Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Zodiac is Back! (not)

Amateurs really should not attempt to be clever because it is usually their downfall. Such is the case of the murdered seven month pregnant marine, Army Spc. Megan Lynn Touma. This poor woman, excited about her wonderful future life - engaged, pregnant,and a fine career as a dentist technician in the military - transfers to the base of her fiance and ends up day the next day.

She had not reported for duty but it took a couple of more days for the motel personnel to find her corpse in a bathtub in the motel room, a "Do Not Disturb" sign (I'll bet) hanging on the door.

Now, the story takes a turn toward the bizarre. The police receive a letter from someone claiming to be the woman's killer. He confesses to the crime and then goes on to say he is taking on the persona of Zodiac, the infamous serial killer of the 1960s who was never identified.

Yes, he is the next Zodiac, is using his trademark, and left that very same symbol in the room of the murdered marine.

All right, bub. The police are not impressed and neither am I. No serial killer did in Ms. Touma. First of all, serial killers don't go for big, obviously pregnant females. Secondly, where were you, Mr. Fiance, while all this was going down? Let me back up.

Ms. Touma arrives in Fort Bragg and doesn't let you know she is coming. She stays in a motel room near the base and you don't go and see her. She disappears and you don't notice. I find this a bit odd, don't you?

So, while you are oblivious to your fiance's arrival in town, Mr. Serial killer is writing a rather peculiar letter to the police. He can't spell and has atrocious grammar - as all uneducated serial killer losers do - yet, there are in this letter, two odd phrases which seem to be rather unusual for this dolt. The letter writer says, "The following is to inform...," language common to legal, police, or military statements to the public. Secondly, the letter writer gives the date as 17 June as opposed to June 17, indicative of someone who has spent time abroad, is from another country, or in the military.

My guess is Ms. Touma's fiance did go to the motel the night she arrived and he took care of a problem he found a bit annoying; a woman and a life long commitment to a child (or at least achild support payment).

Then, realizing that he was probably going to be the one and only suspect, he returned a day later to the motel room (ignored that Do NOT DISTURB sign) and scrawled the Zodiac signature in the room and then sent the letter to the police.

Law enforcement is now searching another marine's house. Is it the fiance's house? We still are not getting an answer on this.

But, I guess they think Zodiac hasn't come back.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: So My Wife Died Today, What's your Point?

One of the most amusing and condemning traits of the psychopath is having such shallow emotions that he has no clue what normal people act like under tragic circumstances(read: my wife just died).

Take the case of Gabe Watson, whose wife drowned while they were scuba diving on their honeymoon in Australia. He made the comment, "This sucks," while he was playing cards with his friends later that same day. It is unclear whether he was talking about his wife dying or the poker hand he had just been dealt.

Apparently, he didn't do so well either with the story as to how his wife had this bad scuba accident. An experienced rescue diver, he is last seen giving his wife a bear hug 15 meters under the water after which she is seen sinking straight towards the bottom of the ocean while he swims off in another direction.

"Ah, she weighed too much so I couldn't hold on to her," (in the weightlessness of water?), "My eardrum ruptured," (suffer the pain or let the wife die....easy choice...of course, his eardrum repaired itself within seconds of surfacing), and "My wife knocked my mask off and I had to get away from her because she might get me drowned."


If these three stories weren't enough, Watdon had thirteen MORE versions! For a likely premeditated crime, Watson sure didn't settle on one good explanation. Or, maybe he did, but when he gave the first one, everyone looked at him funny and he realized he hadn't picked the best scenario. So he tried again, and again, and again. Psychopaths don't seem to recognize that people actually remember what you said five minutes ago and changing your story doesn't erase the lie you just told.

At any rate, his sixteen stories and card playing grieving wasn't enough evidence to get the Queensland coroner to label the manner of death a homicide. It took five long years for the light bulb to finally come on and Gabe Watson is just now being charged with his wife Tina's murder. From the comfort of his armchair in good ol' Alabama, with his newer and still alive wife by his side, he got the long belated news.

I wonder what stories he is going to tell Wife Number Two. I am sure he will at least say, "This sucks," only he might simply be talking about his beer which had gotten warm while he was distracted by arrival of the coroner's decision.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Judge Colleen McCullough Gives Swindler His Freedom

Hey, Judge McCullough,

Let me see if I can understand your logic: Samuel Israel III, who scammed god knows how many people out of millions and millions of dollars is found guilty, receives twenty years in prison (which at his age of 48 pretty much means life)- this is someone you didn't consider a flight risk so you gave him a "stay out of jail" card for sixty days so he could wrap up business (read: plan his escape from the country, get forged documents ready, be sure the money he has in offshore accounts and hidden locations is available to him)?

Let me restate this: You believed, Judge, that a man who stole 400 million dollars over years and years, lying and lying to investors, was an honest man who, when he said he was willing to pay for his "mistakes," you actually thought was remorseful and would willingly show up to be incarcerated?

Now, the man has gone missing, after staging a suicide by leaving his car on a NY bridge with the words "Suicide is Painless" scrawled in the dust on the hood. His body, of couse, never turned up in the river. My guess is we will hear he is having a whale of a time in some foreign country living it up with his new well-paid hosts.

