Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Store Customer Called Hero for Shooting Armed Robbers

While we are on the topic of gun ownership and personal protection, I wanted to share this story about a 71-year-old South Florida man who many are calling a hero. John Lovell is a former Marine and pilot who was a member of the helicopter detail for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. At about 11:15 pm this past Wednesday Lovell had just finished his meal at a Subway sandwich shop when two armed men rushed in and demanded cash from the lone employee behind the counter. The gunmen then tried to rob Lovell and force him into the store’s restroom. Believing his life was in danger, Lovell pulled his .45 caliber handgun from his back and fired seven rounds, hitting Donicio Arrindell and killing him The second gunman, Fredrick Gadson, was shot once and fled the scene, but was soon found nearby by police dogs and arrested.

Under Florida law, individuals have the right of "self-defense without the duty to retreat" meaning that they can use deadly force to prevent death or serious injury. Police say that Lovell, who has had a concealed carry permit since 1990, will likely not face any charges. Florida law also states that anyone who commits a felony such as armed robbery resulting in a death can be charged with murder. Under the law Gadson faces several felony charges, including the murder of Arrindell. Incredibly, the friends and family of the armed robbers have made public statements wanting to know how Lovell "could shoot two people and not go to jail." I suspect these individuals would not feel the same way if the two people shot were the store employee and Lovell.

(photo courtesy of Sun Sentinel)

Donna Weaver

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: What Criminal Profiler Pat Brown REALLY thinks about Guns

Just so that I can’t be misquoted or misunderstood or have my words taken out of context, I thought I would put in writing exactly my position on gun ownership. Then, if you disagree with me or think I am an idiot, at least you will be basing your conclusions on what I really believe and not some distorted version of my opinion.

1) American citizens should have the right to protect themselves from criminals. It would be a lovely world if we did not have to worry about being harmed by others. While there are some people who feel their communities are extremely safe and have no desire to own a gun, many other citizens feel the need to protect themselves and their family members. Just as no pioneer would have lived on the plains or in the forests of America without a gun and no one would walk without a rifle through the Serengeti in Africa unless he didn’t mind a lion making dinner of him, some citizens feel they are simply sitting ducks if they are not able to defend themselves.

2) Our country is rife with criminals with guns. Washington DC had the strictest gun laws in the country until recently (nobody living in the District was allowed to own a gun unless he was a police officer) and also had the highest number of guns per capita (mostly owned by criminals). If criminals have guns, it makes no sense to prevent honest citizens from purchasing them.

3) All citizens who have clean criminal records and do not have a mental history should be permitted to purchase a firearm.

4) All citizens who purchase a firearm should be required to register said firearm and pass a gun safety exam. For all those who think that no citizen should have to let the government know he owns a firearm needs to grow a brain and realize that no tiny pocket of armed citizens is going to have any hope against the military might of the United States Armed Forces. It may have worked in the 1800s but those days are long gone. Sorry.

5) All citizens who purchase firearms ought to sign a legal contract (or we need a law to be passed) that the owner of the weapon accepts all responsibility for the proper discharge of that weapon and that the weapon will only be used in a legal manner. This means if a gun lying on a table, stuck in a drawer hidden under the mattress or left about in an unlocked car is used in a crime (like a school massacre) or discharged by another accidentally causing bodily harm or death, the owner will be charged with aiding and abetting the crime or contributing to manslaughter. By signing this form, the owner acknowledges that he is responsible for the firearm at all times meaning the gun is either in a lock box or on his person. Guns stolen from locked containers or vehicles should be reported immediately to the police. The owner is not responsible for the misuse of a weapon no longer in his possession due to theft.

6). Concealed carry should be permitted in all fifty states with federal permits so that a citizen does not run into a legal problem every time his car crosses into another jurisdiction. Concealed carry is better than open carry in that it does not antagonize others or cause fear for those citizens uncomfortable around guns. Furthermore, it is good for criminals not to know which citizens are carrying thereby making the criminal unwilling to take the risk of getting shot by the unexpectedly armed citizen.

6) Gun child safety locks are idiotic. The gun shouldn’t be accessible to the child and the adult needs a gun that works instantly. Since no one can be sure the owner is using the safety lock after the gun is purchased, this feel-good law is a joke.

7) “No Guns Permitted” signs are stupid (except to prevent companies from getting sued in this litigious country). Criminals are happy that no one entering the building will be armed except them.

8) Because of disparity of force, a gun may be the only protection for a female fighting a male even if he has no weapon, or for a male fighting more than one male (or a larger male) even if he has no weapon.

9) Calling 911 is no substitute for a firearm when seconds count.

10) The anti-gun people need to recognize the citizens’ right to protect themselves. The pro-gun people need to recognize the citizen’s responsibility to monitor gun sales and gun security. There should be no objection to providing both citizen safety and gun safety. If we could all get on the same page, then we could finally focus on the major contributor to firearm deaths: criminals.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Are all Gun Owners Dangerous to Women?

Wasn’t it just a few months ago that I got wailed on by the left during the Virginia Tech massacre for suggesting kids should carry guns to school to protect themselves? Sometime during the many interviews I did that week I said something to the effect that if we allowed concealed carry on campuses maybe someone would have taken Cho out. I am a big fan of concealed carry because I know criminals carry concealed weapons all the time and I would like to even the field with some honest citizens carrying a few themselves so criminals don’t think no one will shoot back. I think of how many lives would be saved if only someone in the school or company could defend against mass murderers and keep these killers from mowing down a bunch of sitting ducks who desperately try to hide behind furniture to save their lives.

Now, after doing interviews on the Jessie Davis murder, those from the right are taking one statement out of context and going nuts about it. It seems they think that I believe any man who owns a gun is a danger to women. If I thought that, I guess I would be talking about my own father and my own son. They have guns for personal protection. For that matter, my daughter has guns for personal protection and I also own firearms for personal protection. I am all for gun ownership for personal protection. Clearly, I was not saying a man with a gun is a psychopath.

Nor was I saying a man who might have a collection of guns is a psychopath. I know many of these men as well. They are hunters or lovers of antiques or do a lot of target shooting. What I was talking about during the Paula Zahn Show was the combination of psychopathic behavior and an obsession with weaponry as psychopaths love weapons because it gives them a feeling of power and control. Psychopaths do indeed have a fascination with guns and knives and just because the rest of us might happen to own weapons or even have a number of them as a hobby doesn’t eliminate the fact that psychopaths may also be shopping at the gun store with us.

Women must learn to differentiate between psychologically healthy men and men who are not psychologically healthy if they want to keep from getting into a dangerous life threatening situation. No one trait will be proof that an individual is a psychopath, but add a bunch of traits together and this is a warning. A kind, honorable, honest man with a gun collection is not a psychopath or a danger to anyone but a lying, manipulative, arrogant creep who has a cache of twenty weapons is someone a woman wants to get the hell away from. A man who teaches history at the local junior high school and happens to have a collection of Asian swords is not someone a woman should be frightened of but a man who obsessively watches ninja flicks, brags about how he used to be in the CIA, can’t keep a job, calls women sluts and whores, and owns a huge collection of swords and daggers, now there is a guy a woman wants should avoid like the plague.

Anyone who watched the actual Paula Zahn Show and paid attention to the whole conversation and intent would clearly know I was not labeling gun owners psychopaths. Unfortunately, when words are taken out of context and printed on the Internet, often the meaning of those words get misunderstood. I apologize to any gun owners (who aren’t psychopaths) who thought they were the target of my statements. I respect your constitutional rights to own firearms and would never want to see those taken away. I, like you, want to be sure I can protect myself and my family. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Bank Robbery for Dummies

For all you folks a little short on money and brains, the once almost impossible crime of bank robbery has been dumbed down for you. No longer are bank robberies the forte of masked, armed gangs of criminals who must plan a big operation and have lots of guts to take the big risk of getting shot or caught and put away for life. Now, pony-tailed young women are getting into the act without bothering to carry weapons and spending months planning the details. They aren’t even worried about doing much jail time. Why? Because these criminals know that because they are getting less than $5000 a pop from the tellers they approach and aren't pointing a gun at them, they likely won’t get all that long of a sentence if they do get caught.

So, while the rest of us have to work hard to get money and even have to show an ID when we ask for one hundred dollars of our own money, these pieces of riff-raff just saunter into the bank and ask for a thousands. No security guards or double locking doors are in place to deter them. The banks have decided to save money on personnel and security equipment because the U.S. government (read: us taxpayers) will foot the loss. Besides, those security measures are unnerving and unsightly for customers. How sad is it that the banks just give away money to criminals without even a blink. The tellers are told just to hand it over rather than make a fuss. Then the criminal justice system shrugs and hardly adds much fear to the commission of the crime for the offenders.

