Tension Builds Over Philadelphia Serial Killer
on December 9, 2010 in Law Enforcement, Unsubs by Brian CombsWith a potential serial strangler on the loose, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey is taking aggressive action:
We’ve gotta get this person off the street… If someone is assaulted it is important that they contact us immediately so any forensic evidence we can recover, we recover, any additional information in terms of description we can get and get out quickly… do not wait.
He has increased patrols of both uniformed and plain clothed officers. Countless arrests have been made for drug and prostitution offenses near the murder scenes. DNA samples have been taken from over five dozen people.
And he’s brought in the FBI’s Behavioral Science experts to profile the serial killer.
This doesn’t work like it’s portrayed in the television show Criminal Minds. The FBI generally does not send a team to Philly to work the case.
The local police send all the evidence they have, especially the crime scene analysis, to the FBI in Quantico, Virginia. There are no indications that the Philly police have a suspect at this point, but if they do, no information on this suspect should be sent to the FBI. This could bias the profiling, and aid in the unsub’s defense.
The BSU will attempt to determine whether this is the work of one unsub, or multiple. If it’s just one, they’ll develop a behavioral profile of the unsub that can be used in the investigation.
The output is not FBI agents busting down doors like they show on TV, but rather a written report. Not nearly as exciting, but still very useful.
Just for the record, I love the show Criminal Minds. It’s very entertaining, although not particularly accurate.