I am not sure why this man who screwed so many people over should be show kindness by the court. If the man were a petty thief, he would have gone directly to jail without passing go. Why does this white collar thief get the royal treatment?

Please explain to me, Judge, why he is missing from the criminal justice system and you are still in it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Wanna be my Next Husband?

What do Scott Peterson,Mark Hacking, and Neil Entwistle have in common? They got caught on Wife Murder Number One. On the other hand, 76-year-old Betty Neumar had five dead husbands before the law caught up with her. Now, I am not saying she did in all five men as I have no proof yet that she even killed one. But, I am just a little more than curious how three of those husbands ended up shot to death and the other two died under suspicious circumstances!

Black Widows, as these serial killer women are called, get away with the murder of their spouses at a higher rate than men. One reason no doubt is that they don't mess with the bodies or run off and pretend they suddenly have psychiatric problems. No, they stand right in front of the police and shed tears and an awful lot of law enforcement agencies apparently fall for this act.

One of the reasons these women succeed in repeat homicides is they move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Because there is no national suspect bank into which their names could go causing a red flag pop up if they are linked with another suspicious death, they slither under the radar. Each case is handled as a one-time event and the police in each jurisdiction are unaware of the widow's bad luck with husbands.

Betty will finally get her day in court but, at her age, all I can say is she sure had a good run of it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

There is a whole lot of sympathy going around for Tatum O'Neal which I suppose shows that Americans can be very forgiving people and this is nice. What is not so nice is Ms. O'Neal playing us for suckers with her acting the role of the poor little very rich girl who fell apart after her dog died and is so thankful the police stopped her from falling off her very unstable wagon. From what I can see, the woman is a classic narcissist and drug abuser who story changes (read: lies) each time she is caught telling a less-than-true version of events.

One of the reason folks feel so sorry for her is they are familiar with her history from O'Neal's book, A Paper Life, in which she laments of her horrifying childhood of abuse from her drug-using parents and her terrible marriage to the vicious John McEnroe. They feel sorry for her because they believe her. I feel sorry for everyone who has had to come in contact with this woman because they are all to blame, pretty much each and every one of them, for her miserable life and decent into drugs.

The way to tell if someone is a liar is to see if they have lied. Simple, but effective. If they lie over here, they will lie over there. Tatum O'Neil lied to the police that she was researching an acting part by buying drugs (the stupidest lie I have ever heard) and when they found the drugs and crack pipe in her pocket, she claimed she had been clean up until that very moment, and since they just saved her and she was really thankful, could she just go home? Well, if she lied more than once here, my guess is her book is full of whoppers as well.

In the end, O'Neil is does not blame herself for anything and if she says she does at a press conference or when there is a microphone in her face, no doubt her manager or publicist has told her to "confess." She is lucky she is actually an actress or we might think she is just reading a script.

Tatum, let me give you some advice. Stop blaming everyone else for your mistakes. You are a drug addict because you choose to do drugs. It is that simple.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Parents Make Fat Kids

The Washington Post is running a series on the increase of obese kids in the country. There is the usual commentary on diets with too much fat and schools lacking physical education programs and kids watching to much television. But, I have a question for
parents: if your children are living with you and you make the decisions on food, how are they getting fat without you putting the food in their mouths?

Let's see. Your children get up in the morning and YOU give them breakfast; so you are responsible for the calories in the morning. YOU can send them to school with lunch or YOU can let them eat the garbage in the cafeteria; YOU are responsible for lunch calories.

You give them money and let them buy ice cream or candy in school or on the way home from school; YOU are responsible for allowing them to buy junk food. YOU give them snacks after school which means YOU are responsible for those calories as well. YOU make them dinner or take them out for dinner or order pizza, so YOU are responsible for the dinner calories. YOU let them eat until bedtime by allowing them free access to cupboards in which YOU put the chips and soda; YOU are responsible for the endless snacking.

Where in a normal day does your child have any chance of eating an unhealthy diet and gain weight unless you feed the child or give the child money to feed itself? Only when the child reaches the age of employment (and even then you should have some control over their diet) can one say the teen might make their own choices of food when out and about.

So, if YOUR child is fat, YOU have no one to blame but yourself. Now, that you know the truth, is should be easy for you to help your child return to normal weight. Stop overfeeding it!

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: What's Victoria's Secret?

I am going to be really politically incorrect today. I have been reading up on all the sympathy oozing everywhere on the Internet and in the media for the 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay, the girl who got her butt kicked by six of her friends. Yes, those girls were mean and nasty and deserved to get a jail term. But, for some reason - well, for a pretty good reason - I just don't feel that sorry for Victoria.

Why? First of all, these were her friends - not strangers and not some bullies from school she had tried her best to avoid. Friends - as in these are the girls I hang out with and live with. Water seeks its own level and I wonder that Victoria - were another girl being targeted - wouldn't have gone along with the group melee and thrown some punches herself.