No wonder we are overrun with crime. If we are not willing to take a stand on right and wrong, criminals will think we don’t care if they rob us. Maybe we really don’t.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Let's Eliminate Probation and Parole

I know a bunch of folks are going to write me some angry hate mail on this one but I am willing to take the risk. I think it is time we call a spade a spade and eliminate probation, parole, and phony rehabilitation. Let’s examine what these programs actually are:

Probation: you have committed a crime and you know what the supposed punishment is but we are not actually going to punish you; instead w will give you a warning not to do it again. If you do, maybe we will punish you the next time around. As a parent, I know full well that parents who use this method in child rearing create disrespectful brats. A legal system which uses this method of handling lawbreakers creates unrepentant criminals.

Parole: You have committed a crime and you know what the supposed punishment is but if you act all nicey-nicey in the pokey will give you a get-out-of jail-early card. Then, we will let you slither back into society and recommit crimes unless we get lucky enough to catch you this time around. Parents who let their kids out of their punishments early raise disrespectful brats. A legal system which uses this method of handling lawbreakers creates unrepentant criminals. Yes, I repeat myself.

Phony rehabilitation: Here we either allow the criminal not to be punished or be released from punishment early if he agrees to go into some psychological program. Noting the lesser of two evils, the criminal happily agrees to play a game he figures fools have put together. Parents who let their kids out of punishments by allowing them to wash the dishes or write a “sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry” note raise disrespectful brats. A legal system which uses this method of handling lawbreakers creates unrepentant criminals.

How about treating a crime as a crime and improving one’s life as two separate issues? Anyone who commits a crime should be willing to do the time and anyone who wants to change he life should be willing to do so without the threat of doing time. We as a society should be clear that these are two different projects. Let me pose a scenario:

I tell my kid if he lies and sneaks out of the house to go to a party he will be grounded for one month. He lies and sneaks out. I find out. I can do one of four things:

1) Tell him I am disappointed and don’t do it again.
2) Punish him for thee days and then tell him I am disappointed and don’t do it again.
3) Punish him for a week and then tell him if he sets the table for the rest of the month he can go hang out with his friends again.
4) Punish him for the month and then tell him that he could use to rebuild our trust in him again, spend time teaching him the worth of trust, and then offer him a chance to do so.

Common sense should tell us that the first three are a mockery of authority and responsibility. The same holds true for criminals. There are only two kinds of criminals: those who will always be unrepentant and those who actually are repentant. The only way to keep the unrepentant from committing crimes is to lock them up or make them fear being locked up. For the repentant ones who recognize they are screw ups and are willing to do their time, let’s give them good programs which they can voluntarily sign up for after they get out. However, since we citizens and judges will never be absolutely sure which group is which until after the fact, all those convicted should do the maximum time we feel as a society they should serve and then offer real opportunities to those who want help upon release. We need to make life imprisonment a reality for those who commit heinous crimes (rape, murder, child molestation, etc.) as these creeps are psychopaths who don’t know the meaning of repentance and reasonable sentences for those criminals who might learn from their time in the pen. The criminal justice system needs to get out of the business of psychoanalyzing and rolling the dice on recidivism. Only then might we see a drop in crime and an increase in public safety.


Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: That nice "Mr. Brooks."

The scariest thing about the new Kevin Costner film isn’t that Demi Moore looks like a wax mannequin, or that there are more plots in this movie than can be found in a veteran’s cemetery, or that a number of well known actors are so desperate for work that they agreed to be in this ridiculous piece of crap. What is really frightening is that I, a criminal profiler, apparently had no clue that serial killers could be such totally wonderful human beings (minus the killing stuff). It seems that Mr. Brooks doesn’t have a psychopathic bone in his body, just a little glitch in his brain chemistry that suddenly makes him need to do a thrill kill, a glitch of biology that he has sadly passed down to his daughter who also interrupts who her fine behavior with a violent hatchet slaying.

Mr. Brooks, as far as I can see, is able to work hard and achieve long term goals, marry and be faithful to an intelligent woman, raise and adore his daughter and be willing to do anything for her (yeah, like kill another person in her college town while she is home to get the police off her trail), enjoy a hobby with a high level of expertise, show depth of emotion, be forthright and honest (except about the killing), and truly feel remorse about being a killer (but oddly never about the victims – wait, that might be an odd bit of psychopathy).

Oh, Mr. Script-hack, please call me next time you write a serial killer movie for a bit of consulting! Serial homicide isn’t in the genes; you don’t inherit it. Psychopaths become that way through early childhood problems coupled with a personality type. And they don’t grow up to be fine members of society without a trace of creepiness. All the serial killers I have met or studied show every psychopathic trait without exception. They are all pathological liars, manipulators, have flat affect and have shallow emotions, lack empathy, have grandiose thinking, are narcissistic, and refuse to accept responsibility for their actions, etc. Few serial killers accomplish much in their lives either, outside of racking up murders.

Actually, we can be thankful that this movie is full of hooey. If serial killers were really like Mr. Brooks, we would have zero warning signs to go on and we wouldn’t be able to trust anyone out there. While people often say after a serial killer is arrested, “He seemed like a nice man,” or “I can’t believe he would do something like this,” the serial killer has always shown psychopathic behaviors that a good many people recognized and preferred not to be around.

I think the most upsetting thing about this movie (besides the fact I tossed $8.50 to see it) is that we are actually supposed to like the serial killer. We feel sorry for Mr. Brooks and hope he feels better soon. Never mind those pesky victims that he so cold-bloodily shot. We didn’t like them nearly as much as we like him. How sad is that…..

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: The Madeleine McCann Letter

Someone has sent a letter to the Dutch press claiming that he knows where little Madeleine McCann is buried. Apparently this fellow had sent a similar letter last year when the police were searching for the missing Belgian sisters, Stacy and Nathalie, which arrived just on the day they were found. Is this a hoax or could this be the abductor of all three girls? Now, there was an arrest made in the case of the murdered Belgian girls, but this letter writer is said to have known where they were buried by the train tracks and so the police are taking the Madeleine letter fairly seriously.

Let’s profile this letter and see what the possibilities are. First of all, the Belgian girls were killed within hours of their abduction and if Madeleine’s body really is where this writer says it is – seven miles from the resort from which she was taken – I think we can eliminate the pedophile ring scenario (a scenario I never really bought). The Belgian girls were raped and killed quickly; there was no transporting of them anywhere and certainly no time to do any selling of them or videotaping of them being tortured and murdered. If Madeleine is found right in the vicinity of the resort, we can eliminate any fancy sex ring kidnapping little kids for profit.

Therefore, in both cases, we would have a pedophile or a pedophile duo grabbing and amusing themselves, not involving themselves in organized crime. The letter writer could, in theory, be a traveling man and have gone to Belgium, found a couple of victims, left the country and sent the letter when he was back at home in Holland. He could have been on the road again, come across another child left unattended (the Belgian girls were left to play in the street at midnight while their parents were drinking it up inside a bar), grabbed her, raped her and killed her, and then gone back home to Holland where he once again writes a letter at leisure to the newspaper he must read all the time. He would be a publicity lover and get a kick out of having the girls found and reading about the discovery over his morning coffee. Of course, there was a man convicted of the sisters’ murder but it is possible he isn’t guilty, just a dupe, and the real killer finds this annoying and wants to set the record straight.

This is one possible scenario. However, there is a problem with it. It is said that the letter writer was right on the money as to where the sisters’ bodies would be found. I beg to differ. The letter writer marked a location that turned out to be one mile away from where the girls were found. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if he was one mile off from where he claimed Madeleine would be found – six miles or seven miles on a lonely road – well, maybe he just didn’t remember exactly how far he drove, but being one mile off of the sisters’ dump site is a different story entirely.

The sisters’ bodies were found within 300 meters of the bar, not over a mile from the bar. I would think a killer well know the difference between “at the end of the block” and “more than a mile down the road.” Furthermore, a killer who leaves the kids at the end of the block probably doesn’t have a car and the one who would leave them more than a mile away would have to have a car to carry them that far.

At this point, unless Madeleine is found exactly where the letter writer claims, the letters were probably the work of an armchair detective who just guessed where he thought they might be. If you add to this toss of the dice to all the possible locations any other tipster gave and all the psychics gave, someone is likely to get lucky and get close to the right spot.

The police, of course, would be remiss not to check this out just to be sure they aren’t ignoring a serial killer’s clues. But, chances are, there are two different pedophiles at work in these crimes. Unattended children are easy targets for pedophiles and just because the MO is similar, it doesn’t mean there is just one guy committing the crimes. Yes, there is a serial killer of children out there, but whether there is one serial killer or two serial killers involved in these crimes remains to be seen.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Why Was America Attacked on September 11, 2001?

All those who believe it was because the terrorists are jealous of us and our capitalistic society, raise your hands. Those were the reasons President Bush gave for the murders of thousands of innocent people shortly after the attack on September 11th. For God sake, put your hands down, and think! Why would those men dare to attack America, knowing full well they would incur the great and mighty wrath of our government and military in return? Remember this is not a small group of crazed extremists, but rather a large, organized, well-funded network.

I did not buy that jealousy crap for a second, and I thought, what would drive me to do such a thing? What could fill me with that much rage? The answer is to avenge and protect my loved ones, my home, and my country. I am not for one second saying the terrorists had a right to attack and kill innocent civilians, or that the perpetrators should not be hunted down, stand trial, and pay with their own lives. However, the fact remains we will never be safe until we know the truth about the complex issues behind the reasons for the attack of 9-11 and other attacks against the U.S.

