Investigative Programs
Critical Incident Response Group

NATIONAL CENTER FOR THE ANALYSIS OF VIOLENT CRIME

The mission of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) is to combine investigative and operational support functions, research, and training in order to provide assistance, without charge, to federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies investigating unusual or repetitive violent crimes. The NCAVC also provides support through expertise and consultation in non-violent matters such as national security, corruption, and white-collar crime investigations.

The experienced FBI Special Agents and other professionals who comprise the NCAVC staff provide advice and support in a variety of investigative matters and other law enforcement related functions. Typical cases for which NCAVC services are requested include child abduction or mysterious disappearance of children, serial murders, single homicides, serial rapes, extortions, threats, kidnappings, product tampering, arsons and bombings, weapons of mass destruction, public corruption, and domestic and international terrorism. The operational services of the NCAVC are supported by research and training programs. Requests for NCAVC services are typically facilitated through NCAVC coordinators assigned to each FBI field office.

To accomplish its mission, the NCAVC is organized into three components:

• Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) -- East/West Regions;
• Child Abduction Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC); and
• Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP).

 

Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) -- East/West Regions

The mission of the BAU is to provide behavioral based investigative and operational support by applying case experience, research, and training to complex and time-sensitive crimes, typically involving acts or threats of violence. The program areas addressed include Crimes Against Children, Crimes Against Adults, Communicated Threats, Corruption, and Bombing and Arson Investigations. The BAU receives requests for services from Federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies. Response to these requests for BAU assistance are facilitated through the network of field NCAVC coordinators. BAU services are provided during 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 one 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, prosecutive and trial strategies, and expert testimony.

In addition to the above services, the BAU staff produced the "Child Abduction Response Plan" to assist investigators faced with these challenging and time-sensitive investigations. Recently, the BAU released "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective (pdf) " report to guide school administrators, teachers, parents, and law enforcement in identifying and evaluating threats in our schools. The BAU maintains a reference file for experts in various forensic disciplines such as odontology, anthropology, entomology, or pathology.

• In April 2000, the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Center sponsored the Workplace Violence Intervention Research Workshop. The goal of this workshop was to examine issues related to violence in the workplace and to develop recommended research strategies to address this public health problem. The workshop brought together 37 invited participants representing diverse constituencies within industry, organized labor, municipal, state and federal governments, and academia. Workplace Violence--A Report to the Nation (pdf) is the product of this effort.

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Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC)

The Morgan P. Hardiman Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (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 provides that the Attorney General shall establish within the FBI's NCAVC a CASMIRC in order to provide investigative support through the coordination and provision of federal law enforcement resources, training, and application of other multidisciplinary expertise, and to assist federal, state, and local authorities in matters involving child abductions, mysterious disappearances of children, child homicide, and serial murder across the country. Therefore, the overall strategic goal of CASMIRC, as set forth in the legislation, is to reduce the impact of these crimes.

Additionally, CASMIRC has been tasked to accomplish the following:

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Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP)

Down load the ViCAP Booklet (PDF) 

ViCAP is excited to introduce the newest version of its “software:” ViCAP-Web!

ViCAP-Web is a significant advancement in technology, allowing law enforcement agencies to directly submit their cases to ViCAP, as well as conduct searches of the ViCAP database system in order to determine if there are similar cases in other jurisdictions.

With the introduction of the new ViCAP-Web, ViCAP's mission remains the same: to facilitate cooperation, communication, and coordination between law enforcement agencies and provide support in their efforts to investigate, identify, track, apprehend, and prosecute violent serial offenders.

History of ViCAP?

Established by the Department of Justice in 1985, FBI-ViCAP serves as the national repository for violent crimes; specifically homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons, and unidentified human remains. Comprehensive case information submitted to FBI-ViCAP is maintained in the national database and automatically compared to all other cases in the database to identify similarities. Additionally, individual case submissions are analyzed by crime analysts through the application of analytical skills, education, specialized training, and research.

Submission Criteria

ViCAP is a nationwide data information center designed to collect, collate, and analyze crimes of violence. Cases examined by ViCAP include:

• solved or unsolved homicides or attempts, especially those that involve an abduction; are apparently random, motiveless, or sexually oriented; or are known or suspected to be part of a series;

• missing persons, where the circumstances indicate a strong possibility of foul play and the victim is still missing;

• unidentified dead bodies, where the manner of death is known or suspected to be homicide; and

• sexual assault cases.

Details

The FBI-ViCAP national database captures for retrieval the following detailed administrative, investigative, and behavior-oriented data regarding violent crimes: Agency information, Victim information, Offender/Suspect information, Offender Time-line information, Modus Operandi, Dates and Exact Geographic Locations, Crime Scene information, Types of Trauma Inflicted on Victim, Weapon information, Sexual Activity, Vehicle information, Evidence Tracking, Narrative Summary, Holdback information (which is restricted to the submitting agency, the hub agency (if applicable), and FBI-ViCAP), and Attachments (photographs, crime scene diagrams, composites, etc.).

All criteria cases remain in the FBI-ViCAP national database indefinitely and are compared against all other cases. ViCAP crime analysts are assigned individual cases for more in-depth analysis based on geographic areas of responsibility. Analysts document their findings in the form of comprehensive Crime Analysis Reports (CARs), which are then provided to case investigators.

Furthering Law Enforcement Cooperation
When a pattern of criminal activity is discovered, for example a serial murder suspect has been identified, ViCAP can then assist law enforcement agencies by coordinating communication between each agency. The multi-agency communication becomes especially important when the suspect(s) has traveled throughout the country. A very valuable benefit for establishing these lines of communication is the sharing of information and coordination of activities in order to eliminate duplication of efforts between agencies. While establishing these lines of communication between agencies, ViCAP also offers services in investigative support (e.g. time lines, NCIC offline searches, NLETS searches, investigative matrix, etc.), major case management consultation, and coordination.

When requested, ViCAP staff will prepare the "ViCAP Alert" notice for publication in the FBI's Law Enforcement Bulletin, Law Enforcement On-line Newsletter, and other publications. These notices typically address offender descriptive data, crime(s), background, MO, maps showing travel and dates, photographs of the offender and vehicles, and the name and telephone number of a contact person in the requesting agency.

To correspond with ViCAP, you may write to:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Critical Incident Response Group
FBI Academy
Quantico, VA 22135

A Timeless Tool

The ViCAP database is effective in solving crimes from the present and the past. Law enforcement may enter cases that occurred in 2000, the 1980s or even the 1950s; any case that law enforcement feels ViCAP can assist in may be offered.

Case Assistance
Highway Serial Killings
Learn more about the Highway Serial Killings initiative.

Rafael Resendez-Ramirez - A Former "Ten Most Wanted" Fugitive
ViCAP became involved in the investigation of Ramirez who would eventually be the suspect in various crimes in Texas and Kentucky. When Texas authorities first learned that two Texas cases were possibly linked by a common offender, ViCAP was contacted. Based on certain behaviors and methodology of the offender in their two cases, ViCAP was able to tell them of a similar case in Kentucky that had occurred two years before. Investigators followed up with a DNA analysis which matched the cases, and this became the catalyst for authorities to realize they had a national serial offender on the loose. ViCAP assisted the investigation by providing the Texas authorities with other possibly related cases occurring elsewhere in the United States.

In The Present, Solving The Past
ViCAP continues to be used to solve crimes from the past. In 1989 investigators from Pennsylvania entered a case from 1951 into the ViCAP database. In this case, a man was found guilty of murdering a young girl. Not long after, investigators from Illinois entered an unsolved case from 1957, in which an approximately eight year old girl was murdered. ViCAP analysts noticed similarities in the two cases. Due to these similarities and other related evidence, detectives in Illinois were able to solve a crime that occurred almost 40 years ago and finally resolve a terrible mystery for the parents.

Recently (05/2004), ViCAP analysts matched three Florida missing persons to unidentified dead cases based on physical descriptions and verified by DNA comparisons.

From East to West
ViCAP assisted in another case that linked unsolved crimes separated by 3000 miles. In November, 1987, a Norwegian National was last seen in New York City. Foreign law enforcement personnel submitted the case to ViCAP. The assigned analyst saw that later in the same month in 1987, a body was found in California, a case that was never solved. However through ViCAP's assistance, investigators compared dental records and discovered that the body found in California was that of the man last seen in New York.

Similarly, a Key West, Florida murderer, an avid chess player, was talking in jail about a west coast murder he committed. The case involved a homosexual, who was beat to death with a baseball bat. A search of the ViCAP system located the exact case. It was confirmed that he committed the west coast murder by a DNA comparison of a cigarette butt found in the hotel room murder site. Also, a chess piece was located at the murder site.

LEO Special Interest Group

Law Enforcement Online (LEO) is a network program accessed through the Internet and administered by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division. It is only available to persons duly employed by a law enforcement, criminal justice, or public safety agency/department and whose position requires secure communication with other agencies. The LEO system provides a user friendly means of electronic communication that offers a secure transmission of sensitive but unclassified information throughout the world, a vehicle for exchange of information, on-line education programs, and participation in professional special interest and topically focused dialog.

LEO hosts several categories of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) which are controlled-access areas for specialized organizations or disciplines. Each SIG contains a public area accessible to all LEO users and may also contain a private (restricted access) area for members approved by the SIG’s moderator.

FBI-ViCAP maintains a Public SIG, which means the ViCAP SIG is open to any LEO member. The ViCAP SIG provides the following:

1) Access to the ViCAP Web Crime Database (by authorized users)
2) Information re ViCAP services
3) ViCAP Staff and Assignment charts
4) Featured ViCAP cases
5) ViCAP success stories
6) ViCAP Alerts
7) ViCAP newsletters
8) Forms and Reference material
9) The ViCAP events calendar

To obtain a LEO account, contact LEO at 304-625-5555, 1-888-334-4536, or leoprogramoffice@leo.gov.

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