Hello everyone..!!! Welcome to "INTROSPECTION". Today I'm back with another post "CRIME HUNT".
Every one of us has seen movies related to crimes. Many officials get involved to solve the crime. In the process, we see that they use several techniques and their intelligence to find out the criminal. And there's no second thought that these movies are thrilling and exciting. And I'm sure many of us are always curious about how all these crimes and investigations look like, in reality. But the point is that not all of what we see in the movies are real. Today, I am going to depict some of the real-life crimes, criminals, and investigation processes. Also, I want to make sure that this post is not written as a satire on the movies, because I'm a movie buff myself. My intention behind writing this post is to provide you the information. Let's dive in......
MYTH-BUSTING: I am going to talk about some myths(as bust them as well) regarding crime scenes, investigation, and various others most of which are formed mostly due to movies, web series, tv-series ..etc
SECRET AGENTS:
1. Many of us might have seen movies with undercover agents in which the cop or secret agent will be in disguise. In scenes where the undercover agent gets caught, he tries to fight and get away from the place. But in reality, the undercover agents never initiate violence and try to avoid it as much as possible. Even in the cases of getting caught they try to talk out of the situation with their wits.
2. Have you ever seen a movie where the undercover agent slams the door of the villain and says "YOU ARE UNDER ARREST..!!!". But this does not happen in reality, an undercover agent won't make an arrest by himself. His job is to collect the pieces of evidence and handing over to the department. More often than not he does his job and moves out the scene or place as early as possible.
FORENSICS: In simple words, the forensics team is the one that collects pieces of evidence like DNA, blood samples, weapons...etc, and assess them to move forward in the case.
1. Unlike in many movies, the forensics team never enters into the crime scene without wearing the protective gear which covers the body from head to toe and often uses multiple layers of gloves.
2. There's one thing which is most seen in movies that is the chalk outline around the area of dead bodies. In reality, this outlining is not used anymore in most of the crime scenes.
3. I'm sure that you might have seen a movie where a police officer uses his handkerchief to take the gun in the crime scene and I hope that he did not use his handkerchief to clean his nose, face, or hands. It does not matter anyway because, in reality, it is never allowed to handle the bullets, guns, or any other things found in the crime scene with pens, sticks, handkerchiefs, and any other external materials except with gloves to avoid the risk of disrupting the evidence.
4. Officials never guess the gender of the person by the sample of hair without testing.
CRIME SCENE:
1.Next time if you see any official entering into the crime scene in the movie with a coffee or a sandwich then I'm sure you will smile by remembering that food items and beverages are strictly prohibited in the real crime scenes. Because in case of slipping these may damage the evidence.
2.. Real-life officials are not that intelligent as the officials in the movies, as they can't identify the vehicle by just examining the tyre marks. As there is no proven method of doing that.
3. As we know the crime scene is not a shopping mall to welcome any interested person inside. Only the limited members from the investigation team are allowed into it and others are strictly prohibited. This is not the case in many of the movies where we see so many people like media, too many officials in the crime scene more often than not.
4. It is not possible to determine the personality or the height of the attacker just by assessing the type of stabbing or depth of stabbing.
ASSASSINATION, CONTRACT KILLERS & SNIPERS:
1. Contract killers are not as cool and they don't jump off the buildings as they are shown in the movies. They're merely desperate people for money and not that experts of the field.
2. Very few contract killers charge huge amounts of fees to kill. Most of them charge very reasonable fees.
3. Contract killers rarely choose public places like hotels, clubs..etc to kill gangsters and politicians as killing in public places involves high risk. So they most often kill these kinds of people in most possible private, unexpected, and less secured places.
4. Snipers rarely work alone. They are always accompanied by the spotter. A spotter is a person who points the target and guides the sniper. Spotter also protects sniper when he's shooting.
And that's enough myth-busting for the day. Now it's time to talk about the real criminals and the real crime-solving. Let's move on to our next topic, which is...
SERIAL KILLERS AND INVESTIGATION OF HOMICIDES:
MYTH-BUSTING: I am going to talk about some myths(as bust them as well) regarding crime scenes, investigation, and various others most of which are formed mostly due to movies, web series, tv-series ..etc
SECRET AGENTS:
1. Many of us might have seen movies with undercover agents in which the cop or secret agent will be in disguise. In scenes where the undercover agent gets caught, he tries to fight and get away from the place. But in reality, the undercover agents never initiate violence and try to avoid it as much as possible. Even in the cases of getting caught they try to talk out of the situation with their wits.
2. Have you ever seen a movie where the undercover agent slams the door of the villain and says "YOU ARE UNDER ARREST..!!!". But this does not happen in reality, an undercover agent won't make an arrest by himself. His job is to collect the pieces of evidence and handing over to the department. More often than not he does his job and moves out the scene or place as early as possible.
FORENSICS: In simple words, the forensics team is the one that collects pieces of evidence like DNA, blood samples, weapons...etc, and assess them to move forward in the case.
1. Unlike in many movies, the forensics team never enters into the crime scene without wearing the protective gear which covers the body from head to toe and often uses multiple layers of gloves.
4. Officials never guess the gender of the person by the sample of hair without testing.
CRIME SCENE:
1.Next time if you see any official entering into the crime scene in the movie with a coffee or a sandwich then I'm sure you will smile by remembering that food items and beverages are strictly prohibited in the real crime scenes. Because in case of slipping these may damage the evidence.
2.. Real-life officials are not that intelligent as the officials in the movies, as they can't identify the vehicle by just examining the tyre marks. As there is no proven method of doing that.
3. As we know the crime scene is not a shopping mall to welcome any interested person inside. Only the limited members from the investigation team are allowed into it and others are strictly prohibited. This is not the case in many of the movies where we see so many people like media, too many officials in the crime scene more often than not.
4. It is not possible to determine the personality or the height of the attacker just by assessing the type of stabbing or depth of stabbing.
ASSASSINATION, CONTRACT KILLERS & SNIPERS:
1. Contract killers are not as cool and they don't jump off the buildings as they are shown in the movies. They're merely desperate people for money and not that experts of the field.
2. Very few contract killers charge huge amounts of fees to kill. Most of them charge very reasonable fees.
3. Contract killers rarely choose public places like hotels, clubs..etc to kill gangsters and politicians as killing in public places involves high risk. So they most often kill these kinds of people in most possible private, unexpected, and less secured places.
4. Snipers rarely work alone. They are always accompanied by the spotter. A spotter is a person who points the target and guides the sniper. Spotter also protects sniper when he's shooting.
And that's enough myth-busting for the day. Now it's time to talk about the real criminals and the real crime-solving. Let's move on to our next topic, which is...
SERIAL KILLERS AND INVESTIGATION OF HOMICIDES:
Whenever we talk about crimes and investigations the topic which turns more heads is "SERIAL KILLERS". The questions that intrigue many people is what makes a serial killer a "SERIAL KILLER"? Are serial killers are born or do they grow in that manner? Well, according to what I learned "GENETICS LOADS THE GUN, PERSONALITY AND PSYCHOLOGY AIMS IT, AND EXPERIENCES PULL THE TRIGGER" which means that we cannot simply resolve what is the reason.
- Interestingly many of them are very intelligent and have very high levels of IQ. For example consider 'TED BUNDY', 'EDMUND KEMPER' two of the most notorious and violent serial killers. These two possess IQ levels of 139 and 145 respectively which are said to be very high.
- Most of these people are said to have very disturbed family backgrounds and also many of them are anti-social.
- Most of these people grow as ignored kids. To compensate this, many of these serial killers attract media attention with their crimes.
- More often than not their crimes are linked to their experiences(from childhood) and personalities. For example, if a serial killer has faced criticism based on his appearance, his killings are mainly focused on good looking people and are concentrated on damaging their appearances.
- Even after the crime most of these serial killers tend to revisit the places of their crimes(if they don't get arrested) to re-feel the satisfaction and relish their act.
When it comes to investigating a homicide, the investigation team starts with HOW AND WHERE the crime has taken place which tells a lot about WHAT might be the reason behind the crime. And this leads to WHO is the criminal. The process of determining WHO from HOW, WHERE, and WHAT is done by "CRIMINAL PROFILING". Which involves several steps. They are:
1. VICTIMOLOGY: In this step, the investigators study the victim(person who got killed). They try to know about the lifestyle, daily routine, education, interests, friends, desires...etc of the victim. With this information, they try to sort out the suspects(person who is suspicious of being the killer).
2. LOCATION OF THE ATTACK: The location where the crime has taken place also tells a lot about the killer. For instance, if the crime has happened on the outskirts, then it means that the killer is not that skillful or prepared and that is the reason he has chosen the place of low traffic. And vice-versa if the crime took place in private areas.
3. CRIME SCENE: Even the choice of the weapon also reveals a lot of information. Because if he uses a knife that means he came closer to the victim which may mean that the killer is confident in his strength, skills..etc. And if the weapon is a gun the situation is different. Efforts made by the offender to eliminate the clues also reveals his sophistication level.
4. ORGANIZATION LEVEL: There are two types of crimes. They are 1)Organised crime 2)Disorganized crime.
5. PRE AND POST OFFENSE ANALYSIS: Depending on the organizational level, a planned criminal may have wandered in the area of the crime before the crime(pre-offence) to check the location of the victim and get an idea of the surroundings..etc. Even after the crime(post offense) the criminal's behavior may change which may be visible to his/her friends or surrounding people. Even there are chances that the killer might go out of the station by making up some or other reason.
Criminal profiling is nothing but building a profile of the criminal by considering all the above 5 factors and to examine what clues and information are left behind by the killer. Once the criminal profile is built which tells about the motive behind the crime and who are the possible suspects, it becomes easy to find out the killer. Of course, there are exceptions.
INTERVIEW AND INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES: The difference between interview and interrogation, is that interview is done with people like friends, family, neighbors, relatives of the victims to gather information and to sort out if anybody of these people is suspects. While interrogation is done with the person who is accused(proofs are showing he is the criminal). It is mainly done to make the person to confess or to make him say in his own words that he has committed the crime.
TECHNIQUES:
1. PRE-TEXT PHONE CALL: A phone call will be made to the person who is a suspect from the victim's friend and family member saying that "I know that you did it if you confess I won't complain to police". But in fact, this call is made under the supervision of the police or investigating team. This is a plot to confirm whether the person is the criminal or not.
2. ISOLATION: Suspect is called to the interrogation room which consists of nothing except the light and the walls and made to sit in isolation for hours after which he is questioned. This is used because when a person sits in isolation doing nothing could make the suspect impatient, tired, and struggles to hide the truth during the interrogation.
3. RAPPORT BUILDING: Officials talk in a friendly manner and try to build a relationship with the person. Then they use that good relationship to know the truth by comforting the person. This technique is mainly used in the interview than during the interrogation.
4. QUESTIONING TECHNIQUE: In this method, the officials will rain the questions on the suspect. Most of these questions are interlinked and open-ended. We can also call this as cross-questioning.
5. ACCUSATION: In this method, officials accuse the suspect by saying "we know you have done it...!!", "You can't hide the truth"....etc. It is important to know that this technique can only be used during the interrogation when there is enough evidence but not in the interview.
6. FALSE EVIDENCE PLOY: In this method, the officials tell the suspect there is enough evidence against him. This evidence may be fingerprints, DNA samples, camera footages, recordings, eyewitnesses...etc. Sometimes the officials may try to get the truth by using false evidence that does not even exist. For example, officials place a fat file on the table with the name of the suspect on it, to make him think they have all the information about him.
7. CONFESSION: The interrogators can sense if the suspect is the criminal or not, by his behavior and actions. This is when they encourage him to confess telling him that he's doing the right thing, it only does him good if he confesses, confessing can reduce his prison term...etc
These techniques are proven to be very effective. It is said that these techniques can make even an innocent doubt himself if used correctly.
Conclusively, I don't know if the job of solving crimes and hunting down criminals is cool or not, but I can say that "IT'S TOUGH". And there is one aspect where movies did not fail to replicate from reality is the danger and risk involved in these types of tasks. As I said earlier I'm a big fan of not only cop or detective movies but any other good movies, and this post is not at all intended to be satirical on the movies and others. I wrote this post only to educate my readers.
Thank you..!!! For placing your attention on this post till the end. I know it's not that easy as I've learned that the attention span of people nowadays is very short.
Feel free to comment, if you like the post.
Feel free to share with others, if you learn something from it and find it helpful.
Consider subscribing(on the top), so that you can receive e-mail alerts whenever we put a new post.
1. VICTIMOLOGY: In this step, the investigators study the victim(person who got killed). They try to know about the lifestyle, daily routine, education, interests, friends, desires...etc of the victim. With this information, they try to sort out the suspects(person who is suspicious of being the killer).
2. LOCATION OF THE ATTACK: The location where the crime has taken place also tells a lot about the killer. For instance, if the crime has happened on the outskirts, then it means that the killer is not that skillful or prepared and that is the reason he has chosen the place of low traffic. And vice-versa if the crime took place in private areas.
3. CRIME SCENE: Even the choice of the weapon also reveals a lot of information. Because if he uses a knife that means he came closer to the victim which may mean that the killer is confident in his strength, skills..etc. And if the weapon is a gun the situation is different. Efforts made by the offender to eliminate the clues also reveals his sophistication level.
4. ORGANIZATION LEVEL: There are two types of crimes. They are 1)Organised crime 2)Disorganized crime.
- In the case of organized crime, the offender plans the crime in advance. Brings the tools in advance. Try the clear the evidence and takes all the tools with him after the crime. Only sophisticated, experienced and skill full person chooses this type of crime
- While on the other hand, disorganized crime is totally the opposite. It's impulsive and no pre-plan. There are chances of lowered inhibitions due to drugs or alcohol use. Mostly done with weapons that are found in the surroundings or on the way. Does not care about the pieces of evidence and leaves them behind.
- If the criminal is not that sophisticated and not that skilled in getting access to the victim then he chooses the high-risk timings like midnights and chooses victims who lead a high-risk life(alcohol addicts, drug addicts, prostitutes). But the sophisticated criminal chooses to kill in private areas.
5. PRE AND POST OFFENSE ANALYSIS: Depending on the organizational level, a planned criminal may have wandered in the area of the crime before the crime(pre-offence) to check the location of the victim and get an idea of the surroundings..etc. Even after the crime(post offense) the criminal's behavior may change which may be visible to his/her friends or surrounding people. Even there are chances that the killer might go out of the station by making up some or other reason.
Criminal profiling is nothing but building a profile of the criminal by considering all the above 5 factors and to examine what clues and information are left behind by the killer. Once the criminal profile is built which tells about the motive behind the crime and who are the possible suspects, it becomes easy to find out the killer. Of course, there are exceptions.
INTERVIEW AND INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES: The difference between interview and interrogation, is that interview is done with people like friends, family, neighbors, relatives of the victims to gather information and to sort out if anybody of these people is suspects. While interrogation is done with the person who is accused(proofs are showing he is the criminal). It is mainly done to make the person to confess or to make him say in his own words that he has committed the crime.
TECHNIQUES:
1. PRE-TEXT PHONE CALL: A phone call will be made to the person who is a suspect from the victim's friend and family member saying that "I know that you did it if you confess I won't complain to police". But in fact, this call is made under the supervision of the police or investigating team. This is a plot to confirm whether the person is the criminal or not.
2. ISOLATION: Suspect is called to the interrogation room which consists of nothing except the light and the walls and made to sit in isolation for hours after which he is questioned. This is used because when a person sits in isolation doing nothing could make the suspect impatient, tired, and struggles to hide the truth during the interrogation.
3. RAPPORT BUILDING: Officials talk in a friendly manner and try to build a relationship with the person. Then they use that good relationship to know the truth by comforting the person. This technique is mainly used in the interview than during the interrogation.
4. QUESTIONING TECHNIQUE: In this method, the officials will rain the questions on the suspect. Most of these questions are interlinked and open-ended. We can also call this as cross-questioning.
5. ACCUSATION: In this method, officials accuse the suspect by saying "we know you have done it...!!", "You can't hide the truth"....etc. It is important to know that this technique can only be used during the interrogation when there is enough evidence but not in the interview.
6. FALSE EVIDENCE PLOY: In this method, the officials tell the suspect there is enough evidence against him. This evidence may be fingerprints, DNA samples, camera footages, recordings, eyewitnesses...etc. Sometimes the officials may try to get the truth by using false evidence that does not even exist. For example, officials place a fat file on the table with the name of the suspect on it, to make him think they have all the information about him.
7. CONFESSION: The interrogators can sense if the suspect is the criminal or not, by his behavior and actions. This is when they encourage him to confess telling him that he's doing the right thing, it only does him good if he confesses, confessing can reduce his prison term...etc
These techniques are proven to be very effective. It is said that these techniques can make even an innocent doubt himself if used correctly.
Conclusively, I don't know if the job of solving crimes and hunting down criminals is cool or not, but I can say that "IT'S TOUGH". And there is one aspect where movies did not fail to replicate from reality is the danger and risk involved in these types of tasks. As I said earlier I'm a big fan of not only cop or detective movies but any other good movies, and this post is not at all intended to be satirical on the movies and others. I wrote this post only to educate my readers.
Thank you..!!! For placing your attention on this post till the end. I know it's not that easy as I've learned that the attention span of people nowadays is very short.
Feel free to comment, if you like the post.
Feel free to share with others, if you learn something from it and find it helpful.
Consider subscribing(on the top), so that you can receive e-mail alerts whenever we put a new post.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Due to some reasons, we could not release the final part of our previous week's topic i.e., BOOM OR BUST-III. Hence I'm putting the link here: BOOM OR BUST-III. Interested people can read it.
IT'S TIME FOR READER'S CHOICE: I would like to consider the ideas of readers for the topics of our upcoming week's posts. Any of the readers can put their favorite topic in the comments.