The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is a department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime that uses behavioral analysts to assist in criminal investigations.[1] Their mission is to provide behavioral-based investigative and/or operational support by applying case experience, research, and training to complex and time-sensitive crimes, typically involving acts or threats of violence.
Overall, the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Units handles diverse cases nationwide, spanning from terrorism and cybercrime to violent offenses targeting both children and adults. They provide expertise on new investigations, ongoing pursuits, and cold cases, collaborating closely with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies.[2]
Their tasks include:
Criminal Investigative Analysis: Examining factors such as the offender's motives, victim targeting, level of sophistication, actions, and connection to the crime in question, as well as the chronological sequence of events.
Interview Tactics: Combining behavioral science principles, psychological theories, and science-based approaches to plan, execute, and evaluate interviews.
Investigative Approach: Providing behaviorally informed suggestions to enhance the efficiency of investigations and allocate resources effectively.
Threat Evaluations: Employing a data-driven approach to assess an individual's cognitive patterns and behavior, determining the likelihood and extent of their progression towards targeting and potentially attacking a specific entity.
The Investigations & Operations Support Section is a branch of the FBI's overall Critical Incident Response Group.[6] It provides personnel and training to assist in investigations throughout the country and at US embassies worldwide. It also supports other Critical Incident Response Groups within the FBI, FBI headquarters and field offices, FBI legal attaches (at embassies abroad), and all US law enforcement agencies. The section is divided into two main sections: the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and the Operations Support Branch.[7]
The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime consists of five Behavioral Analysis Units, or "BAU"s:[8]
Behavioral Analysis Unit 1 (counterterrorism, arson and bombing matters)
Behavioral Analysis Unit 2 (threats, cyber crime, and public corruption)
Cybercrime has been a problem for the FBI. In today's digital landscape, cybercriminals share similar motives with traditional criminals, but the complex technological aspect of cybercrime poses unique challenges for law enforcement.[9] There have been different approaches to reduce cybercrime through technological advances. Computer sciences and cybersecurity have applied this by using Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPSs), firewalls, and anti-virus software to mitigate cyberattack threats. [10]
Behavioral Analysis Unit 3 (crimes against children)
Behavioral Analysis Unit 3 focuses on crimes against children and provides support to other law enforcement officials through criminal investigative analysis, a process through which analysts review, assess, and interpret offender behavior.[11] Behavioral Analysis Unit 3 also assists other units within the FBI that specialize in crimes against children, such as the Violent Crimes Against Children program (VCAC).[12]The Violent Crimes Against Children program aims to provide quick and proactive responses to threats and/or acts of abuse and exploitation of children that fall within the FBI’s jurisdiction.[13]
The VCAC prioritizes the following violations against children:
Child abductions: disappearance of a minor, typically 12 years or younger
Contact offenses against children: production of child sexual abuse material, sextortion, and travel with the intention to engage in sexual activity with minors
Sexual exploitation of children: producing, trading, distributing, and/or selling child sexual abuse material
Trafficking of child sexual abuse material: either distribution or possession of the material
International parental kidnapping: wrongfully keeping a child outside the United States with the intention of obstructing the lawful exercise of parental rights
The Violent Crimes Against Children program responds to the above violations by aiding the child victims and supporting federal, state, local, tribal, and international law enforcement in identifying, investigating, and deterring individuals and groups that exploit children.
Behavioral Analysis Unit 4 (crimes against adults, ViCAP)
The ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) is a computer program that was established in 1984 to help law enforcement solve and identify serial murders. The ViCAP uses a 15-page format that requests information about a crime that was committed.[14]
This report is then relayed to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime which is then put in the system of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia. The report is analyzed by the agents to investigate the Criminal Investigation Analysis of a killer. This can help solve unsolved cases and/or new cases in the future, by identifying the suspects of the cases.[14]
Behavioral Analysis Unit 5 (research, strategy, and instruction)
the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit 5 (BAU-5), relies on extensive training and law enforcement experience to develop and apply behavioral profiles. This unit focuses on research, strategy, and instruction, crucial elements that help understand and manage criminal behavior more effectively.The field of criminal investigative analysis, which includes behavioral profiling, had evolved significantly since the 1970s when the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit began offering profiling assistance to other law enforcement agencies. Initially, profiling was more about understanding unknown offenders' personalities and behavioral traits based on crime scene analysis. This method has since grown into a more comprehensive tool known as criminal investigative analysis, encompassing a variety of services such as investigative suggestions, interview strategies, and trial support.