Congressman Ron Paul had the courage to point out the proverbial elephant in the room, which not many are willing to face. During the GOP debate in South Carolina last month, Rep. Paul “who has long served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, explained how 50 years of American interventionism in the Middle East has helped compromise our national security…” Rudy Giuliani interrupted saying he had "never heard anything so absurd.” Dr. Paul then advised Mr. Giuliani to read the 9-11 Commission Report. Andy Bacevich wrote this about Giuliani’s remarks to Dr. Paul’s statement in his essay published in the Atlantic Monthly, “indignation is not an argument, and 'How dare you!' is not a response”. So before anyone makes a similar comment here, I have a reading assignment for you too. Only then, can there be an exchange of opposing viewpoints-if you still have one.

It happens that Dr. Paul’s explanation is also supported by well-documented facts contained in our National Security Archives. I am a big fan of our National Archives, and have spent countless hours reading documents written by our nation’s leaders and policy makers on a variety of subjects. It is here that you can read for yourself about how individuals with an unquenchable thirst for money and power have manipulated elections, economies, and the lives of people in other countries in the name of the United States of America, because it was beneficial to American business interests. For example this January 25, 2001, memo on al-Qaeda from counter terrorism coordinator Richard Clarke to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Or the enlightening 1999 Desert Crossing Seminar documents. “In late April 1999, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), led by Marine General Anthony Zinni (ret.), conducted a series of war games known as Desert Crossing in order to assess potential outcomes of an invasion of Iraq aimed at unseating Saddam Hussein.” Over seventy participants including the Dept. of State, the CIA, the Dept.of Defense, and the National Security Council took part in the event. And there is plenty more to read about 50 years of U.S. interventionism in the Middle East and South Asia document collection. When you have finished reading about the Middle East, I suggest the section on Latin American Affairs.

Those that have the courage to seek the truth are true patriots. Not only is it our right as American citizens to question the actions of our leaders and hold them accountable, it is our responsibility. It is up to us to see that our representatives conduct themselves with honor, integrity, and decency on behalf of our beloved America. We the People have our work cut out for us, and because I love my country so deeply, I will continue to question my government and its actions. It is the least I can do.

Donna Weaver

For My Honey, I am so proud of your devotion, strength and courage !!

Panthers, 505th PIR, 82nd Airborne- All The Way!! H-Minus!!

May God keep you safe and bring you home to us soon.

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Who the Hell is Danielle Cramer?

The name Danielle Cramer doesn’t ring a bell does it? This poor fifteen-year-old girl went missing a year ago in Connecticut and was found locked in a specially designed little room underneath a staircase in the home of a business associate of her family, a business associate with a history of “questionable involvement with minors.” Now, I do television commentary on just this sort of case all the time but I couldn’t for the life of me recall ever even hearing about this child. Clearly, she got no national publicity went she went missing, unlike Natalee Holloway, little Madeleine or Ben Ownby.

It wasn’t like there wasn’t a good possibility someone had done something bad to her considering her family had creepy people hanging around in the form of possible sex offenders. Police were concerned that Danielle had met a less than pleasant fate and finally found out that this was true, although thankfully Danielle at least was found alive after a year of searching. So, why, were there no news stories?

First of all, Danielle wasn’t seen being abducted by a friend or a camera. She just vanished. There was no exciting visual to stick in people’s minds, to show over and over on the news, or for someone to excitedly relate the story again as he got his fifteen minutes of fame. She just disappeared without any fanfare.

Secondly, she had vanished before because she was had been a repeat runaway. This was undoubtedly the number one reason there was only a halfhearted effort to find out what happened to her. If the media ran a story every time a teen took off and the police started a full fledged investigation every time some kid decided to go hang somewhere else, there would be no other news and the resources of law enforcement would be heavily strained.

The third reason Danielle didn’t get much press was that her family didn’t work very hard at it. The moms of the missing Natalee and Madeleine clearly made it their life’s work to find their kids. This family either didn’t care that much or lacked the resources to put forth such an effort. I would guess both which brings me to the saddest part of this kind of story,

Some kids just don’t get a break. They are born into less than functional families. This is why Danielle ended up being the kind of kid who is a runaway. She probably had reasons to want to runaway. Either there was abuse in the family – physical, sexual, or emotional – or there was neglect. This is the perfect child to become a victim of predators. They are easy to entice, they often won’t be missed, and the family may do little to search for them. Even if the parents do make an attempt to reach out to the public and police about their missing child, they often won’t be believed or liked well enough for a strong positive response. No one may feel sorry enough for them or their missing child. Sad, but true.

Children at risk are often put at risk by their own families and if the community cannot lend a hand, these children often end up in a bad way. It doesn’t necessarily take a community to raise a child if that child has wonderful parents but it does take a community to save a child if the parents are not up to the job.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: AIDS prevents Solving of Murders

There is one odd side effect of AIDS awareness that few people are aware exists. Some rapists and serial killers are terrified of becoming HIV positive and so they use condoms in the commission of their crimes. They may not actually be using condoms to thwart identification by law enforcement or to prevent the linkage of crimes, but simply because they don’t want to get a disease. How about that for getting the message across about safe sex?Yes, while serial killers don’t mind taking the lives of others, most have a real aversion to losing their own. Consequently, they don’t take on victims that will fight back, they avoid death penalty states, and some wear condoms to protect themselves from contracting HIV. Of course, some attack children and those they consider possible innocents, but, if they can’t get those victims, a condom will do.

The number of serial homicide cases without semen evidence is on the rise. While the missing semen may be due to the inability of the killer to function sexually or that he has reach such a level of experience that he is careful not to leave DNA, we shouldn’t jump to that conclusion. It may just be that he is a health nut.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Less than Great Expectations

I went to see the new movie Knocked Up last night. The website “Rotten Tomatoes” gave it a 92% rating by the critics so one would think this movie would be pretty great and maybe have a nice message as well. Yeah, well, who the hell are these critics anymore? Don’t they know anything about great film making or even good film making? How about pleasingly entertaining with a sense of decency? Knocked Up couldn’t rate in any of these categories.

First, it is a porn film. Yes, really, how did it get an R rating? Okay, I will admit I didn’t see his private part (although we did see hers during the birth when the baby’s head crowned and this was meant to gross us out as it did the friend of the father who happened into the room at the time). We did see the two in the sex act (humping away with sound effects and such) before and during pregnancy. We also see films of women cavorting with each other and we get constant crude body part jokes. This was the good part of the film

The part though that really irked me was that making of yet another film about male losers who end up with awesome, talented women. Sideways really ticked me off for that reason and now we have Allison and Ben representing another couple less than likely to succeed. Allison is a gorgeous, talented, well-employed woman on the rise. Ben is a fat slob who has never held a job in his twenty-three years, smokes pot and does ‘shrooms, lives in a pigpen with the worst group of losers one can imagine, and has the emotional age of a thirteen-year-old (and here I insult thirteen-year-old boys). His biggest thrill is making a website which notes at what point in each film women get naked. Woo hoo!

First of all, there is nothing attractive enough about this schlep to make me think Allison should find him sexy enough for a one night stand (hey, I am over fifty and I wouldn’t want to nail him) much less hook up with him for a lifetime. Of course, by the end of the movie, we find out that he really is a diamond in the rough. He gets a real job, finds a little apartment and decorates it for the baby, and tada! Allison’s frog has turned into a prince.

Oh, please, let me try not to roll my eyes. As a profiler I know darn well people don’t change that radically. We are pretty much what we are and although we can grow up and mature to some extent, that this much of a loser is about as likely to become a great husband and daddy as a major cheater is about to stay honest to his next wife.

Sadly, the audience seemed to like the movie, an audience full of teens. What kind of message are we actually sending our young girls except to keep your standards low and maybe you will end up lucky in the long run? Too few girls even think enough of themselves these days to want to continue their education, find a good profession, and contribute to the world rather than just become some guy’s girlfriend and have him become their “baby daddy.” Yet, this stupid flick is actually supposed to be an “inspiring” film with a happy ending. Give us a break……please.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Psychopath or Psychotic?

Lancaster’s coroner, Dr. G. Gary Kirchner, has been accused of compromising the investigation of the Haines family, three of whom were slaughtered in their home on May 16 in a gruesome and frightening crime. Basically, the guy said there were multiple stab wounds and some psychotic answering voices in his head out on the loose. The district attorney, Donald Totaro, said that information about the wounds should have not been released because it is something the police didn’t want the public to know and that Kirchner wasn’t a criminal profiler so he shouldn’t be analyzing the offender.

Kirchner fired back that the police weren’t doing so well in their investigation and were down to interviewing school kids.

Well, I have to weigh in here with the DA if these are things Kirchner really said. First of all, he is involved in the investigation and he shouldn’t be giving out information without the blessing of the detectives. Secondly, the police absolutely should be interviewing the kids at school because the crime may well be the work of some violence obsessed kid who wanted to make his fantasies come true.

