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The Questions
Over the years since MINDHUNTER came out, I've reached out to millions of people through subsequent books, lectures, television interviews, documentaries, and internet articles. I've never doubted my purpose-to educate and inform. But there have been critics. And I don't just mean the book reviewers.
Many times I've been asked whether I worry that by telling the world the "secrets" of profiling I'm actually teaching criminals how to get away with their crimes. For example, when I discuss what makes a staged crime scene so easy to spot, am I teaching would-be stagers what not to do? When I say that a woman being sexually assaulted should try to personalize the situation to save her life, or even prevent the assault from going any further, am I alerting rapists to this tactic, rendering it ineffective?
The Answers
The general answer is no. I don't believe there should be any "secrets" of profiling. It's not magic; I'm not David Copperfield. There are no illusions, and there certainly is no trap door. When it comes to information that can help civilians stay safe and investigators keep them that way, I believe it is the responsibility of those of us who know to share our knowledge.
And the specific answer is also, emphatically, no. Answering the first example, the half a handful of organized violent criminals who could maintain the clarity and control to stage a crime scene with my words in mind (an unlikely scenario) would still, in the rush and fury of the crime, inevitably miss something that an informed, experienced investigator would pick up on. I've often pointed out that even I, knowing what I know and having seen what I've seen, couldn't do it. There's no underestimating the adrenaline rush these guys get, and that never makes for clear thinking.
As for the second example, I believe arming potential victims with as much information as possible gives them their best shot at self-defense. Nothing is guaranteed, obviously. But I think the risk of informing a would-be rapist is far outweighed by the chance of saving a woman's life. Sex offenders experience that same mind-clouding adrenaline rush I mentioned above. And they're living for an aggressive fantasy they've built up in their minds; thinking beforehand about what I've advised women to do when assaulted by degenerates like them (another unlikely scenario) would definitely interfere with that fantasy.
A Letter
I won't address each and every aspect of criminal profiling I've told civilians and criminal investigators about since 1995, when MINDHUNTER came out, and even before that, when I and my colleagues were very evangelical about our methods, knowing that they could help state and local authorities do their jobs. But I would like to reprint a letter I received a few weeks ago that says some things I could never say on my own behalf. The author of this letter kindly allowed us to include it in this article.
Before you read the letter, let me congratulate Mr. Surber. From what he's told me, I'd say his story is one that should make investigators proud.
Dear Mr. Douglas:
My name is Brian Surber and I am a prosecutor in Kay County, Oklahoma. I have read THE ANATOMY OF MOTIVE, THE CASES THAT HAUNT US, and I finished MINDHUNTER a few weeks ago.
On Friday, a guy came to our office representing himself on a misdemeanor weapons charge. As I read the police report, I noticed that he was carrying what could be characterized as a rape kit (cotton gloves, a bandana, binoculars, a flashlight, and athletic tape) along with his gun and knife. Further, he was over two hours from his home town walking through a residential area with no explanation as to why he was there.
I asked him what was going on that night and he told me he was just returning from a fishing trip and exercising his legs. I told him that he was carrying what is referred to as a rape kit and I thought he was full of it. For reasons unbeknownst to me, he told me that he was walking around fantasizing and looking for "an opportunity." As we talked, this 43-year-old man told me that he had been fantasizing about raping women for about 20 years. He said he would prefer to be married with a normal sex life but women have a problem with men with a small stature like himself (they would not look at him as a "protector"). When he realized that he would never be able to have consensual sex, he started fantasizing about forced sex. He had experimented with a hooker in Wichita but was unable to get an erection. He said he felt this was "par for the course." He was recently fired from his job at the Boeing plant and he spoke with a speech impediment. Sound Familiar??
Although he never said he did anything more than fantasize, I [was able to] keep him in jail over the weekend (the bad guy was pissed to say the least). He refused consent to search his truck so we called in a drug dog (he had marijuana on him at his arrest) which alerted to his driver side door. Along with his marijuana and paraphernalia, we found another complete rape kit with everything he had before. He even had two condoms-normally not that big of a deal, except this guy told me he had not had consensual sex in 20 years and knew he would never experience normal sex.