One of BAU-5's core activities is conducting research and providing instructional courses that enhance the skills of law enforcement officers nationwide. The unit's efforts aim to educate officers on Applied behavior analysis applying behavioral analysis techniques effectively in their cases. This training often involves analyzing solved and unsolved cases to identify patterns suggesting similar offender behaviors.
The strategy aspect of BAU-5's work involves advising law enforcement agencies on various facets of criminal investigations. This could include developing Interview techniques, providing investigative leads, or assisting with media Strategy in high-profile cases. The unit's role is often advisory, providing the groundwork for local agencies to build their cases rather than actively participating in the investigation.
Despite its proven utility, criminal investigative analysis continues to face debates over its Methodology and practitioner qualifications. Critics and proponents alike discuss whether the practice should be more Empirical evidence driven or rely on the seasoned intuition of experienced investigators. This ongoing debate highlights the need for continuous research and evaluation to refine criminal profiling techniques and ensure they are practical and scientifically valid.[15]
The Operations Support Branch contains three main units:
Crisis Management Unit
Special Events Management Unit
Rapid Deployment & Technology Unit
Operation
The BAU focuses on preventing targeted violence by identifying concerning behaviors. For example, active shooters meticulously plan and prepare for acts of violence. Throughout this process, they frequently exhibit worrying behaviors, characterized as observable and identifiable actions suggesting potential progression towards targeted violence. While no individual behavior definitively signifies an individual's trajectory towards committing targeted violence, the presence of multiple behaviors may warrant attention and concern.[2]
The BAU receives requests for services from federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies. Responses to these requests for BAU assistance are facilitated through the network of field coordinators of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. BAU services can consist of on-site case consultations, telephone conference calls, and/or consultations held at the BAU with case investigators.
BAU assistance to law enforcement agencies is provided through the process of "criminal investigative analysis." Criminal investigative analysis is a process of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective. It involves reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting offender behavior, and interaction with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the crime scene. BAU staff conduct detailed analyses of crimes for the purpose of providing two or more of the following services: crime analysis, investigative suggestions, profiles of unknown offenders, threat analysis, critical incident analysis, interview strategies, major case management, search warrant assistance, prosecution and trial strategies, and expert testimony.[16] In addition to the above services, the BAU staff produced the Child Abduction Response Plan to assist investigators faced with these investigations. Recently, the BAU released "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective"[17] report to guide school administrators, teachers, parents, and law enforcement in identifying and evaluating threats in schools. The BAU maintains a reference file for experts in various forensic disciplines such as odontology, anthropology, psychiatry, entomology, or pathology.[16]
References in popular culture
The BAU was brought into mainstream culture by television shows such as Criminal Minds, which depict an elite group of "FBI agent profilers" who travel the country assisting local law enforcement on diverse cases.
In order to generate profiles of offenders, members of the BAU use a concept known as psychological profiling. Belief in psychological profiling has often been supported by anecdotal evidence describing BAU profiles as a necessary key to solving a crime. A homeless man in North Carolina, for example, was apprehended after a BAU profile was issued for a case that the local police force had not been able to solve.[18] Although anecdotal evidence such as this abounds in popular media, the concept of psychological profiling has not been empirically proven.[3]
In a number of studies, professional criminal profilers have been compared to other groups such as students, police officers, and clinical psychologists. In order to evaluate these groups, each participant was presented with the details of a previously solved crime. The profile written by the participant was then compared to a profile of the guilty party. In no study did the group of profilers outperform the other groups, and in some studies, they were clearly outperformed by both police officers and chemistry students.[19]
Despite these findings, members of the BAU continue to use psychological profiling. Public confidence in psychological profiling is also high and has been greatly promoted by TV shows such as Criminal Minds. Some forensic psychologists, such as Robert Homant, have also dismissed the previously mentioned studies by stating that they lack external validity as they do not accurately represent the situations in which members of the BAU work.[20]
Related Research Articles
Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. These crimes involve the use of technology to commit fraud, identity theft, data breaches, computer viruses, scams, and expanded upon in other malicious acts. Cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks to gain unauthorized access, steal sensitive information, disrupt services, and cause financial or reputational harm to individuals, organizations, and governments.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom which existed from 1 April 2006 until 7 October 2013. SOCA was a national law enforcement agency with Home Office sponsorship, established as a body corporate under Section 1 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. It operated within the United Kingdom and collaborated with many foreign law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Criminal psychology, also referred to as criminological psychology, is the study of the views, thoughts, intentions, actions and reactions of criminals and suspects. It is a subfield of criminology and applied psychology.
