Profiling（犯罪剖绘)As the stars of true-crime documentaries, TV series and Hollywood thril

Profiling(犯罪剖绘)

As the stars of true-crime documentaries, TV series and Hollywood thrillers, criminal profilers have one of the best-known law enforcement jobs in the world. Basic profiling—identifying, the perpetrator(犯罪者) of a crime based on an analysis of crime and the way it was committed—is a common investigative tool. But some fear that police departments have taken profiling too far, harassing or even arresting people because of certain characteristics they might have in common with criminals—or worse yet, because of their skin color. Others argue that in an age of terrorism and violent crime, we can't afford not to examine people based on crime patterns, even if that means suspicion based on race.

Basics of Profiling

The most basic kind of profiling is a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) or All-Points Bulletin (APB). You're probably familiar with these, although you might not have heard it referred to as a profile.

An APB is a description of a specific suspect accused of committing a specific crime or crimes, usually based on eyewitness accounts. For example, following a bank robbery, police might interview suspects and review surveillance camera footage before releasing the following APB:

Suspect was last seen in a dark blue Ford pick-up truck. He was wearing a red T-shirt and black jeans. Suspect is described as a white male, 5-feet 10-inches tall and thin with receding blond hair. He has a tattoo of a snake on his left forearm.

The next step in profiling is the psychological profile. Investigators create this profile in the absence of physical evidence or eyewitness descriptions, or to supplement such descriptions. They take what they know about an unknown suspect and his actions and try to generate additional information. For example, if a serial murderer has been killing the female employees of a law firm, profilers might find it likely that the killer is a male former employee or client of the law firm.

Other evidence, such as notes left by the killer, the location of the killing, or the state of the crime scene can allow profilers to develop "educated guesses." These guesses might include things like the suspect's education level, psychological traumas(创伤) he has suffered or where he lives. They are not always 100 percent accurate, and sometimes they can be rather vague.

Predictive Profiling

With predictive profiling, criminal profiling gets more controversial. Instead of seeking a particular suspect based on evidence at a specific crime, predictive profiling attempts to guess which people are likely to commit a crime that hasn't happened yet.

This isn't a revolutionary idea by itself. Police officers don't just react to crimes: they patrol, observe and try to spot suspicious behavior. that could mean a crime is going to take place. Few people would question an officers' right to investigate a suspicious situation or question a suspicious person. Even when police departments use their criminal profiles as a justification for searches and arrests without warrants, those practices have been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Here's an example. State troopers are patrolling a stretch of highway known to be frequented by drug traffickers(干非法勾当者). The officers know from previous experience that drug traffickers often use rented cars, travel in the very early morning, and put the spare tire in the backseat to leave more room in the trunk for drugs.

At 4:00 a.m. an officer notices a car that fits this profile. The driver is not breaking any major traffic rules, but the trooper pulls the car over anyway, hoping to spot some evidence that could lead to a search of the car. This is considered profiling. The practice of noting criminal tendencies and creating a written profile is sometimes attributed to Florida Highway Patrolman Bob Vogel, although it was probably carried out by other

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