Rossmo (Vancouver police department) examines the spatial patterns produced by the hunting behavior and target locations of serial violent criminals. Hunting behavior refers to victim search and attack processes engaged in by an offender, and target locations are the various geographic sites connected to a crime series. The methodology determines the most likely area of offender residence, while managing the large volume of information typically generated in major crime investigations. The author concludes with case descriptions of some of the most notorious serial killers in America, and the application of geographic profiling to police strategies such as task force management and neighborhood canvasses. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
As any police officer who has ever walked a beat or worked a crime scene knows, the street has its hot spots, patterns, and rhythms: drug dealers work their markets, prostitutes stroll their favorite corners, and burglars hit their favorite neighborhoods. But putting all the geographic information together in cases of serial violent crime (murder, rape, arson, bombing, and robbery) is highly challenging. Just ask the homicide detectives of the Los Angeles Police Department who hunted the Hillside Stranglers, or law enforcement officers in Louisiana who tracked the brutal South Side rapist.
Geographic Profiling introduces and explains this cutting-edge investigative methodology in-depth. Used to analyze the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most likely area of offender residence, geographic profiling allows investigators and law enforcement officers to more effectively manage information and focus their investigations.
This extensive and exhaustive work explains geographic profiling theories and principles, and includes an extensive review of the literature and research in the areas of criminal profiling, forensic behavioral science, serial violent crime, environmental criminology, and the geography of crime. For investigators and police officers deployed in the field, as well as criminal analysts, Geographic Profiling is a "must have" reference.