Finally, Kirchner doesn’t know the difference between a psychopath and a psychotic. This is no psychotic who did this. This is a psychopath who knows exactly what he is doing and no voice in his head is directing him. This is why the police are struggling to catch him. If he were psychotic he would not have selected a family in the night, targeted these specific people, snuck in and snuck out, and left no trail back to his house. His brain was functioning just fine, Mr. Kirchner, and that is why psychopaths are so much more dangerous than psychotics.

I don’t know Kirchner’s motivation behind his comments. Maybe he is fed up with the way the police keep too much information from the citizens in open cases and he wants to see this change. Maybe he wants the public to have enough information to identify the killer. Maybe he just wants publicity. But, one thing is for sure – there is still a violent psychopath running around Lancaster and I only hope the police have some leads they are not telling us about.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Does the Innocence Project help innocent men or criminals?

The Innocence Project has struck again. Curtis McCarty has been freed from prison after twenty years on death row because a judge finally ruled that the state improperly dealt with the physical evidence and, in the eyes of the Innocence folk, railroaded an innocent man. Now, this man, like the many others the Innocence Project has gotten a ticket out of jail, is oddly not overly bitter about spending two decades of his life behind bars. Many people think this is a wonderful thing, a man wrongly convicted can forgive the authorities and his country for such a horrific injustice and they also applaud the Innocence Project for rescuing this poor individual from a terrible fate.

What the Innocence Project and most reporters don’t want people to know is that Curtis McCarty is a scumbag who should never be allowed back on the streets among decent people ever again. He is hardly an innocent man, some docile schoolteacher ripped away from his loving wife and children, and tossed into a hellhole with a type of humankind he is totally unfamiliar with. McCarty is a useless piece of garbage, a violent criminal, a drug user, and a rapist. He was convicted of raping a fourteen-year old girl in every manner possible and choking her during the act. Luckily, she lived. Nice man McCarty also led the police to the body of a woman his friend supposedly raped and murdered although his friend said McCarty was the guilty party. Then, there was the other woman that he was convicted of murdering…but, now he has been found not guilty due to supposed DNA exclusion and bad behavior at the police lab.

I don’t know the full circumstances surrounding the murder of Pamela Willis – maybe Curtis killed her and maybe he didn’t or maybe he didn’t rape her but her murdered her or maybe he used a condom and another of his friends killed her. What I do know is that Curtis is a violent rapist who has been involved in burying a raped and murdered woman. Why these crimes don’t keep him in jail forever is beyond me. But, now, Curtis is a free man and because the truth about him has been buried, the Innocence Project will seem a band of angels instead of the criminal loving left-wing anti-victim group that they really are. It is one thing to work to be sure the State does not abuse its powers; it is another to make people believe the State is putting law abiding, decent citizens on death row. The Innocence Project doesn’t want folks to know the truth that almost all of the people they get freed are violent criminals who either committed the crime they were accused of, involved in the crime they were accused of, or committed a crime just like the one they were accused of. While creeps still shouldn’t be railroaded by the justice system, they shouldn’t be treated like heroes either.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Understanding the Upstanding Paris Hilton

Poor Paris! She is still fighting to keep herself out of prison and her distraught fans are working overtime to help her with their petition to Arnold. All of this is pretty silly and goofy (and rather amusing, actually especially when she is getting slammed right and left and told to just grow up and stop whining and now there is another petition labeled "Jail Paris Hilton" getting a ton of signatures!). However, there is one rather seriously note in all of this. In the petition her fans conjured up, they included this incredible statement about Paris: “She provides hope for young people all over the U.S.” Hope? Hope to do what, to be what? Hope to grow up to be a lucky rich kid of a billionaire? Hope to grow up to be a brainless twit? Hope to grow up to be a lawbreaker, a drunk, and a drug abuser? Hope to grow up to be the anti-paragon of virtue?

Is this the beacon of light for our young people? Are they looking up to Paris instead of someone who is really achieving something in this life or giving something to the world that has merit? Is Paris the new Mother Theresa? Good God, tell me the next generation hasn’t gotten so shallow and narcissistic that becoming Paris is their actual hope for their future?

What a sad thought this is that any young person would see Paris Hilton as a role model instead of just a silly, irresponsible, Hollywood celebrity who might wear some cool clothes and have a neat hairstyle. Paris might be someone we enjoy reading gossip about and we may even get a laugh out of her antics and this I can accept, but to actually take her seriously and wish to be like her is a pretty sorry state of affairs.

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo Images)

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Violent Video Games are not Healthy for Kids

Louisiana State Representative Roy Burrell meant well when he misquoted me, but now I am having to deal with the fallout. In trying to get something done he said this to the press:

“One expert, Pat Brown, a national top criminal profiler and parent, said that these video games are causing our children to become psychopathic killers by 9 years old.”

Well, no, I didn't say that and below is a correction of this statement he claimed I said (which by the way, I was never contacted by Rep. Burrell or his office for any quote).

Dear Rep. Burrell, While I agree with your concerns and approve heartily of working to legislate control over violent video games, I need to correct the quote you attributed to me that these video games create psychopaths by age nine. Violent video games alone cannot create a psychopath. What I have stated often in television interviews is that a psychopath is already a psychopath by age nine. It is a combination of personality and child rearing (by the family and community) that helps create that psychopath.

Violent video games can be a part of this picture as they lend to the loss of empathy that is a hallmark of psychopathy and young children viewing repetitive violence and participating in "killing" via video games are living in an unhealthy psychological environment. Furthermore, teenagers who are already psychopathic and then spend a great deal of time with violent video games are being inspired to act out their psychopathy in a similarly violent manner. Violent video games do not make well-adjusted older teens or adults into mass murderers (although there still could be more positive pastimes and inputs for these game playing individuals). Unfortunately, however, we must be our brother's keeper in a civilized society and just because not all people will be damaged by these video games, enough of our vulnerable young children and emotionally disturbed teens will indeed be affected (and consequently become a danger). For this reason, we would be remiss as a society to ignore this public health hazard that has gotten so far out of hand.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiing Topic of the Day: Serial Killer Chester Turner

Chester finally got his comeuppance. He was convicted of murdering ten women and an unborn baby. What finally nailed him was the DNA he gave up when he was convicted of rape in 2002. Apparently, it showed up in a whole string of dead women. Of course, the defense attorney tried to claim that this was just coincidence since the women were drug users and prostitutes and, therefore, Turner could have had consensual sex with them. I guess he has a point, but I think it rather odd that the women all were murdered so soon after Turner left his sperm in them. What a coincidence!

Turner is now called the worst serial killer in Los Angeles history with his known murders falling between 1987 and 1996. He is an African-American serial killer (which goes to prove again that race has nothing to do with serial homicide), lived within a very small range of all the murders (which is very common), was a pizza delivery guy and a security guard (very common jobs for serial killers) and did what I call bop-and-drop murders (quickly taking down the victims, raping and murdering them on the spot, and leaving the bodies where they falls). Bop-and-drops are actually the most common kind of serial homicide; the fancy kidnappings and torture scenarios we see in the movies are much rarer. Bop-and-drops are also the most difficult to solve because there is so little evidence to go on (which is why getting lucky with DNA really helps close those cases).

One more thing, the DNA never would have done Chester in if the victim of the rape that got him convicted hadn’t identified him. Why he left the woman alive is a puzzle, but that he did certainly was a good thing for both her and any possible future victims.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Minnesota Cho in the Making

I went to my local library today to spend a few hours studying and writing, thinking this would be a good place to work with no distractions (like my refrigerator and the Internet and that newspaper lying over there). I set up my computer and books in a study corral in the back of the library (far away from the kids section). I walked by the row of adults at the computers and noticed a gentleman sitting in one of the chairs by the window, reading a book about Greece. I started into my work, happy to work peacefully in this nice location.

Then they came by my desk; a middle-aged man and a scrawny teenage boy, about fourteen or fifteen, sipping on a soda. They sat down behind me and the man started chatting away with the kid. He kept his voice lowered – after all this was a library – but, nonetheless, his constant jabbering was extremely distracting for anyone trying to study or work. I put up with it for about ten minutes and then I turned and asked the man to stop talking. He told me he couldn’t, that he was tutoring the boy, and he had to do it in a public place. I asked him how long he planned on continuing the noise making and he told me it would be two hours.

I then asked this man how he thought other people could concentrate if he used the library as social hour, considering one was not allowed to talk on cell phones in the room. He ignored me and started on with his tutoring. The boy laughed at me. So I asked the man what kind of example he thought he was setting for this boy by breaking the rules of the library and annoying the other patrons. The boy laughed again and then he said, “Bitch.” The man said nothing. I asked the man why he was ignoring the fact the boy just called me a bad name. He ignored me again. I went to the librarian who told me the man was an instructor for at-risk youth. At-risk youth! I guess that man was sure teaching the boy how to act right! My guess is that this useless excuse for an adult male was a do-gooder who thinks buying a juvenile delinquent a drink and helping him do his homework is all he needs to become a worthwhile citizen; how he behaves should be ignored. I got the librarian to move this charming duo to a back room and on the way the boy called me a bitch again, but my guess is they will be back in the library next week even if they break the rules and abuse the other patrons.

