6.1: Homeland Security

There cannot be Homeland Security without first Hometown Security. This discussion is premised on a number of criteria that is essential to ethical foundations in the CJ system. First, private security does not have to play by the same rules as government employees. Freedom of privacy, albeit not specific in the U.S. Constitution is defined by court rulings relative to existing language. It is further the contention of this section that profiling is used in the private security sector with impunity. For example in casinos when a private person swipes his her credit card the facility has information that a public agency does not have ready access, such as credit report, where you have lived for previous ten years, whether you own your home or rent, criminal check and if anyone in your family is in the gaming business (police background investigation requires waivers to obtain information). Therefore the bureaucratic arena that the criminal justice system resides is drastically restricted by legal obligations and the private sector has far outpaced their governmental counterparts in the technological advances arena. To coin a phrase, “We’re so far behind we think we’re first.” First of all the private sector is generally financially better prepared to meet its needs; second the private sector does not have to deal with huge bureaucracies to gain a purchase; they are not concerned with individual liberties as the public sector employee; and finally, the private sector planning and development is not encumbered with politics.

When I speak of the private sector, I do not wish for you to envision the security guard at a gated community, although their radio equipment and surveillance equipment is state of the art, more so than most CJ practitioner. Rather I offer my comments toward the corporate security responsible for multi-continent computer security, responsible for guarding high tech industrial secrets, background investigations that make public servant checks pale by comparison, satellite positioning and bank transactions that if breached would cost this Country Billions of dollars.

The private sector is far more advanced, they have the means to provide their workforce with the most modern up to the minute equipment and they do not deal with the same impediments as the criminal justice practitioner. Further their use of obtained information is generally not subject to public scrutiny and is an actual form of criminal profiling. This is probably just one more reason why the public sector should embrace the private sector security corporations if not for their hand me downs, then for their expertise and contemporary methodologies.

Having stated the purpose of this article it is essential to provide a description of criminal profiling as detailed in current research and then the brief discussion of Terry Stops criminal profiling. According to Hatch-Maillette, Scalora, Huss & Baumgartner (2001):

Individuals who demonstrate heavy involvement with the legal system are an undeniably important population to consider in terms of economic, social, and ethical issues. To the extent that knowledge of these people can be amassed, researchers and clinicians can begin to address the financial and societal burdens experienced by those who are indirectly or directly affected by our criminal justice system. One way in which our understanding can increase is by systematically examining the thought content of criminal offenders in hopes of detecting patterns in specific categories of cognitions that are indigenous to the type of crime committed (p.115).

Criminal profiling according to Muller (2000) “is the process of using available information about a crime and crime scene to compose a psychological portrait of the unknown perpetrator of the crime (as cited in Bartol & Bartol, 2008, p.56). Criminal profiling in this fashion is instrumental providing investigators with a psychological evaluation of relevant information of offender and his/her possessions and the technique for interviews (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). Additionally, the information from a crime scene of an unsolved homicide may offer legitimate information for the investigator; however not all offenses are appropriate for criminal profiling. Crime Scene Analysis (CSA) probably the most romanticized by the media is the most popular (Bartol & Bartol, 2008).

As asserted by Ressler, Burgess & Douglas (1988) CSA “Criminal profiling is a six-stage process” (p.58). The stages: Profiling Inputs and concerns, collection of all information; Decision Process Model in which the information is analyzed; Crime Assessment or in this stage is the term, getting into the mind of the criminal; Constructing the Profile is performed in this stage consisting of age, characteristics of the offender, race general appearance of offender, relationship to victim and any other notable features; Investigation whereby the profiler submits a report to the agency; and finally Apprehension assuming the correct offender is caught (Ressler et al., as cited in Bartol & Bartol, p.58-59). There are two other forms of profiling offered which will receive no other attention than honorable mention in this discussion are Investigative Psychology (IP) and Diagnostic Evaluation (DE) and as pointed out by Bartol & Bartol (2008) “CSA does have the potential to be scientific with some work, but the main problem seems to be that it does not want to be scientific. Unlike, CSA, IP was designed from the beginning with science in mind…IP has a great deal of potential to become a science, but it still has a long way to go before it will be recognized as a discipline in itself” (p.62).

Is criminal profiling of use to the police profession or perhaps in diagnosis of perpetrators for rehabilitation purpose, the evidence provided is scant however it does indicate promise (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). CSA is more reliant upon experience and intuition. Criminal profiling will be tested longitudinally as evaluation of offenders prove positive and providing testing is best available with the IP as more empirical studies can make its claim (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). Criminal profiling as described thus far has been primarily reserved for serial killers. Strong ethical foundational requirements of the custodians of the information is not limited to this domain.