Secondly, why were all these girls so ticked off at Victoria? It is said she talked smack on MySpace, saying some really vicious stuff and saying she was going to fight them. So, she flamed these girls publicly, possibly embarrassing them and humiliating them. Then she said she would fight them. Seems like they brought the fight to her and she turned out to be all bark and no bite; she didn't even throw one punch. She wimped out, took the beating, and begged them to let her go. She wasn't as tough as she tried to pretend to be.

But, regardless of her behaviors, because Victoria ended up the unhappy loser of this girl bashing, she is being made out to be a totally innocent lamb. I am guessing the trash talk she put on MySpace was just the tip of the iceberg for this girl's past behaviors. Apparently, she isn't living at home and her father states in an interview that she has had her share of problems. She clearly admits to her friends during the assault that she had been drunk (during one of the times the girls found whatever she did offensive) and said she had grown up since then.

Hey, this girl is barely sixteen. She has a problem with drinking and she isn't living with her parents. Apparently, Victoria's parents want to blame MySpace instead of their lack of parenting that surely contributed to Victoria ending up as a punching bag.

I bet we will find out there is more behind this story than we have seen on the video. Victoria and her girl pals seem to me to be a bunch of brats who have been left without decent parental guidance long enough to become the female version of Lord of the Flies. They are a pretty good example of the rising, antisocial and violent teens we are seeing more and more of today in the United States.

Victoria may have suffered a good deal of fear and pain during this slap down but, if she were my kid, the first thing I would have asked her is "Did you deserve it?" And if she did, I would have told her I hope she learned her lesson.

I hope Victoria learned hers.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: A Prayer for Jaipur

I just got back from a wonderful three weeks in India. I flew to Chennai in the south where I stayed with my son, David, for a few days. Then we went by train to Mysore, the city of sandalwood. We visited Bandipur, where the tigers and elephants roam and we were lucky the park had reopened in time for our trip. It had been shut down for quite a while until the murderous bandit, Veerapan, was hunted down and shot. Then we flew to Mumbai, the city of Bollywood, filmi stars, and exuberant energy.

Next, we flew to Kashmir and spent a couple of idyllic days (in spite of the heavy security) on beautiful Dal Lake and took a horseback ride into the Himalayas. Finally, we flew to New Delhi where we spent the last five days of our trip, where I did my presentation, and where the hosts of the event took great care of us, showing us around, helping us shop, and taking out for dinner. Of course, we spent one day over in Agra visiting the beautiful Taj Mahal and the dazzling Red Fort.

Then, I flew home and my son went on to his volunteer job in Jaipur.

Yes, Jaipur, where the seven bomb blasts just tore up the center of the Pink City, this lovely peaceful city which is the tourism capital of India.

It took me eight attempts to reach David by phone but finally the call went through and he picked up. What a relief it was to hear his voice. He told me he was all right and that he had been in his apartment at the time the bombs went off.

I have been in three locations in recent years where terrorists attacked but luckily I had come and gone before they did. London, England; Hyderabad, India, and Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt. It is always an odd feeling to realize that where you had were standing, innocent people were torn apart. I also live in Washington DC where the 911 plane crash into the Pentagon and shut down the city and where the DC snipers terrified everyone into dancing at the gas station pumps afraid to be a still target. I remember the palpable fear in the air and the many people who retreated into their houses, trying to decrease their odds of becoming a statistic. I remember how residents of the area stopped going downtown to DC to eat out and going to the theatre. I recall a number of restaurants when out of business because they couldn't sustain the loss of business.

I worry about my son but I also worry about the state of affairs in Jaipur and India. Terrorism takes lives but it also takes peace of mind and livelihoods. Will tourists now shun this lovely city and the rest of India because of the fear of terrorism? Will businesses fail and men become unable to put food on the table of their families?

I hope India goes after these bastards (and I would use another words but another one doesn't come to mind) with all they have got. I hope that the rest of the world doesn't decide to avoid doing business in India and that tourists don't decide to avoid the country as a travel destination.

My heart goes out to the residents of Jaipur. As for my son, I hope he continues to enjoy the hospitality of the area and the work he is doing. I hope he doesn't let terrorism dictate to him what he should do or where he should be.

Most of all, I hope we stop terrorism before it destroys the world we live in.


Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Narcissism Increasing the World Over

I just came back from a three week trip to India and while in New Delhi I gave a presentation on criminal profiling and its usefulness to investigations within the country. Psychopathy, I discovered, is on the rise and all one has to do is read the The Times of India to find out how bad it has gotten.

April 1 - Father bludgeons son to death when the latter resists his sexual advances towards his wife

April 6 - Drunkard gambler kills wife to clear off debt

April 7 - Businessman gets brother-in-law killed over Rs 300 crore worth of property

April 14 - Schoolteacher kills seven members of her own family who objected to her affair

April 18 - Son suspect father of having affair with his wife. Hacks wife and kids.

April 18 - Executive kills his adopted parents and pregnant wife. He was having an affair.

Frightening, isn't it? Indian sociologist Ravider Kaur notes that there is an increase in individualization of self: that individuals don't wish to be controlled by family. In other words, narcissism is rising within India and instead of cooperating with society and family, more people are simply killing off those who don't go along with their program.

