Does US Police give complex suspect profiles like in Criminal Minds??

[suplex3000]

I was watching a Criminal Minds episode where the FBI gives a profile of a suspect in the news who kills women in cars using shot gun..They say he is a white male at the age of 50s,he works in an insignificant job and is dominated by women at home and work and he has suffered a trauma in his recent life....
and asks people to call the tip line if they know someone like that

Does Police really give such profiles or is it just Hollywood based lie????

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Profilers absolutely exist, and can be very effective.
However, it is obviously only used when trying to find serial criminals.

 

[whitehall]

Way back in the 70's we had a federal profiler in on a case. He was not only useless but he was laughably useless. Computers spit out similarities and the likelyhood of certain race, gender and sexual orientation based on statistics but it's restricted to police use because the freaking profile might be considered racially or gender biased. Anyway, profilers are just computer geeks who put the junk in a briefcase and read it to the troops who already knew who they were looking for.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Profilers absolutely exist, and can be very effective.
However, it is obviously only used when trying to find serial criminals.

Some of the Feds that do profiling are truly brilliant and quite accurate - they know exactly what they are looking for.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Way back in the 70's we had a federal profiler in on a case. He was not only useless but he was laughably useless. Computers spit out similarities and the likelyhood of certain race, gender and sexual orientation based on statistics but it's restricted to police use because the freaking profile might be considered racially or gender biased. Anyway, profilers are just computer geeks who put the junk in a briefcase and read it to the troops who already knew who they were looking for.

It's not unusual for LEO"s and FBI agents to clash. Bottom line is Federal agents are more highly trained and that is why LEO's (Law enforcement officers) need to let go of their ego and step out of the way - so they can do their jobs. ( the feds )