Maillette et al. (2001) insist that “one instrument developed to measure specific aspects of criminal thinking regardless of offender type, is the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS)”(p.105). The PICTS assesses eight thinking styles including: Mollification-rationalization; Cutoff-rapid elimination of deterrents to crime; Entitlement-ownership or misidentification of wants and needs; Power Orientation-aggressive behavior; Sentimentality-compensating for previous conduct; Super optimism-ego to maintain criminal life style; Cognitive Indolence-lazy thinking; and Discontinuity-little premeditation (Maillette et al., 2001).

The PICTS instrument is a better fit than is the CSA as the former removes more of the assumptions and speculation from offender behaviors. Again as previously stated CSA is made for television and big screen as compared to the latter that is descriptive and is more open to other criminal conducts unlike CSA which is restrictive to serial killers (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). Thus is descriptive of other types of profiling and providing a segway to the next portion of this discussion.

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) is the Supreme Court Case that provides for police officers to use their training, experience, knowledge, skill, and observation to intercede on behalf of the public into criminal conduct. None the less it is a court sanctioned form of profiling, specifically criminal profiling that as contended early on in this discussion is the basis of other forms of profiling, both positive and negative. In brief, an experienced Cleveland police officer (detective) observed conduct of three men that rose to the level of casing a store in preparation to rob. The police officer acting on reasonable suspicion removed the trio from an automobile and patted them down. The pat down revealed what appeared to be weapons on two of the culprits and resulted in a search that confirmed the officer’s suspicions. The court held that in these circumstances an over the clothes pat down to provide safety for the officer is sufficient and does not rise to the level of a seizure but rather a stop and a frisk that is not a search (White, 2007).

The preceding is descriptive of common sense police work that orchestrated profiling at differing levels. In recent years racial profiling that is perpetrated on highways and streets based solely on race is a form of police misconduct. Clearly stated racial profiling is ethically, morally, and legally wrong. However, an officer acting on observed conduct that raises the suspicions of the police that criminality is afoot is criminal profiling and occurs hundreds if not thousands a times daily across this country. If not for profiling what would constitute a reason for a stop? How much police work would be done? It is in this manner that criminal thinking is apparent in behaviorism or mannerisms that create suspicions.

Criminal thinking is important in all fashions of profiling however the type and manner of Terry Stops is critical to day to day operations preventing crime. As an example of ethical conduct enjoined in policing; you the police officer finds a women that is scantily dressed, standing on a corner in an area of high incidences of prostitution, waiving at passing motorist. Your observations include at least two vehicles stop, the women puts her head inside the passenger window, but they move on. Finally a third vehicle stops and the women gets in. You follow from you unmarked police car at a distance until the suspect vehicle secludes itself behind an area strip mall. You approach the vehicle in the dark secluded area on foot, and find two males passionately involved. You shout bias comments at them and send them on their way, angrily thinking how much of your time they had wasted. Guess you showed them with your comments or did you? What ethical dilemma may arise in this scenario? How should you have handled this? What outcomes may result because of unethical inactions?

The longevity of CSA or IP is essential in long term investigations. Unfortunately these methods are currently without sufficient empirical studies of any magnitude; yet PICTS provides evidence that certain characteristics may be tested. It is incumbent upon police leadership to provide training and education and ethics guiding the conduct of officers so that profiling constitutes legitimate form (White, 2007).

Getting into the minds of the criminal has its place, especially in treatment of offenders but not in the fast pace of policing from the street level. Again, it has come a long way; demonstrating merit nonetheless has not passed the empirical research test to date (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). On the other hand Terry type profiling has been in place for over forty years and remains solidly situated based on court fashioned reasoning.

Privacy and being free from government overreach was a key component by the architects of the American Constitution. What is privacy and where does it apply? As previously noted, citizens have given up information when signing for a credit card and privacy of the information by citizens of the information obtained by private corporations is not totally restricted. In other words most have given up their right to the information when they sign for the card. The same applies to telephone contracts and other media devices often used in our high-tech society.

What about public spaces as it relates to privacy? There is a limited expectation of privacy in public spaces. This hold true for airwaves in social media and the courts have ruled regarding secondary data (telephone numbers) maintained by private companies. This has not been without controversy.