Why is the self-centeredness becoming such a problem? Where does it come from? What is changing the world over that we should see so many people become victims because someone in their life objects to their existence?

One possibility is a change in attitude toward entitlement and expectations. The is an increased number of people one have very high desires and thinks other should give them what they want (or get out of their way if they are blocking their goals). If they fail to achieve their goals and quickly, they rage against society and any part of it they feel has a part in their failure.

It would be an interesting cross-cultural study to see how psychopathy is gaining inroads in other country. Meanwhile, I have joined forces with the Academy of Investigation and Intelligence Management in New Delhi to train detectives because there is surely going to be a big need to criminal profiling as the violent crime rate rises.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: The Wife Who Knew Nothing

I know I am supposed to feel sympathy for Joseph Fritzl's wife, but someh0w she revolts me instead. Fritzl, the Austrian monster who imprisoned his daughter, Elizabeth, for twenty-four years in a bunker under his home and fathered seven children with her, supposedly was one terrifying tryant who ruled his family with an iron fist. I guess the wife, Rosemarie, could simply have been scared of him but her sis talks of how she worked very hard to keep the family together. Then she gives some telling information.

As time went on, the relationship between Fritzl and his wife soured, the sister said.

"As far I know no sex took place in recent years," Christine R. said. "I believe it was because of his prior conviction, and because my sister had been getting bigger. And in any case he never liked fat women."

Let's stop and look at the "innocence" of Rosemarie, the wife who "knew nothing" of any danger to her children. Joseph Fritzl started abusing the daughter he later imprisoned at age eleven. He was visiting prostitutes and he brought them home to his dungeon. He is put away for a year and a half for rape and and threatening to kill his victim, a nurse who's apartment he broke into. When that happened says her sister, Rosemarie "reacted with "shock" but believed that "everyone makes a mistake" and focused on keeping her family healthy."

A mistake? Oh, please. Rosemarie has her sister snowed. Let's look at Rosemarie's ignorance of her children's nightmare. She has gotten fat (likely on purpose so she wouldn't have to engage in perverted and sadistic sex with her husband) and there is no sexual relationship any longer with him. Knowing his inclinations, she has to have some suspicion he is having sex elsewhere, like with the prostitutes and with his girl children. She knows he is a violent rapist. Yet she stays with him and allows her children to live with a violent sex offender and pervert. She has to know something bizarre is going on when hubby builds the bunker and spends an inordinate amount of time in it and will never let her enter. She has to be suspicious of what is going on down there when her daughter vanishes and three infant children arrived on her doorstep. So why does she stay with this man and endanger her children?

It is not uncommon for some wives who feel they benefit from some aspect of their relationship with her husband to look the other way when they suspect the husband is sexually abusing the daughters. For that matter, they may be relieved the pervert is no longer bothering them! They proclaim they were unaware of any misconduct but later it often comes to light that they were well aware of what was going on and simply looked the other way.

I believe this is likely true of Rosemarie. I hope the police do some very serious questioning of her and find out the truth. I believe Rosemarie knows more than she has admitted and she permitted her husband to abuse her children for her own gain. If this is true, she needs a prison cell of her own.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: DC Madam Murdered?

Larry Flint thinks so and I can guarantee this will be a conspiracy theory for the next few decades. Deborah Palfrey was found dead in her mother's shed, hung by a nylon rope from the ceiling. Her mom claims she wasn't suicidal although Palfrey once told a friend she would kill herself rather than go to jail. A suicide note or two apparently was left at the scene. Flint states she was about to give up a couple more big names to avoid going to jail and this is why he thinks someone did her in.

Family reaction to suicide is an an odd thing. Many refuse to believe their child would do such a thing. Even if their loved one was severely depressed, left a note in their own handwriting, and is found shot with their own gun in a room locked from the inside, the parents may still believe their child was murdered! Perhaps it is the guilt of not preventing the death that makes them refuse to see reality or it is possible they feel guilty that they raised a child who did not value their life or their relationships enough to stay around.

Deborah Palfrey at the age of 52 may well have not liked the radical change in lifestyle her imprisonment would have brought. She lived quite the high life off of her prostitution service as the charges were no doubt quite high considering the clientele. Of course, if you believe Ms. Palfrey, she had no clue the women were providing sexual services to their "dates." These men just became repeat customers because the women were such charming conversationalists. This is ludicrous, of course, for no escort service or massage parlor keeps a girl in their employ who doesn't make their clients "happy" and so we know Ms. Palfrey is a liar.

But, liar or not, Ms. Palfrey's character at this point is not the question. If one were to look at the question of whether she took her own life or not, the important matter would be whether she could tolerate the thought of prison, whether she viewed going there as yet another game she could manipulate or whether she viewed the time inside as a total loss of control. Interviews and a study or her past behavior ought to be able to determine if she was the type to have taken her own life in this situation. Then the police will determine whether she had the ability to hang herself from the ceiling of the shed and the opportunity to do so. They will ascertain whether any one else could have hung her. The suicide notes will be examined to determine if she wrote them. Behavioral and forensic evidence should put the question of whether she was murdered to rest.

