Kim Rossmo

Last updated

Dr. Kim Rossmo (born 1955 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian criminologist specializing in geographic profiling.

Contents

Vancouver

He joined the Vancouver Police Department as a civilian employee in 1978 and became a sworn officer in 1980. In 1987 he received a master's degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University and in 1995 became the first police officer in Canada to obtain a doctorate in criminology. [1] His dissertation research resulted in a new criminal investigative methodology called geographic profiling, based on Rossmo's formula. This technology was integrated into a specialized crime analysis software product called Rigel. The Rigel product is developed by the software company Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI), which Rossmo co-founded. [2]

In 1995, he was promoted to detective inspector and founded a geographic profiling section within the Vancouver Police Department. In 1998, his analysis of cases of missing sex trade workers determined that a serial killer was at work, a conclusion ultimately vindicated by the arrest and conviction of Robert Pickton in 2002. A retired Vancouver police staff sergeant has claimed that animosity toward Rossmo delayed the arrest of Pickton, leaving him free to carry out additional murders. [3] His analytic results were not accepted at the time and after a dispute with senior members of the department he left in 2001. His unsuccessful lawsuit against the Vancouver Police Board for wrongful dismissal exposed considerable apparent dysfunction within that department. [1]

Washington DC and Texas

After serving as director of research at the Police Foundation in Washington, DC, from 2001 to 2003, he moved to Texas State University where he currently holds the Endowed Chair in Criminology and is director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation. [4] Since then, he has applied techniques of geographic profiling to counterterrorism, animal foraging, [5] biological invasions, [6] [7] and epidemiology. He has also researched and published on the subject of criminal investigative failures. He has written three books.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Owen</span> Canadian mayor (1933–2021)

Philip Walter Owen was the 36th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia from 1993 to 2002, making him one of Vancouver's longest serving mayors. His father was Walter S. Owen, who was Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1973 to 1978.

Geographic profiling is a criminal investigative methodology that analyzes the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most probable area of offender residence. By incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods, it assists in understanding spatial behaviour of an offender and focusing the investigation to a smaller area of the community. Typically used in cases of serial murder or rape, the technique helps police detectives prioritize information in large-scale major crime investigations that often involve hundreds or thousands of suspects and tips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime mapping</span>

Crime mapping is used by analysts in law enforcement agencies to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns. It is a key component of crime analysis and the CompStat policing strategy. Mapping crime, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allows crime analysts to identify crime hot spots, along with other trends and patterns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevie Cameron</span> Canadian investigative journalist and author

Stevie Cameron,, is a Canadian investigative journalist and author.

CompStat—or COMPSTAT —is a computerization and quantification program used by police departments. It was originally set up by the New York City Police Department in the 1990s. Variations of the program have since been used in police departments across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offender profiling</span> Law enforcement investigative technique

Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is an investigative strategy used by law enforcement agencies to identify likely suspects and has been used by investigators to link cases that may have been committed by the same perpetrator. Multiple crimes may be linked to a specific offender and the profile may be used to predict the identified offender's future actions. In the 1980s, most researchers believed offender profiling was relevant only to sex crimes, like serial rape or sexual homicide, but since the late 1990s research has been published to support its application to arson (1998), and then later terrorism (2000) and burglary (2017).

Robert William "Willy" Pickton is a Canadian serial killer and former pig farmer. He is suspected of being one of the most prolific serial killers in Canadian history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missing Women Commission of Inquiry</span>

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was a commission in British Columbia ordered by the Lieutenant Governor in Council on September 27, 2010, to evaluate the response of law enforcement to reports of missing and murdered women. The commission concluded its Inquiry in December 2012, and outlined 63 recommendations to the Provincial government and relevant law enforcement. The Inquiry itself received criticism from various civil society group and Indigenous communities, regarding its investigative structure, as well as, the lack of government action after the Inquiry to fulfill its recommendations.

Luc Anselin is one of the developers of the field of spatial econometrics.

Computational criminology is an interdisciplinary field which uses computing science methods to formally define criminology concepts, improve our understanding of complex phenomena, and generate solutions for related problems.

In early 2009, a series of gang-related shootings occurred due to what police describe as a gang war in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Alleged participants include the Independent Soldiers, the Sanghera Crime Group, the Buttar Gang, the Bacon Brothers, the United Nations Gang, the Red Scorpions, and the Vancouver chapter of the Hells Angels.

The Lafayette Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency in Lafayette, Louisiana, with the exception of the campus of University of Louisiana, which falls under the responsibility of the UL Police.