We sent out a teletype to northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas for unsolved rapes involving binding with tape. First thing this morning (Monday) we got a call from a department with an unsolved rape that matched in virtually every aspect. Not only did that attempted rapist use white cotton gloves, wear a bandana, bind her with duct tape, and threaten her with a silver revolver, he also spoke with a speech impediment, told the victim he had just been fired and had a college business degree (which our guy does)-he even unloaded on her about how women don't like him because of his size. The victim (who has seen several photo line-ups over the last several months) immediately picked out his photo from the line-up. The second she saw it she said she felt like vomiting. She is 100 percent certain our guy is her assailant. Also, the defendant has three brothers that live in the small Kansas town where the assault took place. The Kansas authorities are drafting search warrants for this guy's two homes as I write this message.
There are several other fascinating details, but I am trying to give you the short version.
If I had never read THE ANATOMY OF MOTIVE and MINDHUNTER, I would have simply thought this guy was a pervert and told him I had better not ever see him in my county again. But from your books I knew this guy had advanced well beyond window peeping based on his progressive methods and practice.
I don't know why he decided to spill his guts to me. He told me that nobody had ever asked him about his thoughts and he was telling me about his fantasies because I was asking. Your books describe not only what these guys do, but why they do it. When I would talk about what I thought was driving him and how I knew he didn't just begin his exploits that night he was caught, I think it was enough of a bluff to motivate him to talk.
I'm sorry to take up so much of your time to tell you this story. But I did want you to know that without your books, this S.O.B. would still be driving the roads of northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas looking for his next opportunity. As I write this letter, he is sitting in a jail cell awaiting extradition to Kansas to face the music for his crimes.
I certainly do appreciate all of the work you have put into your
discipline and program at the Academy. I can't wait to read OBSESSION.
Thanks again.
Brian Surber
As gratifying as it is to know that the information in those books helped him spot a sexual predator and get him behind bars, as much as anything I'm impressed and encouraged by what he tells me about how he used the information. You have to put knowledge to work, you have to trust your instincts, and you have to look beyond the obvious.
The Lessons
Some important points I've stressed to investigators over the years are illustrated in this letter.
First, if you see something suspicious, follow it through. Don't let the obvious, or the easy way out, or even naysayers to your theory deter you from looking into what your education, experience, and instincts tell you.
Second, conduct interrogations carefully. I don't believe in beating information out of people, obviously. But if you can finesse information out of someone by knowing what questions to ask and how to ask them, you can protect a lot of innocent people while respecting a suspect's civil rights.
Third, don't let your suspect spook you. Predatory, violent criminals will tell some sick and frightening stories. I know I've squirmed many times in the interrogation room. Some accounts have made me physically sick. But you have to hold your own, and try not to drop your line of questions when it gets uncomfortable.
Fourth, you have to listen. When we watch interrogations on TV, what do we see? Lots of yelling, then a shaking, maybe even weeping suspect reaching for the paper and pencil. That's not the way it happens. In Mr. Surber's case, he was apparently interrogating a suspect whose crime was as yet unknown to the authorities in Mr. Surber's jurisdiction. So he wasn't fishing for a confession to a crime for which he'd gathered evidence, witnesses, photographs, etc. He was letting the guy tell him what the rape kit, the condoms, and his odd wandering all meant. You have to let these guys relive their fantasies. I can't overstress this point: Listening is key.
Finally, sometimes you have to go way beyond the call of duty. You have to be creative. I've often talked about the lack of a mandatory, nationwide violent crime database. When we get to the point of having a system that all local and state police have to participate in we'll find our solution rate for violent crimes steadily increasing. Mr. Surber contacted the authorities in neighboring jurisdictions in his state and in Kansas, doing what a nationwide database would've done for him. He had a feeling, he had evidence, and he had answers from his suspect that all led to the conclusion that this guy had committed a crime recently and close by. Instead of waiting for investigators of that crime to find Surber's suspect, Surber took the suspect to them.
The More We Know
It may have become an old adage, but it's true-the more we know, the safer we are. Knowledge of the criminal mind works for us in two ways. We can arm ourselves with it, keeping ourselves and our loved ones out of high-risk situations. And those men and women whose job it is to keep our streets and offices and homes safe, who risk their lives every day to do so, use their knowledge to prevent crimes and keep criminals off the streets.
If I can give people knowledge, insight, and information, even anecdotally,
that helps in either of these ways, I feel like I've done a good thing.
There's no better reward than that, and no better reason to keep on
doing what I and my colleagues have been doing.
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