My guess is she killed herself. It is a rare occurrence when a hanging turns out to be a murder (although it has happened). But, because this is such a high profile case and Ms. Palfrey could have done more damage to her clients were she to give up certain names in the future, Flint's assertions that Ms. Palfrey was murdered will no doubt gain steam on the Internet and we will have a numerous sites claiming she was the victim of murder by people in high places. It will be interesting to read the scenarios of how this "murder" was carried out and what the "evidence" will be that proves she was the victim of knowing too much for her own good.

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: New Criminal Profiling Courses Available Online

Starting this May, Excelsior College is offering a Criminal Profiling Certificate Program consisting of five courses (which can also be taken alone or as part of a liberal arts degree with a major in Criminal Justice). The courses are developed and taught by Pat Brown and specifically designed for practical application in the real world of police investigation and criminal profiling.

Excelsior College CPIA Course Schedule (all courses continue throughout the year - the listed date is the first time each course will become available in the program.)

CJ360 - Forensic Pathology (May 2008)
CJ472 - Psychology of Violent Crime (July 2008)
CJ372 - Crime Scene Analysis (September 2008)
CJ370 - Investigative Criminal Profiling (November 2008)
CJ470 - Serial Rape and Homicide Investigation (January 2009)

I look forward to working with all law enforcement officers and future profilers in this new program which I hope will bring criminal profiling into the regular course of homicide investigation and benefit all by its use as a logical tool for crime scene and investigative analysis.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Did the Marines Contribute to Maria Lauterbach's Demise?

The Marines have gotten a pretty bad rap in the Lauterbach case. Some, including Maria Lauterbach's family, have accused the Marines of ignoring Lauterbach's rape claim and putting her life in danger. Some think she ended up dead because the Marines failed to protect her. I beg to differ. The only person who put her life in danger was Maria Lauterbach.

Lauterbach claims she was raped but didn't report it for months. When she did finally go in, she states she was raped not once, but twice by the same man. This is a very improbable story and even her own mother states Lauterbach has quite a history of lying. Now, if you were a Marine investigator, are you really going to be able to make any kind of rape case out of this? No physical proof? A claim she was raped twice by the same man but didn't bother to report it the first time? She is called a liar by her own mother? Sorry, but there is no case here for the Marines to bother with.

I am sure they made the same conclusion I did. Lauterbach messed around with a married man, didn't use birth control, got pregnant, and didn't want to get thrown out of the military. So she claimed rape so she would be blameless.

Now, to her actual death. My question is, "How did she get to Laurean's house? If she went there willingly, she either was trying to blackmail him or she is the most foolish human being known to man. Would you go to the house of a man who raped you twice?

Of course, if Laurean kidnapped her, this is a different matter altogether. We will have to wait to hear the facts on this.

Bottom line, though, the Marines are not responsible for the poor choices of their enlisted. Lauterbach may not have deserved to end up dead, but she seems to have worked overtime to put herself in a position to be done in.

Lauterbach was an adult; the Marines were not her protector. Only if there was a crime, and a crime that could be investigated, would the Marines have been required to step in. If Lauterbach truly felt the law was broken during her first sexual encounter with Laurean, it was her duty to immediately report it but she didn't. End of story.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Why Cops Speed

I know this seems a bit of an odd topic, but a good friend of mine was grousing the other day about police cruisers flying down the road without sirens or lights and saying how they were setting a bad example by breaking the law themselves. I have said just the same things many times myself but this time I defended police officers for their fast driving.

What brought about this change? Simply that I have done ride alongs now and see how things work from the police side of the matter. Unfortunately, very few citizens ever have this opportunity and never get the scoop. For some reason, there is nothing ever explained to the public about this practice and one can go all their life and never have a clue to the simple answer.

Here it is.

When a carjacking or a violent crime is going down or an officer is in trouble, cops fly from all directions, lights flashing and sirens blaring, because they need to get to the scene of the crime in as short a time as is possible. Lives depend on the police arriving and intervening and so, everyone get out of the way, it is a major emergency.

But, the during the rest of the shift, the calls are more in a gray area. Something may be going down and one wants to get there as quickly as possible without making a federal case out of it. Also, sometimes there are so many calls, shaving time off getting to them allows the police to handle more concerns.

And, imagine this, if every time a police officer was responding to a call he put on his police sirens and lights, we would be living in a pretty scary and noisy place! Can you imagine the complaints this would cause?

So, citizens, this is why police speed. Don't you wonder why you never knew this before? Strange, isn't it?

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Unplug Hug-a-Thug

I actually didn't know the term "Hug-a-Thug" until today. Urban dictionary's definition sent in by Ron Berlin of Denver:

Hug-a-Thug

Piece of shit bleeding heart liberals who cuddle and comfort murderers, rapist and child molesters in a correctional facility.

"Chester the molester sexually assaulted a staff member. A week later Shari bought him a Happy Meal."

Hence, Shari is a hug-a-thugger. While there seem to be oodles of hug-a-thug programs out there and many hug-a-thuggers, there seem to be almost no "comfort-a-victim" (I couldn't think of a cute rhyme) programs to match. I just read this appalling bit for example:

"With Prison Break, volunteers such as Hepler meet with eight to 10 medium-security prisoners who have been on good behavior for an hour each Thursday, and help them learn better interpersonal and communication skills. As a result of these interactions, the prisoners can carry themselves well when in front of a parole committee, Hepler explained."

