting offenders who act out of psychopathological compulsion rather than say the kid who holds up a liquor store with a Saturday night special.

He panics and shoots the clerk. In that type of case, the pool of potential thieves with access to illegal handguns is simply too vast.

Additionally, there was almost no interaction between the robber and the clerk, so there wasn't much behavior to analyze.

You've heard me frequently mention a psychiatric diagnosis, but that's for offenders who've been caught and diagnosed by a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

But the profile is not an attempt at psychiatric diagnosis, and the why's it addresses can help prevent future crimes, such as why was a certain victim targeted?

Why was another released unscathed? Why did the violence of the attacks escalate over time? Is the offender likely to attack again?

The who of the formula, tracking down and arresting the actual offender, we leave to the police.

A good profile will not only point the cops in the right direction, but can also help predict where the offender is liable to surface. That's the art part.

Hi there, Wondry listeners. Hannah and Sruti here from TrueCram Podcast Red handed.

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