This is why Cho Seung-Hui got as far as he did; no one ever told him to stop. No one ever told him other people have rights. No one ever punished him for his mistreatment of others. He grew up to think others didn’t matter. My guess is this boy is learning just those same lessons from the moronic adults around him. When he kills one of them someday, we shouldn’t say we didn’t see it coming.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Sex Pervert Copycat sends Anthrax Style Letters

Investigators are wondering who has been sending dozens of letters with insecticide powder since September of 2004 threatening violence if the news networks don’t start showing more cheerleaders and sportswomen in skimpy clothing and lingering frontal shots of female basketball and tennis players, especially when they jump! Below is an excerpt of one of the first letters:

“"We are fed up with networks exploiting women in sports coverage. ABC/ESPN exploit collegiate and professional cheer squads in their coverage of football and basketball. They also screw WNBA players and WTA Tennis players. Compare coverage of cheer and dance squads based on their outfits they wear. Compare quality of shots, length of shots and number of shots Pigs park their cameras on us close up, front view, dozens of times each game, yet rarely ever show on TV in this manner, unless squads are wearing sweaters, jackets, under shirts, etc... Watch how they always zoom in on WNBA players shooting free throws then leave at the last second as she starts to shoot, disrupting the flow. Watch on ESPN how they will show women serve, close up, from every angle (side, back) EXCEPT when they zoom in close front, they will leave as she starts to serve, disrupting the flow. We have asked nicely for them to respect us and all women, yet they refuse. They exploit innocent people, so we will too. When they start respecting us, we stop mailing these out."


This particular sexual psychopath has a paraphelia (a sexual obsession) with “bouncing boobs”! I don’t think one will actually find that particular sexual perversity listed in a psychiatric manual, but this is apparently what this loser spends an inordinate amount of his time attempting to see by watching hours upon hours of ESPN. Clearly, even though a great many of the women are not wearing that much clothing and their breasts actually do move up and down while they play their sports, this man just can’t get enough of this action and each time an opportunity is lost, he gets upset.

Bouncing Boob Bob apparently thinks he can scare the networks into providing the sports equivalent of twenty-four hour soft porn. If anyone out there knows a guy who fits the facts of this case – a man who watches an awful lot of sports television, is obsessed with the media, has lived or traveled to Portland, Seattle, and Chicago over the last four years – and has a big thing for bouncing boobs, please give the police or FBI a ring – they are getting quite sick of this guy and would like to make him a new home where not many breasts exist. They need your help.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: We LOVE you, Seung-Hui Cho!

Cho has made it. He is now poster boy for the lonely, the bullied, and the ignored. He is our hero and we owe him our respect, we owe him our tributes, and we owe him our love. At least this seems to be what that insensitive, self-centered sick twit of a schoolgirl thinks who made a memorial for Cho Seung-Hui at Virginia Tech alongside the innocent people he slaughtered as though he deserved the same sentiments as the others. Apparently, this stupid girl is not alone in her perverse thinking as it seems others have gone so far as to place flowers and notes of sympathy by the memorial stone for this lousy piece of garbage and a good portion of the media is oohing and aahing over how wonderful it is that there is so little anger and hate levied against Cho.

Well, let me levy some. While I feel pity for the little boy Cho was before he turned into the antisocial beast that committed such a hideous mass murder, I feel nothing but disgust for the vicious cold-blooded killer he became. He deserves no empathy considering he had none for his victims and their families. He deserves no forgiveness from us folks who did not lose a loved one to this psychopath because only true victims of this man have the right to make that choice. For that matter, Cho deserves no forgiveness from anyone because he has asked for none; the matter is now between Cho and God and let’s let God decide for Himself what to do with Cho’s soul if he has one.

If this act of honoring Cho is the right thing to do, well then let’s name a hall after Ted Bundy at the Florida university where he slaughtered a number of his victims. Let’s start Hitler Day and Assassins Week. Let’s take a killer out to dinner.

For God’s sake, America, how much lower can we sink then when we blur wrong and right to such an extent we can’t even distinguish the difference in the worth of the life of a brutal mass murderer who never gave society anything but destruction, sadness, and misery and the lives of thirty-two innocent victims whose loss is devastating to all of us? My guess is we have hit rock bottom.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Motive of a Mass Murderer

We keep hearing how the investigators are working hard to find the motive in the mass murder at Virginia Tech, that somewhere in the life and writings of Cho Seung-Hui there is the answer to why he committed such a horrible act. I say, why are we wasting so much time to search for an answer that is meaningless and also impossible to prove as being the actual truth of the matter?Cho was a psychopath who hated the world. If he were alive, he might pick this motive or that motive in an attempt to justify his actions. This supposed motive might be something he feels comfortable with as his reason for committing a heinous crime or it might be a motive he picks just to make himself look better in the eyes of the world. He might choose a motive to punish his classmates, his family, or some girl who didn’t give him the time of day. He might pick a motive just to play games with us. If Cho were alive, we might get some sort of answer but we would never know the veracity of it.

But, Cho is dead. We can peruse his mind through his writings and behaviors and take a wild guess at a motive, but we will never get his confirmation that we have the right one (the one he wants us to buy which makes it a nonsensical exercise anyway). So what is the point of this exercise in futility? I guess folks just want some answer they can live with, an answer that will assure us that this horrifying act was an anomaly which only happened because of one specific issue in Cho’s life. Then we can breathe a sigh of relief and say, well, there is nothing we can do about some that one circumstance that set him off..

However, if we admit that Cho is a violent psychopath who simply wanted to get his revenge at the world for damned near everything that he felt went wrong in his life, then we have bigger problem: other psychopaths may come out of the woodwork and repeat Cho’s crime just for the hell of it. To stop future mass murderers we must address the creation of psychopaths and how we enable them to eventually take revenge on us. Accepting Cho as a psychopath is much scarier than just thinking he is a psychotic who misinterpreted some incident and snapped. If we finally accept that school mass murders and serial killings are on the rise in this country, we then know it is just a matter of time before we see another tragedy in the news.

Let’s stop looking for the “motives” of psychopaths and start spending our time figuring how to keep our children from developing antisocial personalities and how to protect society from those psychopaths that are already among us.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: A Hooker by any other Name....

I just love how we all pussyfoot around calling a hooker a hooker by renaming her an escort, a dancer, or a masseuse (and I am not talking about masseuses who have been trained to give more than a “Swedish fingertip massage”). I have always wondered whether the “dancer” the Duke boys asked over was supposed to provide a lot more than a musical distraction and why the university doesn’t have a problem with young men who represent their lacrosse team hiring prostitutes for their parties.

Now we have mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui hiring Chastity (yeah, right) Frye for $160 an hour to “dance” in his hotel room. She is yet another “escort” working for a service (read: upscale pimp) who says she didn’t provide sex for him but just did a lap dance. Chastity is a hooker and I have no problem making that statement publicly. If she had only worked for the “escort” service for one night, I could buy that she didn’t know that she was to provide sex for her client, but no girl who works in a massage parlor or for an escort service for more than that night will lose her job if she does not make her johns happy. Chastity admits she is an “escort” and does what “escorts” do, so we know she is a liar when she says she was dancing for Cho. Of course, she has to say that in order not to get arrested. Sadly, we have a massive number of prostitution services blatantly advertising on the Internet, in the newspaper, in the phone book and with big signs outside their buildings stating “Twenty-Four Hour Massage” and we do nothing about it. When was the last time you heard about those places being raided or closed down and why is it legal for our newspapers and yellow pages pimp for these places?

It used to be prostitution was relegated to a nasty red light district in our cities but now it has become part of everyday life. I guess when we as a society are as limited in morals as we are in today’s world, sex is just another commodity, even on college campuses.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Let's Stop Screwing up Our Kids!

Two teenage girls in Australia just strangled a friend to death just because they wanted to see how it felt. Apparently not much else of life was worth experiencing for these jaded teens, so they had to experience the “thrill” of murder to get an adrenaline rush. I remember my years as a youth and I also wanted to be excited by life and so I worked with blind and deaf children, took karate, and dreamed of traveling to Africa. Never did it occur to me that violence would be a kick or that watching my terrified “friend” die a horrible death at my own hands would be an experience worth having. Something is seriously frightening about the psyche of some kids today.

Two other teenage girls in Australia took a different path. They killed themselves because they felt the world wasn’t worth living in. Participants in “Emo” culture, a mindset that over focuses on the “poor me” syndrome, they didn’t lack for a large group of friends (as their suicide notes named) but even the fact that they weren’t alone in the world didn’t stop these self-murders from occurring. I remember another teen who thanked her parents and siblings for being wonderful and her friends for being there for her who then hung herself because the world was “mean.” The world was kind of mean when I was growing up as well (and I wasn’t terrible popular in high school and didn’t have more than a couple of friends) but suicide never ever crossed my mind. Homicidal and suicidal ideation are being promoted constantly in our world today. I never heard of such things when I was growing up so my response to being angry was to lock my bedroom door and listen to show tunes (which didn’t do much to fuel my rage). Now, anger is bolstered by violent ideation from just about every corner of life – video games, movies, television, music, and news – and so it is no wonder kids now consider violence a way to express themselves when they become frustrated with the world around them.