How sweet! Hepler, a criminal profiler wannabe, helps criminals get over on parole committee members! Lovely!

When will people start understanding that criminals are in jail because they deserve to be there and if they want help, they should get it after they serve their time and they should get help for no other reason then that they want to act right from that day forth.

Meanwhile, victims should be getting all the attention as they are getting a life sentence and no one seems to give a damn.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Maybe Naomi Campbell isn't All the Bad

I have to admit it: I, actually, sort of, can't blame Naomi for her tirade at Heathrow Aiport that got her arrested. Apparently, there was some issue over a lost luggage item and Naomi went ballistic on the airline personnel. Now, I know she has had issues with temper before and threw a phone at a woman's head, but let's assume for a moment she isn't just narcissistic and feels she is entitled to get everything she wants and treats people badly. Let's consider, before we totally jump to charge her guilty, if she had some reason for her anger.

I will look to my own past dealing with people in some sort of service position. Now, before I get hate comments or emails, I want to say that some of the people I have dealt with care about their customers and clients and do a good job. But, there are many others that just send you over the edge.

1. Today - The manager at Andre Chreky Salon in Washington DC who refused to refund my money even though the hair stylist admitted to making a mistake (until I acted like Naomi and they wanted to get rid of me)

2. Last month - I stood outside of the DoubleTree in NYC waiting for the limo that was to take me to Penn Station. I was there 10 minutes before pick-up time. When the car was 10 minutes late, I called the company who told me he has been circling the block for ten minutes because I was not there. What a liar! Then, he told me the car would be there in five minutes. It was not. I called again. I was told it was down the block. This went on for 45 minutes until the driver finally showed up. I missed the train. I acted like Naomi.

3. Six months ago - Gold's Gym charged me $1500 for a contract I never signed. It took me acting like Naomi and threats of bad press to get my money back.

4. Two years ago - Cingular attempted to defraud me out of $3000. They sent the collection agency after me but I refused to cave in to their extortion plot. I acted like Naomi and then I bought two websites, http://www.suecingular.com/ and http://www.suecingular.net/. I finally one that battle.

5. Two and a half years ago - I was flying home from overseas when the NWA flight attendent gave me a turkey sandwich. I called her back and explained to her I am a vegetarian and I had ordered vegetarian food for the flight. She said, "Oh, go ahead and eat it. There is hardly enough turkey on there to notice it." I was shocked! As I was leaving the plane I ask to speak to the head steward who told me the woman did nothing wrong and when I got upset that they didn't care about this appalling treatment of a passenger, they told me to get lost. I acted like Naomi.

Okay, if Naomi threw stuff at folks and allegedly spit on the cop at Heathrow, I wasn't quite that bad. But, I have been quite loud on occasion because I hate being ripped off, lied to, and treated like dirt when I am either spending money in an establishment or hiring someone to work for me. I never treated anyone that way when I worked in a job providing services and I don't understand this kind of unacceptable behavior by employees of companies.

American customer service is at an all-time low, and, if they don't improve, I won't be the only one in the country "doing a Naomi."

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: True Religious Belief or is it about Control?

11-year old Madeline Neumann went into a diabetic coma and died while her parents watched her. Wait, to be fair, they were praying while they were watching her. The question is, should they be prosecuted for child neglect? This is an extremely difficult question on a number of levels.

1. Does the state have a right to tell us how we should be handle family issues?
2. Does the state have a right to tell us how to deal with our health problems?
3. Can the government prove that going to the hospital is always going to be a better choice than praying?
4. And here is the big question - does the Mom and Dad have any record in the last eight years of visiting a doctor or going to the hospital (Madeline stopped receiving any medical care since she was three years old.)

Number four is what I would like to see the investigators work on when they get the case. The other questions are moral, ethical, or societal issues. However, IF, at any time during those eight years, Mom or Dad sought medical help - for pneumonia, for a broken ankle, etc., or took Excedrin for a headache or Alka-Seltzer for an upset stomach, then they did NOT rely on prayer for themselves and therefore were not convinced that this was the only solution for health problems.

If one or both of the parents used modern medicine for themselves but not for the children, then this is a control issue and their religious garments are just a cover for some very narcissistic parents who should then be brought up on neglect and abuse charges. It is such a sad case for the little Madeline Neumann who could have been saved by a simple visit to the doctor for insulin.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: A Blanket or a Suitcase? Name Two Items used to Transport a Body

The trouble with crimes that are not premeditated is that you often end up with a body you would like other people (read: the cops) not to find for a while. If you are camping when you strangle your wife to death, she can always end up in a ravine, but if you knock her off at home, boy, do you have a problem! If you think you can stage the crime as a stranger murder, well, then you can leave her in the house, sneak off, and come back another day to accidentally find her body (usually you coincidentally have a neighbor with you so you have a witness to your shock and horror at "discovering" her body- that is if you don't send the neighbor in first).