Rossmo's formula is a geographic profiling formula to predict where a serial criminal lives. It relies upon the tendency of criminals to not commit crimes near places where they might be recognized, but also to not travel excessively long distances. The formula was developed and patented in 1996 by criminologist Kim Rossmo and integrated into a specialized crime analysis software product called Rigel. The Rigel product is developed by the software company Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI), which Rossmo co-founded.

The Women’s Memorial March is an annual event which occurs on February 14th in remembrance and in honour of the lives of missing and murdered indigenous women. This event is also a protest against class disparity, racism, inequality and violence. The event was originated and is held on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. The March begins on the corner of Main and Hastings and proceeds through downtown, stopping outside of bars, strip clubs, in alley ways and parking lots where women’s bodies have been found. Each woman’s name is read along with who she is a daughter to, or a mother of before the family and supporters pause to grieve.

Studies have been made of the "hunting patterns" of serial offenders, mainly serial killers and those committing repeated sex crimes. By hunting patterns are meant the interaction of time, space, and activity of a serial offender's criminal behavior. The attempt is made to ascribe rational motives to the offender's choice of places and times; investigators may invoke routine activity theory and rational choice theory in relation to the location of crimes.

Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI) is a crime analysis software company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company develops tools for police, military and security use. ECRI pioneered the use of geographic profiling software for serial crime analysis.

Christopher J. Schneider is an American sociologist and professor of sociology at Brandon University.

<i>Unclaimed</i> (2016 film)

Unclaimed, released as On the Farm in some international markets, is a Canadian TV film starring Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Sara Canning, Patrick Gallagher, Kevin McNulty, Tantoo Cardinal, and Sarah Strange. It is a dramatic narrative adapted from journalist Stevie Cameron's 2010 book of the same name, examining the years leading to serial killer Robert Pickton's arrest and the court proceedings before his conviction.

<i>Cold North Killers: Canadian Serial Murder</i>

Cold North Killers: Canadian Serial Murder is a 2012 Canadian non-fiction book written by Lee Mellor and published by Dundurn Press. It documents the lives of sixty Canadian serial killers, with the earliest being Edward H. Rulloff and the most recent being Russell Williams. The book uses Katherine Ramsland's interpretation of what constitutes a serial killer—someone who has killed at least two people on two occasions, and who attempted to or likely would have killed again—as outlined in her 2007 book The Human Predator. Cold North Killer's own definition of what constitutes a Canadian serial killer includes both Canadians who committed murder abroad and non-Canadians who committed murder in Canada.

Lorimer Shenher is a Canadian writer and former police officer. The former head of the Missing Persons Unit of the Vancouver Police Department, he is most noted for his 2015 non-fiction book Lonely Section of Hell: The Botched Investigation of a Serial Killer Who Almost Got Away, about the regulatory and bureaucratic failures that hampered his investigation of serial killer Robert Pickton. The book was a shortlisted finalist for the Edna Staebler Award and the City of Vancouver Book Award in 2015.

References

  1. 1 2 "Rossmo v. Vancouver (City) Police Board". Hamilton Howell. December 19, 2001. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Rich, T. and Shively, M (2004, December). P. 14. A Methodology for Evaluating Geographic Profiling Software. U.S. Department of Justice, Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/208993.pdf
  3. ↑ "Internal police strife delayed Pickton arrest, former officer says - The Globe and Mail". Archived from the original on 2010-08-24.
  4. ↑ "Rising Star Dr. Kim Rossmo". Texas State University-San Marcos. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  5. ↑ Raine, Nigel E; Rossmo, D. Kim; Le Comber, Steven C (6 March 2009). "Geographic profiling applied to testing models of bumble-bee foraging". Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 6 (32): 307–319. doi:10.1098/rsif.2008.0242. PMC   2659582 . PMID   18664426. S2CID   16675378.
  6. ↑ Papini, Alessio; Kim Rossmo, D.; Le Comber, Stephen C.; Verity, Robert; Stevenson, Mark D.; Santosuosso, Ugo (1 March 2017). "The use of jackknifing for the evaluation of geographic profiling reliability". Ecological Informatics. 38: 76–81. doi:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2017.02.001.
  7. ↑ Stevenson, Mark D.; Rossmo, D. Kim; Knell, Robert J.; Le Comber, Steven C. (August 2012). "Geographic profiling as a novel spatial tool for targeting the control of invasive species". Ecography. 35 (8): 704–715. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2011.07292.x.


Criminologysherlockhat.jpg

This article about a criminologist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.