Geographical profiling is defined as a method for evaluating locations connected to a crime in order to identify the probable area of an offender’s home location, place of work, or other relevant locations based off of nomothetic data and assumptions (Turvey, 2012). Dr. Darcy Kim Rossmo, a Canadian criminologist, is accredited for his influence on geographical profiling. Rossmo concluded in his research that offender’s geographical correlation to a crime is routinely based on offender residence, workplace and leisure activity (2012). Based on this theory, the Vancouver Police Department launched it’s first Geographic-Profiling Section in 1995. Since its establishment several agencies world wide, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), have enlisted assistance from the Geographic-Profiling Section at the Vancouver Police Department to aid in their investigations.
However, in 1997 Dr. Rossmo co-founded the Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI) and helped develop the ECRI’s Rigel software that allows investigators to prioritize suspects and …show more content…
In December 2000, the Vancouver Police Department faced budget cuts and disbanded their Geographical Profiling Unit on the grounds that it was not as beneficial as once believed (Turvey, 2012). Today, Rigel, and similar geoprofiling software, is used in serial murders, rapes, arson cases, serial bombings, linked robberies, and property crimes by many national, regional and local police agencies. Caution should be used when applying Rossmo’s formula as one should not assume that a criminal will not commit crimes in a "buffer zone" close to his or her home, and that they will not travel far from home to carry out a