Of course, if there is going to be no question as to who killed the woman, well then, you will just have to move the body. This goes to prove why, if you are going to get into a relationship with someone you might off someday, you should pick a woman with a home (or move her into one) that is isolated and a single family dwelling. Then, all you need is a blanket and you can toss her into your trunk and drive her out to the countryside.

But, heaven forbid, you rent an apartment like the lover of Amy Giordano did! Her married lover (and father of her 11-month-old), Rosario DiGirolamo, found out what a mistake he made when he "allegedly" did her in June 7, 2007. How do you get the body down the stairs or the elevator and past any security or cameras? Yes, a very large suitcase is the only answer. Very large or you have to dismember the body in the bathtub and oh, what a chore that is. We haven't found out if poor Rosario had to go to those lengths as the suitcase with the body was just hauled out of the pond in New Jersey.

The other problem is actually moving the body. It helps if you are big and the woman is small and you don't have to haul her too far. DiGirolamo apparently had to enlist the help of his best friend who won't qualify for that status now that he has ratted Rosario out.

The moral of this immoral story is: if you are a psychopath and don't know what kind of trouble you are going to get yourself in, pick relationships with tiny women in isolated locations who live on the first floor of a detached dwelling. You can save yourself a lot of trouble.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profling Topic of the Day: What do James Frey and Barack Obama have in Common?

This is going to be my last bit of my three day Barack Obama commentary. I was going to move on to a different subject today, but then I ran across an excerpt from Obama's book, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" (which I had already read and I remember thinking something rang wrong about that particular bit as did much of the book which seemed awfully narcissistic and self-serving). The story goes that Obama's white grandmother who was raising and supporting him, was hassled by a bum at the bus stop. She wanted a ride to her work from Grandpa.

"Her lips pursed with irritation. 'He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

Apparently, Grandpa doesn't want to give her a ride and feels a need to explain this to the teenage Barack who apparently is totally in the dark about what the big deal is.

"He (Grandpa) turned around and I saw that he was shaking. "It is a big deal. It's a big deal to me. She's been bothered by men before. You know why she's so scared this time. I'll tell you why. Before you came in, she told me the fella was black." He whispered the word. "That's the real reason why she's bothered. And I just don't think that right.

"The words were like a fist in my stomach, and I wobbled to regain my composure. In my steadiest voice, I told him that such an attitude bothered me, too, but reassured him that Toot's fears would pass and that we should give her a ride in the meantime. Gramps slumped into a chair in the living room and said he was sorry he had told me. Before my eyes, he grew small and old and very sad. I put my hand on his shoulder and told him that it was all right, I understood.
"We remained like that for several minutes like that for several minutes, in painful silence. Finally he insisted that he drive Toot after all, and I thought about my grandparents. They had sacrificed again and again for me. They had poured all their lingering hopes into my success. Never had they given me reason to doubt their love; I doubted if they ever would. And yet I knew that men who might easily have been my brothers would still inspire their rawest fear."

Obama then drives over to his Frank's house, an old black communist party member and friend of Grandpa.

"What I'm trying to tell you is, your grandma's right to be scared. She's at least as right as Stanley is. She understands that black people have a reason to hate. That's just how it is. For your sake, I wish it were otherwise. But it's not. So you might as well get used to it."
"Frank closed his eyes. His breathing slowed until he seemed to be asleep. I thought about waking him, then decided against it and walked back to the car. The earth shook under my feet, ready to crack open at any moment. I stopped, trying to steady myself, and knew for the first time that I was utterly alone."

OH, PUHLEESE! Didn't we not learn anything about fabrication and self-promotion from James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces?" Think about this. Barack Obama is raised up by this loving grandmother who he obviously never thought of as racist in all his growing years. She is threatened by a scary street man who "happens to be black" (and it surely would be unusual because they live in Hawaii so a black man on the street begging is likely to be doing so serious drugs like ice or crack). She mentions he is black because it IS unusual and the word black functions as a description of the man, not a condemnation of blacks everywhere.

I have said similar things around my kids. My black husband said similar things around our kids. My husband might have said, "Some crazy white man came into the store," or I might have said "Some drunk black guy at the hospital threw a urinal at me," and just as likely my husband might have said, " Some weirdo black guy started harassing me in the parking lot, " or I might have said, "I got freaked today because while I was walking to pick up the kids at summer camp, a bunch of lowlife looking white guys were hanging on the corner and made comments at me."

I guess my husband and I could have left out those descriptors and just said guys or men but humans tend to try to conjure up pictures when they talk so they add in color of skin, hair, clothing, and any other significant feature. None of this means the person giving the description is a racist.

My kids never felt "blows to their stomachs" or felt that "their brothers" were terrifying their Mom. They never were so torn up by such comments that they lost their sense of identify and felt utterly alone. Furthermore, if they had, they wouldn't have immediately been so humble and kind and reasonable as Barack purports he was, the peacemaker and forgiver::rolls eyes::Obama is forever the good guy, the victim and never the victimizer. He is either a saint or a liar.

