Greeting Fellow IACA Members:
Secretary Dawn Clausius and I have returned from representing the IACA at the International Academy of Investigative Psychology (IA-IP) at their 2011 Symposium in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (also known as "Holland"). We traveled over seven time zones overnight March 29th, arriving in Holland on March 30th. That evening, we met with the top two leaders of the IA-IP, Dr. David Cantor and Dr. Donna Youngs for the longest dinner in the history of long dinners. During the many hours over dinner and a lot (!) of very strong coffee, we gained a great deal of insight into the formation and goals of the IA-IP.
In a nutshell, the IA-IP (http://www.ia-ip.org/) was formed for similar reasons the IACA was formed back in 1990 - to facilitate communication between individuals involved in a relatively new discipline and to help coordinate professionalism in training, research and practice. The members, mostly Investigative Psychologists and students of Investigative Psychology, are concerned with the psychological principles, theories and empirical findings that may be applied to investigations and the legal process.
Perhaps more importantly (and of greater interest), a significant amount of their focus is on understanding "Modus Operandi" (or "MO"). Certainly crime analysts (and other members of the IACA) would take great interest in gleaning information from this group to help inform our analysis of crimes. In fact, in my keynote address to the group, I stated (in part):
"Over the last 30 years, crime analysts have developed expertise in analyzing crime series for temporal factors, spatial factors, and offender and victim descriptions, but our approach to the question of modus operandi has never been fully informed. We use modus operandi to help link crimes in a series, and our experience with crime data allows us to determine what is unusual or unique about an offender’s chosen M.O.
Where we lack knowledge is in the science of turning M.O. data into useful inferences about the offender. What can M.O. data tell us about an offender’s likely characteristics? How can it help us craft a solution to the crime series? How can it inform our efforts to increase the likelihood of arrest, strategies to deter the offender, or ways that investigators can approach interrogation? How can it inform future efforts on similar crime series? How can we use the M.O. data to better understand the decisions and choices offenders make and how is this information useful to us as analysts, as well as police officers and investigators in training for and eventually responding to crimes that can be linked, associated and studied together in the future?
We believe that crime analysts are natural investigative psychologists who have so far lacked any real training in investigative psychology. We study crime series and have an innate sense of what is normal and what is abnormal. We have long wrestled with questions of offender behavior, but absent a framework or typology to assist us. This is what we hope to get out of our partnership with IA-IP. In return, we are in a good position to help ensure that the science of investigative psychology is actually applied in police agencies."
The presentation (Day Two of the Symposium) seemed to be received very well and Dr. Cantor even asked for a printed copy of my entire speech. This was followed the next day with Dawn Clausius' presentation on Applying Theory to Crime Analysis Practice which was presented to a jam-packed room of academics and practitioners. Her presentation led to a number of heated debates and discussions amongst those present, including Dr. David Cantor who had "showed" specifically for her presentation. We were very pleased with the involvement of the attendees and interest in the presentation.
That evening (the final evening of the Symposium), the group hosted a dinner and award presentation banquet onsite. Dawn and I were thrilled to have both Dr. Cantor AND Dr. Youngs choose to sit with us for the event, despite having many other VIPs present to which they needed to attend. During the awards and recognition, we were presented a "thank you" gift of appreciation of chocolate and a book on Holland, as well as a "toast" to us and our presence.
At the end of the evening, Dr. Cantor expressed to us his excitement about this new link between our association, and with promises of continued open lines of communication. Additionally, he suggested that we consider a collaboration through the IA-IP and the IACA "Press" (publishing arm of the IACA) to deliver booklets "by crime type" on the "MO" information that is known about each crime. In other words, there would be a booklet on robbery MO's and what they mean / how to interpret them / how to respond / how to incorporate the MO in a forecast, etc., and another booklet on commercial burglary...and another on residential burglary....etc. Dr. Cantor also suggested further collaboration involving Geographical Profiling and on case studies. We believe this is just the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship for both organizations.
Outside of our time with Drs. Cantor and Youngs and the time spent in class at the Symposium, we were able to meet with a number of international professional interested in IACA membership and collaboration. This included an intelligence analyst with the EuroPol who inquired about the possibility of an IACA Symposium (like the upcoming Vancouver event) in The Haag, Holland. She stated there were more than 40 analysts there that could support the Symposium. We saw and met with an IACA member analyst from Trinidad and Tobago who also suggested support for a Symposium in the Caribbean would be strong if the IACA would consider hosting it there. A number of individuals inquired about membership and time was spent with each directing them to our website. We awarded three complimentary one-year IACA memberships to the three individuals expressing the MOST interest in our association.
And, our trip was not all business - we DID get to see the Coffee (marijuana) shops, dozens of canals and the canal housing ($$$$), the Red Light District, the Floating Flower Market, the Weeping Tower, the windmills of Kinderjik, Centraal Station, Rembrandt Square, Leids Square and an authentic castle from the 1500s. We found that everything in Holland came in small packages (small portions), but was outrageously expensive! They are also a very physically fit society, with bicycles outnumbering cars 40-1 in Amsterdam (less outside of the city). And, because parking is at a premium, the cars that they do have are mostly "Smart Cars" and smaller (yes, smaller!) and can often be found parked on the sidewalk. The culture was phenomenal and the experience was outstanding. We believe we represented the IACA very well and hope this event, in addition to the Vancouver Symposium and a visit to Chile by other IACA members, helps work toward true internationalization of our association.
With all good wishes (as they say in Holland),
Susan C. Smith
VP Administration
Dawn Clausius
Secretary