Teenage years have always been difficult transition points. If we as a society care about our children, we need to surround young adults with soft cushions instead of providing them with vicious thoughts to spur them on to violent behavior. We also need to require niceness in our schools, in our communities, in our families, and in our society in general. All the nastiness we see on reality television, in music videos, with bullying in schools, in heated divorce battles, and in general discourse can hardly bring a feeling of happiness to stressed and saddened teens.

Keep posted for news of my new campaign, “Let’s Stop Screwing up Our Kids!” It is time to really do something about the environment our kids live in.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Minimizing Crimes and Bad Behavior

This photo provided by the
Department of Homeland Security
shows Cho Seung-Hui , the gunman
suspected of carrying out the Virginia
Tech massacre that left 33 people dead.
(AP Photo/Department of Homeland Security)

Our country has gotten so desensitized to crime, violence, lying, bad language, public displays of sex, and other bad and dangerous behaviors that people minimize these actions when they occur. Our standards have sunk so low that we hardly blink an eye when even heinous behavior is exhibited. This minimization of bad behavior is one of the contributing factors to the horrible Virginia Tech massacre. Let’s look along a time line and how Cho ended up committing mass murder and how we citizens did little to stop it.

Cho goes through childhood displaying weirder and weirder behaviors. Probably not much was done about it because what he was doing and saying was weird, but his right.

Cho goes off to college and while at college starts creeping out his fellow students and teachers, being accused of stalking and acting scary enough to have one of his professors beg the administration to do something about him. While it is okay to be strange, it should not have been okay to frighten others with your behavior. An institution of learning ought to be responsible to make sure the environment is safe for all students and faculty. The student is a “guest” at the college and the college should have the right to expect proper behavior from him or he should be required to leave.

Cho goes and buys guns. While I personally believe in the right to own guns and the right to carry them to protect yourself, I also believe we have a responsibility as a society and as citizens to be serious about gun ownership. We should be required to have a background check, one which checks criminal, behavioral, and mental status. In other words, this should be a solid check so that people like Cho who exhibit frightening behavior and are on antidepressant meds aren’t considered citizens safe enough to be gun owners. The owner should also have to go through strong training in gun safety and sign a document that accepts full responsibility for the gun, that if the weapon is used by anyone other than the owner in a criminal act, the owner will also be liable for prosecution. Cho just walked in and was able to buy the guns he wanted simply because he was not a felon. His other frightening behaviors never were taken into account and he was never required to show even the slightest interest in responsible gun ownership.

Cho is given antidepressants, probably by a doctor who is not a psychiatrist and who does not have him under his care for his mental health problems. Depression and emotional problems are now considered something that can be magically whisked away with drugs. Pop a pill, problem solved.

There are two bomb threats on campus. This happens a lot these days. If they catch the guys who do such things, what kind of jail sentence do you think they would get? It might be labeled juvenile behavior that needs a little counseling instead of a horrific terrorist threat.

Two students are brutally murdered on the Virginia tech campus. The gunman is unknown and at large. Notification to the students of this extremely dangerous situation is delayed because the police and the administration minimized the danger by deciding the murders were just a domestic dispute and the gunman was probably just the female victim’s boyfriend and he was probably just going to go lay low. Shouldn’t such a heinous crime have horrified everyone, even the professionals? Shouldn’t the police and college administration have immediately gotten out the word out that two innocent people had been brutally murdered and there is an armed and extremely dangerous killer on the loose? Do we have to wait until thirty-two students are murdered to consider the killer a danger to the community?

It is becoming harder and harder for people to recognize concerning behaviors in individuals and dangerousness in our communities because so much rotten behavior is tolerated. When we raise our standards of acceptable behavior, bad behavior will be a whole lot easier to see and, perhaps, then we will stop ignoring it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Who is to Blame for the Virginia Tech Massacre?

It has been interesting in the wake of the Virginia Tech mass murder to see the reactions of the public to the incident. Much raw emotion is coming out and people, including myself, feel very strongly about one issue or the other. In doing television appearances concerning this horrible event, I get the inevitable hate mail and phone calls along with, thankfully, many more positive responses. What gets people really upset (other than the fact thirty-two innocent students and teachers have been murdered in cold blood? Let’s take a look at what is riling people up. Blame, or shall I say, who is to blame for the massacre.

There are those who become angry that blame is placed anywhere but on the shooter. These folks believe that nothing in society could have prevented or stopped the killer and, therefore, we should simply look at the situation as the sad result of a deranged individual who has done a horrible deed. We should call the killer evil (or mentally ill) and mourn the dead. We either hate the evildoer and blame him for everything or we feel sorry for the mentally deranged man along with the victims.

I find this a bit too simplistic and rather frightening, especially when we see a rise in the trend of school shootings, violence among our youth, and predators. If each time something like this happens and we just shrug our shoulders and say, “It couldn’t be helped” we are doing nothing to make the future of our citizens safer.

The reality is that various aspects of society can indeed be blamed for the creation of psychopaths and the crimes they commit. Family and societal problems such as broken homes, excessive violent imagery as a staple of youth’s lives, a gun culture which glorifies and internalizes the use of firearms as both an entertainment and a method of retaliation, a high level disrespectful behavior in our schools, parents who leave their children unsupervised and to their own devices, a lack of positive inputs into youths’ lives, irresponsible gun ownership, lack of public safety laws and security, a weak criminal justice system – these are many of the issues that lead to the development of violent psychopaths and allow them to carry out horrific crimes.

It is a complicated and difficult problem but one which we continually ignore as a society, pretending that pornography, violent media and gaming, poor parenting, and out-of-control school environments are not compromising our youth. It isn’t that this Virginia Tech killer isn’t a horrible creep that should be blamed for the deaths of these poor victims, but that as a society we need to wake up and realize we are to a good extent part of the problem as to why mass murderers, pedophiles, and predators have become such a nightmare in our country and are becoming an increasing problem in other countries as well.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Better Business Bureau Supports Crooks

Consumers can hang up getting help any more in this country. Don’t waste your time with the Attorney General’s office because they only decide to “handle” complaints if their lawyers decide there is some political advantage to doing so. But, wait, what about the good old Better Business Bureau, those supposed consumer advocates who are the watchdogs of abuses by companies and corporations? Yeah, right! The “watchdog” has become the lapdog of crooked companies out to swindle innocent people. This “fox who guards the hen house” makes a ton of money off of fooling citizens by pretending to help them (usually by sending back a form letter that simply says the complaint has been filed and handled) when in reality they take more than $400 a year from companies who get protection from lawsuits by becoming members of this totally crooked “consumer advocacy” organization.

Better Business Bureaus are supported by the very people they are supposed to be investigating and you can be darn sure they aren’t going to bite the hand that feeds them. In our world today though, they do great advertising that covers their real intent….to make millions through phony “consumer services” and collusion with the scumbags they are supposed to be monitoring.

It is a pretty sad world when the only true consumer advocacy are the consumers themselves, on places like eBay and Angie’s list (which cost the consumer $7/month for the privilege) which allow real feedback from customers to be publicly displayed. The Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General’s offices, on the other hand, claim privacy rights to cover their refusal to give out any useful information and keep citizens from knowing if any of the claims have been pursued and how many of them have been truly handled.

The corporate world now owns the consumer lock, stock, and barrel, and we no longer have any recourse to fraud and abuse. Only small time crooks ever get nailed for their criminal acts…the rest get away with them, all with the help of our government and fake consumer advocate groups.

Pretty sad state of affairs if you ask me.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Anna Nicole’s Doctor Under Investigation

Well it’s about time. The DNA results naming Larry Birkhead as the father of Dannielynn Smith dominate today’s headlines, but there is a more important development in the Anna Nicole Smith saga. According to BBC News, the friend and psychiatrist who treated Anna Nicole Smith, Dr Khristine Eroshevich, is now under investigation by California authorities. California medical board spokesperson, Candis Cohen, confirmed that Dr Eroshevich is being investigated in connection with Smith’s death, but declined to provide further details.

There are some disturbing findings regarding the actions of Dr Eroshevich, and others, contained in documents released by the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office. These findings raise questions that require answers.

The investigative report by Broward County Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Joshua Perper contains a timeline of events beginning with the arrival of Smith and her companions, which included Dr Khristine Eroshevich, in Florida.

