Post by fordprefect on Feb 20, 2016 20:06:50 GMT
Well. This is disappointing.
The FBI's Flawed ViCAP Database
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/vicap-fbi-database/399986/
For those who don't know what it is:
Keep in mind that what follows has nothing to do with DNA comparisons. That's done with CODIS. However, if EAR/ONS continued to kill and managed to not leave DNA, then this may be relevant. It's also relevant since many of us are interested in other killers.
And here's the sobering news:
It is largely unused, with little information going into it:
The database is confusing and cumbersome, without much support:
People misunderstand the database, thinking that it automatically compares new data to old:
How Canada used the FBI's database as a model and used it better than we have:
An interesting piece of history, with relevance for serial rapist information:
And. Well. This.
The FBI's Flawed ViCAP Database
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/vicap-fbi-database/399986/
For those who don't know what it is:
More than 30 years ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a revolutionary computer system in a bomb shelter two floors beneath the cafeteria of its national academy. Dubbed the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, or ViCAP, it was a database designed to help catch the nation’s most violent offenders by linking together unsolved crimes. A serial rapist wielding a favorite knife in one attack might be identified when he used the same knife elsewhere. The system was rooted in the belief that some criminals’ methods were unique enough to serve as a kind of behavioral DNA—allowing identification based on how a person acted, rather than their genetic make-up.
Equally as important was the idea that local law-enforcement agencies needed a way to better communicate with each other. Savvy killers had attacked in different jurisdictions to exploit gaping holes in police cooperation. ViCAP’s “implementation could mean the prevention of countless murders and the prompt apprehension of violent criminals,” the late Senator Arlen Specter wrote in a letter to the Justice Department endorsing the program’s creation.
Equally as important was the idea that local law-enforcement agencies needed a way to better communicate with each other. Savvy killers had attacked in different jurisdictions to exploit gaping holes in police cooperation. ViCAP’s “implementation could mean the prevention of countless murders and the prompt apprehension of violent criminals,” the late Senator Arlen Specter wrote in a letter to the Justice Department endorsing the program’s creation.
Keep in mind that what follows has nothing to do with DNA comparisons. That's done with CODIS. However, if EAR/ONS continued to kill and managed to not leave DNA, then this may be relevant. It's also relevant since many of us are interested in other killers.
And here's the sobering news:
It is largely unused, with little information going into it:
That’s what’s striking about ViCAP today: the paucity of information it contains. Only about 1,400 police agencies in the U.S., out of roughly 18,000, participate in the system. The database receives reports from far less than 1 percent of the violent crimes committed annually. It’s not even clear how many crimes the database has helped solve. The FBI does not release any figures. A review in the 1990s found it had linked only 33 crimes in 12 years.
In an agency with an $8.2 billion yearly budget, ViCAP receives around $800,000 a year to keep the system going. The ViCAP program has a staff of 12. Travel and training have been cut back in recent years. Last year, the program provided analytical assistance to local cops just 220 times. As a result, the program has done little to close the gap that prompted Congress to create it. Police agencies still don’t talk to each other on many occasions. Killers and rapists continue to escape arrest by exploiting that weakness.
Local cops say the system is confusing and cumbersome. Entering a single case into the database can take an hour and hits—where an unsolved crime is connected to a prior incident—are rare. False positives are common. Many also said the FBI does little to teach cops how to use the system. Training has dropped from a high of about 5,500 officers in 2012 to 1,200 last year.
“We don’t really use ViCAP,” said Jeff Jensen, a criminal analyst for the Phoenix police department with 15 years of experience. “It really is quite a chore.”
“We don’t really use ViCAP,” said Jeff Jensen, a criminal analyst for the Phoenix police department with 15 years of experience. “It really is quite a chore.”
People misunderstand the database, thinking that it automatically compares new data to old:
The FBI has contributed to the confusion by misrepresenting the system. On its website, the FBI says cases in its database are “continually compared” for matches as new cases are entered. But in an interview, program officials said that does not happen. “We have plans for that in the future,” said Nathan Graham, a crime analyst for the program. The agency said it would update the information on its website.
How Canada used the FBI's database as a model and used it better than we have:
Today, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police maintains a database containing more than 500,000 criminal case profiles. The agency credits it with linking together some 7,000 unsolved crimes since 1995—though not all of those linkages resulted in an arrest. If the FBI collected information as consistently as the Mounties, its database would contain more than 4.4 million cases, based on the greater U.S. population.
Instead, the FBI has about 89,000 cases on file.
One critical difference: In the U.S., reporting to the system is largely voluntary. In Canada, legislators have made it mandatory.
Instead, the FBI has about 89,000 cases on file.
One critical difference: In the U.S., reporting to the system is largely voluntary. In Canada, legislators have made it mandatory.
An interesting piece of history, with relevance for serial rapist information:
By 1997, the system was receiving 1,500 or so cases per year—a record, though still a fraction of the violent crimes committed.
Meister saw the potential for the database to help solve sexual-assault crimes. He pushed the development of new questions specifically for sexual-assault cases. They weren’t added to the system until after his departure in 2001. “I felt it would really pay off dividends,” Meister said. “There are a lot more serial rapists than serial killers.”
But he found it difficult to make headway. Top officials showed no real interest in the program. After all, it was designed to help local law enforcement, not the agency. Meister called ViCAP “the furthest planet from the sun”—the last in line to get funds from the FBI.
Meister saw the potential for the database to help solve sexual-assault crimes. He pushed the development of new questions specifically for sexual-assault cases. They weren’t added to the system until after his departure in 2001. “I felt it would really pay off dividends,” Meister said. “There are a lot more serial rapists than serial killers.”
But he found it difficult to make headway. Top officials showed no real interest in the program. After all, it was designed to help local law enforcement, not the agency. Meister called ViCAP “the furthest planet from the sun”—the last in line to get funds from the FBI.
And. Well. This.
But in a dozen interviews with current and former police investigators and analysts across the country, most said they had not heard of ViCAP, or had seen little benefit to using it. Among sex-crimes detectives, none reported having been rewarded with a result from the system. “I’m not sending stuff off to ViCAP because I don’t even know what that is,” said Sergeant Peter Mahuna of the Portland, Oregon, police department. “I have never used ViCAP,” said Sergeant Elizabeth Donegan of Austin, Texas. “We’re not trained on it. I don’t know what it entails of whether it would be useful for us.”
Even Joanne Archambault, the director of the police-training organization who sees the potential of ViCAP, didn’t use it when she ran the sex-crimes unit at the San Diego police department: “In all the years I worked these crimes, we never submitted information to ViCAP,” she said. “As a sex-crime supervisor, we invested time in effort that had a payout.”
Local authorities’ skepticism is reflected in the FBI’s statistics. In 2013, police submitted 240 cases involving sexual assault to the system. The FBI recorded 79,770 forcible rapes that year. Local agencies entered information on 232 homicides. The FBI recorded 14,196 murders.
Even Joanne Archambault, the director of the police-training organization who sees the potential of ViCAP, didn’t use it when she ran the sex-crimes unit at the San Diego police department: “In all the years I worked these crimes, we never submitted information to ViCAP,” she said. “As a sex-crime supervisor, we invested time in effort that had a payout.”
Local authorities’ skepticism is reflected in the FBI’s statistics. In 2013, police submitted 240 cases involving sexual assault to the system. The FBI recorded 79,770 forcible rapes that year. Local agencies entered information on 232 homicides. The FBI recorded 14,196 murders.