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.
The Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) is a division of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. CIRG enables the FBI to rapidly respond to, and effectively manage, special crisis incidents in the United States.
The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) is a specialist FBI department. The NCAVC's role is to coordinate investigative and operational support functions, criminological research, and training in order to provide assistance to federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies investigating unusual or repetitive violent crimes.
Articles related to criminology and law enforcement.
Sexual grooming is the action or behavior used to establish an emotional connection with a minor, and sometimes the child's family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse. It can occur in various settings, including online, in person, and through other means of communication. Children who are groomed may experience mental health issues, including "anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts."
The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) is a unit of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation responsible for the analysis of serial violent and sexual crimes, based in the Critical Incident Response Group's (CIRG) National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC).
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. The ancestor of modern profiling, R. Ressler of the FBI, considered profiling as a process of identifying all the psychological characteristics of an individual, forming a general description of the personality, based on the analysis of the crimes committed by him or her.
John Edward Douglas is an American retired special agent and unit chief in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany is the federal investigative police agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. It is headquartered in Wiesbaden, Hesse, and maintains major branch offices in Berlin and Meckenheim near Bonn. It has been headed by Holger Münch since December 2014.
In applied psychology, investigative psychology attempts to describe the actions of offenders and develop an understanding of crime. This understanding can then help solve crimes and contribute to prosecution and defense procedures. It brings together issues in the retrieval of investigative information, the drawing of inferences about that information and the ways in which police decision making can be supported through various systems derived from scientific research. It should not be confused with profiling which grew out of the experience of police officers offering opinions to their colleagues about the possible characteristics of unknown offenders.
The FBI method of profiling is a system created by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used to detect and classify the major personality and behavioral characteristics of an individual based upon analysis of the crime or crimes the person committed.
The Morgan P. Hardiman Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC) is part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). CASMIRC was established as part of Public Law 105-314, the Protection of Children From Sexual Predators Act, passed by Congress on October 30, 1998. The legislation creates the center to reduce crime involving child abductions, mysterious disappearances of children, child homicide, and serial murder.
Gregg O. McCrary is a former FBI agent who served from 1969 to 1995, an expert witness and consultant, an author and an adjunct forensic psychology professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, and at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. McCrary was a contributing author to the 1992 Crime Classification Manual.
Patrick Joseph Mullany was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and instructor at the FBI Academy. He is best known for pioneering the FBI's offender profiling in the 1970s and 1980s with fellow FBI instructor Howard Teten. Mullany received a master's degree in psychology and counseling from Manhattan College. He began working for the FBI in the mid-1960s. His primary position in the FBI was in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, where he embarked on his work in offender profiling. Mullany applied methods to analyze possible patterns of behavior and traits common in certain types of criminals. In doing this, the FBI can attempt to narrow down suspects and predict future likelihood of offending.
The Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) is the original name of a unit within the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Training Division at Quantico, Virginia, formed in response to the rise of sexual assault and homicide in the 1970s. The unit was usurped by the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) and renamed the Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit (BRIU) and currently is called the Behavioral Analysis Unit (5) (BAU-5) within the National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). The BAU-5 currently works on developing research and then using the evidence-based results to provide training and improve consultation in the behavioral sciences—understanding who criminals are, how they think, why they do what they do—for the FBI and law enforcement communities.
Task Force Argos is a branch of the Queensland Police Service, responsible for the investigation of online child exploitation and abuse. Founded in 1997, the unit's original charter was to investigate institutional child abuse allegations arising from the Forde Inquiry.
James R. Fitzgerald is an American criminal profiler, forensic linguist, and author. He is a retired FBI agent and best known for his role in the UNABOM investigation, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of Ted Kaczynski.
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