First of all, I doubt the entire scene happened as Obama relays it. I have a hard time believing his Grandpa would have gotten that angry over a simple comment and request for a ride to work unless he were one heck of a bastard. Maybe he was, but, if that is the case, the issue should be about him, not Grandma. Grandma had every right to be afraid and if Grandpa was that bent out of shape because the man she was afraid of just happened to be black, then Grandpa was mixing his political ideology with reality. Grandpa's communist friend would be doing the same if he came up with the bit about Grandma should be afraid of blacks because of history and not simply because this one black man was possibly a violent, desperate drug user who happened to be lurking on her street. Grandpa's friend made that man into a racist as well when all he might have been whacked out druggie. Everything in life is not politics.

So, this supposed incident becomes a pivotal moment in young Obama's life. For god's sake, Obama. Either you are blowing up a little incident into a political issue or you are seriously a narcissistic wuss and a drama queen. I remember my black son (adopted) who was barred from leaving the church (because after the program ended, the very careful lady at the door only opened it when she saw the child's mom approaching). The woman kept telling him I wasn't his mother as I came up the walk to the church. He kept saying, "Yes, she is!" and the woman thought he was just pulling her leg. Finally, she realized her mistake and let my son go with me! We all had a good laugh over it! My son didn't have an epiphany and realize the horrors of racism and think the woman was demented by history. He learned that she hadn't met to many black kids with white moms.

So, either, the people around Obama blew up minor incidents or he did the blowing up to make a good story and forward his very socialistic values. My guess is the latter because he has hooked up with Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

James Frey and Barack Obama may have a lot more in common than just authoring books. Oprah apparently hasn't figured that out and neither have a lot of goodhearted Americans who want to see this man as a messiah and a fresh voice for the future of America. I hope they don't vote the man into office only to wake up one day and realize that they had been fooled by a bunch of pretty words and nice smile. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling of the Day: My Vote goes To Smokey Robinson

I have to admit, although I am fairly conservative when it comes to policy and economics (and definitely crime), I felt sad and betrayed when I found out about Obama's connections to Wright. I like the way Obama speaks and carries himself and I was proud that any man of color (as well as any female) can be a top contender for the presidency of my country. Although I would not have voted for Obama for reasons that are purely issue driven, I was still happy to see him running for president and to see so many in America (of all races and subcultures) be supportive of him. It was exciting to see America has come so far.

Or has it? Reading the information posted on Reverend Wright's church's website and listening to his speeches, I feel as though the rug that I had become comfortable with under my feet had just been pulled out from under me and I came crashing back to the 1970's. All the positive changes in race relations and in the lives of blacks in America have been insulted by Wright and by the Obamas (lest we forget Michelle who wasn't ever proud of America until this election campaign) who seem to feel so little progress has been made.

I remember when I was dating my black boyfriend (American) in the early seventies, I was considered quite radical. When the two of us went out as a couple, I felt people spent an inordinate amount of time staring at us. My parents were not all that happy about the situation and worried they might suffer condemnation and social shunning because of their daughter's "behavior." I remember going to a meeting at Howard University on Africa (where I had traveled) and finding out I wasn't welcome because it was a black power meeting and not really about the country of Africa at all.

Fast forward to the end of the decade. I married a Jamaican man and my parents shrugged and held the wedding at their home. Their friends gave us presents. My New England grandmother who had never spent time with a black person in her life simply said my husband was a good looking fellow. I never felt anyone stared at us and the few times people looked our way I assumed it was because we were an attractive couple!

My kids grew up with no racism of note in their lives. Our neighborhood, in a suburb of Washington in Prince George's County (PG to those that live here)is a racial mix with the richest black population in the country (which doesn't keep PG from being considered a ghetto by neighboring counties because we also have some very poor areas as well). Whites and blacks in this county mix quite well and in the last ten years, there has been a strong cultural blend and it is no surprise to hear rap music come out of the white boy's car and find the black kid is driving the Camaro. And, they hang together; close your eyes and you couldn't tell them apart by listening to the talk.

I don't object to Reverend Wright being community driven and if the folks attending his church happen to be 100% black because they live there, well, then he should be inspiring and working to improve the lives of these black church members because this is where he preaches. I don't have any problem with being proud to be of any race or culture if what this represents is just a love of what one happens to be or has experienced. Nothing is wrong with saying I am PG through and through, or I am a product of Washington DC where we have Go-Go (a unique DC sound coming out of the black community), we have WHUR (the most awesome radio station for decades), the Tom Joyner Morning Show, and we still love Mayor Barry no matter what he has done. Wright can be Chicago proud and church proud and community proud, but to be separatist, hateful of his country, and claim to be more African than American (I bet Africans would think this funny) is truly sad.

For a great commentary on this issue, Smokey Robinson nails it on the head : Smokey Robinson - A Black American

Barack Obama, the man that could have brought us even further forward in eliminating racial bias in this country has more likely started a "debate" that is going to put America in reverse. While the 1970s were an important part of the growth of our country and racial progress, reliving them is going to be detrimental. Obama may have missed growing up black in America but he shouldn't be hanging out with people who are angry, racist and anti-American just because he wants to know what it would have felt like if he had.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown