What Might You Be Missing?

 Most often, we safely assume crimes in a serial crime pattern generally are of the same type. A robber commits another robbery. A burglar commits another burglary. You get the picture. 

There may be the unusual series of crime where the crimes in a series do not fall under the same crime type umbrella. A robber becomes a rapist. A car thief becomes a burglar. 

Then there are the attempted crimes that can fall out of the series crime pattern identification search radar. Examples include a robber following a target without being able to carry out the robbery, resulting in a suspicious person 911 call, or a burglar trying to break in unsuccessfully whose behaviors result in a reported criminal mischief (damage to property by say breaking a lock or window). Anyone looking for more information in a series of crimes must consider looking outside a standard assumption that serial criminals always commit the same crimes.

Crimes occur in context. A serial robber may strike after the bars close in a downtown area. A serial burglar make strike when families are at relatives’ funerals and homes are left unattended. A serial rapist make hunt for individuals on online dating sites. These variables are unlikely to appear in crime reports. 

A number of crimes go unreported. Dependent on the victims’ trust of law enforcement, the perception of whether or not the reporting of the crime is worth the effort or not, the willingness of officers’ to take a report and fill it out completely – these things must be considered when a crime series pattern has been identified. 

You want to fill in as many blanks as possible once you see that two or more crimes may be related. What might you be missing? What reports and files can you review? Who do you need to talk to?

If you work in law enforcement you are fully aware that the quality of data collected in crime reports, intelligence reports, calls for service, and investigative files is far from perfect. Officers in a rush leave out information. Officers who are unmotivated may do the bare minimum to get by. Victims are unreliable in their statements. Those agencies using check boxes for information gathering don’t have check boxes for everything.

How will you fill in your informational gaps?