“…At 8:30 pm the party checked in at the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood. Maurice Brighthaupt, a friendand former body guard met them at the hotel. Anna’s temperature was taken by Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and was 105 degrees. Anna was told to have 911 call for transport to the hospital, but she categorically refused. She was given an ice bath and her temperature dropped to 97 degrees. She was given Tamiflu as well as 1000 mg of Ciprofloxacin with water. Chloral Hydrate was added for sleep. She fell asleep around 10 pm”

After Dr Eroshevich discovered Anna Nicole had a fever of 105, she told her “to have 911 call for transport to the hospital, but she categorically refused” Why did she ask an extremely ill patient with a dangerously high body temperature if she wanted to call 911? Then Dr Eroshevich proceeds to treat her for the fever and infection and give her a drug for sleep that is “a DEA Schedule IV controlled substance that is infrequently prescribed as a hypnotic agent which may cause respiratory and central nervous system depression, coma, convulsions, cardiac arrhythmias and death.

“3. Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Anna Nicole Smith did not urinate and had a “pungent” odor and temperature of 100 degrees. She was at time depressed but she was able to watch television and appeared overall okay. She was given a bath and various fluids including pedialyte, camomile tea and Fiji water. She felt well in the afternoon after a bath and was given chloral hydrate for sleep. She slept about two hours, then she watched television until 11 pm. She took another dose of chloral hydrate and asked for Soma, Klonopin, Valium, Topamax (unknown if she took these medicines).”

Anna Nicole still has a fever and is now presumably severely dehydrated evidenced by a lack of urination. Dr Eroshevich gives Anna Nicole fluids, a bath, and more chloral hydrate. Furthermore, autopsy test results show that Soma, Klonopin, Valium, and Topamax, were 4 of the 7 prescription drugs (plus 2 over-the-counter drugs for a total of 9), which included chloral hydrate, found in Anna Nicole’s system. It may be “unknown” if she took those medications at that time on February 6th, but she did take them in the days prior to her death.

“4. Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Anna stayed awake in bed, watching television around 11 am. She was feeling better and ate breakfast/lunch (omelette of egg white and spinach). In the afternoon she was observed naked and sitting confused in a dry bathtub. She subsequently took a bath. In the evening she ordered 2 crab cakes and shrimp for dinner. Dr. Eroshevich left in the evening for California. Anna was upset and depressed over her friend’s departure. Maurice (“Big Mo”) Brighthaupt returned after Dr. Eroshevich left. Anna was still complaining of not feeling well. She was in the bathtub when Maurice Brighthaupt left for several hours returning between 8-10 pm. Anna was seen on the couch and Howard K. Stern was present but in the bedroom. Maurice went to sleep in the guest room and awakened around 4 am. When he checked the couch, Anna was no longer there and he assumed she had gone to sleep in her room.”

Soon after the still ill Anna is “observed naked and sitting confused in a dry bathtub”, no doubt due to a drug induced stupor, Dr Eroshevich leaves her with the 7 drugs that she has prescribed for Anna Nicole under false names and no medical supervision, then proceeds on her merry way back to California. If this is how Dr Eroshevich “treats” her friends, who needs enemies.

The rest of Anna Nicole’s companions aren’t much better.


“5. Thursday, February 8, 2007
Maurice woke up around 9 am. Around 9:30 am he went to Anna’s room and thought he saw her moving but was not certain. He told Howard he was going to have breakfast with his wife, Tasma. Mr. Stern awoke between 9-10 am and helped Anna to the bathroom. He then watched television in another room until King Eric called to inform him of his arrival at the airport. Mr. Stern then called Maurice to instruct him to pick up the guests (King Eric, his common-law wife, and another man). Upon the arrival of King Eric and his party at the hotel at around 12 pm, Mr. Stern called out to Anna who was still in bed to arouse her. One of the guests then urged him not to wake her so he did not call her again.”

Stern “called out to Anna who was still in bed to arouse her.” The least he could have done was actually enter the bedroom to check on her.

“Shortly after 12 pm, Maurice, Mr. Stern, King Eric, and the other male visitor left the room at the Hard Rock Hotel. Maurice left to take care of personal business and Mr. Stern, King Eric, and the other male guest left at the same time to pick up the boat. Maurice asked Tasma, his wife who is a registered nurse, to stay with Anna. She worked on the computer in Anna’s room while Anna remained in bed under the covers. King Eric’s common-law wife remained in an adjoining room. At about 1 pm Tasma Brighthaupt was on the phone with her husband, Maurice Brighthaupt. The boat captain’s wife, who had been in the guest room, came into Anna Nicole’s room because she thought Tasma was talking to Anna Nicole. When the captain’s wife realized Tasma was not talking to Anna Nicole, she went around Miss Smith’s bed and took a look at her. She then told Tasma to come take a look at Anna because she didn’t like the way Anna Nicole looks. Tasma hang up with Maurice and came around the bed. She saw Anna’s face slumped downward on her chest, her mouth open and without breathing sounds. Tasma Brighthaupt initiated CPR after calling her husband Maurice. She alternated mouth to mouth breathing with chest compressions, checking for a pulse until Maurice arrived.

1:38 pm Maurice returns to the Hard Rock Hotel and he took over resuscitation.
1:40 pm Seminole Emergency Medical Service was called.
1:43 pm First patrol unit arrived to room 607.
1:46 pm Seminole paramedics arrived. CPR was continued.
2:43 pm Anna Nicole Smith arrived at Hollywood Memorial Hospital.
2:49 pm Anna Nicole Smith is pronounced dead and the Medical Examiner’s Office is notified.
4:15 pm Associate Medical Examiner, Dr. Gertrude Juste responds to scene of death pronouncement at the Hollywood Memorial Hospital.
4:59 pm Anna Nicole Smith’s body arrived at the Medical Examiner’s Office and is logged in.”

At about 1 pm, Mrs. Brighthaupt, who is a registered nurse, calls her husband before starting CPR, and does not call 911. The “Scene Report - Seminole Hard Rock Café” by Associate Medical Examiner Gertrude M. Juste, M.D. states information was initially provided by Seminole Detective Marian Bryant that Tasma Brighthaupt noticed something wrong with Smith at around 12:30 p.m. Maurice Brighthaupt arrives approximately 38 minutes later, and then 911 is called.

Dr. Perper’s final summary conclusions:

“D. HOW THE INCIDENT OCCURRED

INGESTED EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF CHLORAL HYDRATE
IN COMBINATION WITH THERAPEUTIC LEVELS
OF OTHER MEDICATIONS

E. PROBABLE TERMINAL MECHANISM:

RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION”

The report also states, “Chloral Hydrate was the most significant drug implicated in this fatality, however several other prescription medications also played a role in this death.7-10 Although the remaining pharmacologic agents were at therapeutic levels, each of these drugs is known to interact with chloral hydrate resulting in an increased risk of overdose.”

Respiratory depression would account for Mrs. Brighthaupt’s statement that Anna Nicole appeared cyanotic or “blue.” In the eyes of the law, Anna Nicole’s life is no less valuable than anyone else’s is. Yes, Anna Nicole Smith was an admitted abuser of prescription drugs, and this contributed to her death. However, this does not relieve Dr Eroshevich of her responsibility for prescribing the potentially lethal combination of medications. Would Smith still be alive if 911 were called sooner so that she could receive proper emergency medical care? We will most likely never know, but the fact remains it was at the very least irresponsible, and at most, criminal, that help was not summoned sooner.

Donna Weaver

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: False Rape Claims

A Maryland lawmaker is in big trouble with women’s advocates because he quoted a 17th century English jurist that juries should not accept a woman’s claim that she had been raped without some sense of skepticism. Delegate Joesph E. Vallario, Jr. was speaking on the issue of a father losing his rights in family court because of a claim of rape by his ex-wife even if the rape charge was never proven in court. He quoted the words spoken by an English chief justice, Sir Matthew Hale, that “Rape is an accusation easily made, hard to be proved, and harder yet to be defended by the party accused.”

Senator Jamin B. Raskin responded to Vallario by telling him it is not easy for a woman to allege rape and referred to a law passed by the General Assembly in 1987 which prohibits judges from instructing juries to be skeptical of rape claims. Lisae Jordon, legislative counsel for the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault echoed his sentiments and stated, “People were a bit taken aback that the chairman of the committee would be citing what is archaic and misogynistic doctrine.”

Now, I have sometimes been considered harsh by men because of my tough on crime views of putting rapists and serial killers away for life without parole, that I am rather severe in my belief that these men should be locked up forever and we should have no sympathy for them. On the other hand, I have been attacked by women’s advocates for being unfeeling toward the likes of Jennifer Wilbanks, the runaway bride, and Audrey Seiler, the college student who made a similar claim as Wilbanks that she was kidnapped, or the NASA astronaut, Lisa Nowak, who drove half way across the country to assault her ex-lover’s girlfriend. I do not have a bias toward one sex or the other when it comes to crime, yet, I am often accused of just that when I come down hard on criminals of the male persuasion or the criminals of the female persuasion.

So, let me make a few more enemies today. I consider myself a feminist because I hold very strong views on women having equal rights in the world and not being the chattel of men. However, I also believe in women having equal responsibilities and an equal application of the rule of law. While men should be punished harshly for raping women, women should be punished harshly for lying about men raping them.

I hate to tell Ms. Jordon and Senator Raskin that Sir Hale and Delegate Vallario are absolutely correct. It is not misogyny to point out a truth and that recognizing this truth is a necessity in applying justice. While it is often hard for women to prove they have been raped (especially when the woman is involved in a relationship with the man through marriage or dating), it is equally hard for a man to prove he didn’t rape someone. This is why I warn my daughter and my sons to be careful who they involve themselves with as my daughter could end up the victim of a rape that will never see the offender guilty in court or my sons may be accused of a rape that they cannot defend themselves against. It is reality.

Just as some men get away with raping women because lack of physical evidence forces juries to find them innocent, there are also quite a few women out there who like to claim rape when it is useful to do so and sympathies toward real rape victims may sway a jury to convict without any real evidence that the rape occurred. These women (or girls) may be cheating on their boyfriends or husbands and lie to cover up their infidelity, they may be late coming home and don’t want their parents to punish them, or they may accuse their ex-husbands of rape in order to get custody of children. However, many of our jurors use emotions rather than evidence to make their determinations. Clearly, Raskin and Vallario have this same problem because they are choosing to ignore the behaviors of some women out there. Jennifer Wilbanks made a claim of false rape and she is hardly the only narcissistic, lying female in the country. Women do make false rape claims and jurors would be remiss to not consider this a possibility when deciding cases.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Racial Profiling

We all do it; we make quick generalizations until we get added information to alter our basic viewpoint. It is actually a necessity for survival to be able to do this. If we had to ignore our perceptions and wait until we check out all the angles and possibilities, we would risk ending up in a bad way or missing out on an opportunity. One time my car broke down on a cold and windy night half way between exits on the highway. This was not a good situation. The first person to pull over offered me a ride but something about his demeanor (he was white by the way, as I am) creeped me out. So I try to hand him some money to make a call for help (yes, before cell phones existed) while standing as close to the road as possible so he couldn’t grab me and toss me behind my car. He threw the money back at me, called me a name, and drove off. I guess I was right about him and it was a good thing I didn’t get in his vehicle. The next guy that pulled over seemed harmless and so I did get in the car and he drove me home. He was indeed a nice guy. I avoided a disaster and I caught an opportunity because I profiled correctly.

Racial profiling has raised a lot of concern in recent years, but I think oftentimes it has been a bit blown out of proportion; not that there are cops and others who just see race and not real identifying issues. If I am walking down the street at night and I see a bunch of white guys to the left of me dressed in falling down pants and caps turned backwards and I see group of well dressed black guys to my right, I am going to steer myself right through the black men. It isn’t race that would concern me but the clothes that would let me know how respectable these guys are. If I were getting on a plane and I see four white men whispering and then taking far apart seats on a plane and all asking for seat belt extenders while a group of Muslim men are smiling pleasantly and sharing CDs among themselves, I am going to be worried about the white guys.

But suppose the black men had the thug clothing and the Muslims were acting weird on a plane; am I supposed to ignore the warning bells going off just because I might be considered a racist? This is foolish and all people of all races, religion and sexes need to recognize their behavior is going to be analyzed, like it or not, and if one is behaving in a concerning way, he will have to suffer the consequences. Of course, if there is a true incidence of someone being singled out for no reason other than race, religion, or sex, this is another matter entirely and is quite unacceptable.

I don’t joke about bombs in airports or wear shorts and a tank top in Morocco. It is just common sense to be sure others are comfortable around you and you don’t cause them to feel threatened or disrespected and, at the same time, you can save yourself a whole lot of grief.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Misplaced Sympathies

I was walking down the street near Union Station in Washington DC yesterday and a flier caught my eye. It was in the front of one of those free newspaper bins and I must admit I took it just so that less people would show up at the event. Maybe I was wrong in preventing the public from getting information about this opportunity, but it was of those times I felt I should stand up and not ignore wrong. What got me so ticked?

It was an art and music show for convicts. Yes, a special show displaying the works of prisoners. First of all, I want to know why felons still serving time are getting the materials, time, and opportunity to express themselves in such a way. Aren’t they supposed to be paying their debt to society instead of getting to play with acrylics? I would like to go to a free art class myself but for some reason they don’t seem to exist for adults in my community. I have to pay for them.

And do you know how many artists there are in this country that would give their right arm for an opportunity to show their work but can’t afford the cost of art shows or can’t get accepted into the very competitive gallery scene? These hardworking, honest citizens get less attention paid to their artistic endeavors than criminals who are costing the taxpayers tons of money and emotional pain. Is this not the sign of a sick society? Who allows this crap to go on?

This doesn’t mean I don’t believe that there should not be some methodology and assistance for criminals to do their time in a healthy (but very restrictive – meaning no television, garbage reading material, and weightlifting) environment, pay back society, and then reenter it. I don’t see where art has any part in the repayment of victims, the learning of proper behavior, or the attainment of usable employment skills (which should only be taught to them while the inmate works to pay for the training as it irks me to see criminals get such opportunities for free when a poor hardworking kid can’t afford them).

Finally, convicts should have no rights to contact with the society they have offended and injured. This is the meaning of being put behind bars – you are being separated from society. These annoying do-gooders who want to be pen pals, friends, and helpers of inmates ought to spend their time helping the victims these criminals have left damaged and, for the most part, ignored by society. Maybe there are even some victims who used to be artists who can’t even lift their brushes to the canvas anymore. Why not give them the art show instead of honoring the creeps who wreaked havoc in these innocent people’s lives?

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Can Violent Offenders Change?

I saw a sweet, heartwarming movie the other day about the redemption of a violent youth. The film Tsotsi (which means thug) takes place in the slums on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. The film opens with Tsotsi’s involvement with the stabbing of a businessman he and his boys are robbing on the subway. Clearly, this is a way of life for him and his gang, but the first time he has been involved in murder. When one of the gang members can’t handle the fact they have taken an innocent life, he badgers Tsotsi about his lack of feeling for humankind. Tsotsi responds by beating him senseless. Then, he takes off and ends up at the house of a wealthy black couple and carjacks the wife as she exits her vehicle. When she fights back, he shoots her and takes off. Here is the turning point of the movie; there is a baby in the backseat of the car. For some reason Tsotsi takes to the child and attempts to care for him in his rough and violent manner (he forces a woman to feed the baby at gunpoint). Eventually, he returns the baby to its parents and gives himself up.

The movie made me feel bad. I felt like a creep. I quite often caution against believing in the rehabilitation of psychopaths as a worthless and dangerous endeavor. But, who am I not to give someone a chance? Am I wrong that these damaged beings couldn’t finally break through their rage and see some worth in another human being (other than what that human being can do for them)? Could a violent offender not really feel remorse at some point in his life? If I were in Johannesburg and a judge in a court in which Tsotsi came before me, would I see that his returning of the baby was a sign that he could be a better man with a little bit of help and a decent life? Weren’t his tears at the end of the movie real and shouldn’t we as a society have a little mercy for this young man who grew up in a horrible home?

Then I remembered; this was only a movie. A real Tsotsi would have probably simply tossed the child from the car window as he drove down the road with the stolen vehicle. Or, if he thought the baby was kind of cute and he wanted to be a proud daddy, the first time the baby got on his nerves, it likely would have been suffocated. Psychopaths may sometimes like other people and they may like certain pets if they get some benefit from them, but they would also never let their “feelings” for them get in the way of their own needs.

Sometimes, later in life a criminal will renounce his violent ways but only because he can’t keep up with pace of tough younger offenders. Like all of us after middle age, the body slows to a great extent and our desire for dangerous and energetic activities wanes quite a bit. While this varies from individual to individual, there is a reason why our VFWs are full of older men telling their war stories and not still living them. Many violent offenders also become pussycats in old age, living in their memories and conning people with their talk instead of assaulting them. Give them an elixir of youth and as soon as they felt the strength and power return to their bodies, we would find them out on the streets again, back to using fists and weapons instead of verbal manipulation.

To ascertain how much leeway we should give criminal offenders in returning them to society, we need to determine what those offenders find as acceptable behavior (forgery, robbery, rape, child murder, etc), and figure out if there is a way to prevent them from returning to their crimes of choice. Depending on what drives these offenders to commit their crimes, some measure of control may work. If an individual robs for lack of being able to find work, job skills could make a difference, but, if one likes to rob for the thrill of assaulting other people, then unless you can make sure they can’t pounce on people any more or think they can’t get away with their crimes without getting caught and going back to jail, all the job training in the world isn’t going to change their behavior. This is exactly why no sexual predator should ever be returned to society unless he is a quadriplegic (and I say that because I know of a paraplegic who sexual assaulted a woman he grabbed from his wheelchair).

Tsotsi liked violence for the sake of it. Even if he did have a soft corner for the baby he stole, he didn’t have any for the adults he injured and killed. At the end of the movie, I am sure many viewers would hope Tsotsi would catch a break and not spend to much time in jail (Tsotsi II: The Return?). But, I hope folks remember this is fiction, not real life, and, if you can’t prevent a Tsotsi from developing, do us the favor and keep him away from us a long as one legally can.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown