crime

KN, p. 211 “Does Your Town Have ‘Active Shooter in the School’ Defense Strategies?”

 

Homeland Security has defined an “active shooter” as someone with a gun engaged in killing or trying to kill people in a confined and populated place.

 

Most experts agree that there is no one simple solution to the level of violence being aimed at the schools by individual shooters in the USA right now, but most people agree that it has to stop.

 

While we, the parents and friends and neighbors of the children struck down since the beginning of 2018, as well as elected officials and law enforcement officers, wrangle over what the solution should be, take a look at the ‘stay-as-safe-as-possible’ methods the school children should practice, as suggested by Homeland Security:

 

Their plan is called: “Run, Hide, Fight,” and includes these strategies:

 

  • Be aware of your environment and any possible dangers

 

  • Take note of the two nearest exits in any facility you visit

 

  • If you are in an office, stay there and secure the door

 

  • If you are in a hallway, get into a room and secure the door

 

The ‘Fight’ part has to do with taking down the shooter, but no Elementary or Junior High student I know is capable of doing that, nor are 99% of the High School students or teachers I’ve met.

 

In many communities, fire drills must be performed twice a month to comply with City or State regulations. During these drills, children are escorted to the exits in an orderly manner – no running – and out designated exits to areas away from the building. Most schools have multiple exits and with several hundred people who must leave in under two minutes (State requirement for speedy evacuation) the teachers and administration take this responsibility seriously. At a well-run school, the end of day dismissal is conducted just as efficiently, but just to the outside door and sidewalks. The busses and cars are waiting at the curbs, and the walkers know where to go.

 

In the scenario of the active shooter, Homeland Security suggests that the children should always know two ways to get out of the building so they can get out as quickly as possible if needed. Children should leave behind their backpacks and just get out. So that any First Responders on the scene can sort out the good guys from the bad, the evacuating children should keep their hands in the air, leaving the cell phones in their pockets while exiting.

 

If the children are stuck in the building, they should hide – under desks if that’s the only shelter, or in closets – but, out of the line of sight of the classroom door. They should silence their cell phones, so as not to alert a shooter to the location of more targets.

 

Plus, if the children are lucky enough to be in a room that has moveable chairs or tables to jam under the doorknobs, they should do that. Please note: most classroom doors do not lock from the inside, and many don’t lock at all.

 

In this new reality, safety drills might include mock shooter scenarios where students try to remember how many shooters there are, their location, and even a description of their appearance – clothes, hair, shoes, etc. Every piece of accurate information helps in resolving the real-life incidents.

 

 

Many States around the country responded to the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 by requiring their schools to increase school security and enact safety drills. In the wake of the Florida shooting (February, 2018) more States are responding to public pressure and taking the step to examine current safety standards and procedures throughout the districts.

 

 

Whatever your stance on how to solve this issue, our children should be safe at school. Period.

 

 

Please visit www.dhs.gov for more information about the Homeland Security policies and programs.

 

 

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KN, p. 191 “Is he/she a serial killer?”

 

Warning: Some content may be too intense for some readers.

 

In 2005, the FBI conducted a symposium in Texas for law enforcement officers and defined serial murders in this way: “The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.”

 

As terrifying and brutal as these events are, the FBI reports that serial murders occur in less than one percent of all murders committed in any given year.

 

That doesn’t mean that law enforcement treats serial murders any less seriously, just that most cops will never encounter that kind of case. When they do, the hardest part of the investigation might be recognizing that two or three murders committed across several counties could be linked in some way. Different personnel spread through different jurisdictions might not see all the facts in evidence and never see the connections, hence the reason that some serial killers are never caught.

https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder

 

Although not every point is true for all serial killers, there seems to be a common thread in the backgrounds of most, starting in their childhoods. Here are a few of the behaviors that appear to tie the Serial Killer category together.

 

  • Childhood abuse and/or neglect
  • Lousy grades in school or poor work performance, despite a high IQ
  • Damage to the brain’s frontal lobe – childhood head injuries
  • Bedwetting
  • Arson
  • Animal Torture

 

As possible suspects are investigated, and/or eliminated, more weight is given to those on the list who have those behaviors somewhere in their history.

 

Serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Gacey all had above average intelligence, as evidenced by their ability to commit multiple crimes and evade capture (and even detection) for so many years. But Dr. Katherine Ramsland, Forensic Psychologist, maintains that even the smart ones can do dumb things.

 

“…serial killers range from Ivy League caliber to downright moronic. Self-defeating habits or failure to plan wisely have brought many down. It’s not all about IQ. Even smart ones can be idiots at just the wrong time.”

 

Examples:

  • Ted Bundy drove erratically in a stolen car.
  • Randy Kraft had a dead body in his passenger seat when the highway patrol stopped him for suspected drunk driving.
  • Joel Rifkin was also “transporting,” but without a license plate.

As Dr. Ramsland said, “You’d think if you had a corpse with you, you’d at least try to be inconspicuous.”

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shadow-boxing/201612/stupid-stuff-stopped-serial-killer

 

 

Dr. DP Lyle, cardiologist, forensic expert, and crime writer, interviewed Dr. Ramsland on his Writers Forensics blog, discussing the various descriptions of serial killers being used today.

 

Dr. Ramsland said, “The behaviors that stand out for budding psychopaths who are the most apt to become violent involve unmotivated deception, tendency to blame others, callous disregard, and ADHD – a combination of them all. Such children will tend to manipulation, deflect responsibility, damage property, steal, do poorly in activities that require sustained discipline and focus, and play cruel pranks. They will also exercise their need for control on others who are weaker, including animals, and this could involve experiments, mutilation and killing.”

 

https://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/forensic-psychologist-dr-katherine-ramsland-talks-about-serial-killers/

 

Some serial killers are angry for imagined (or real) slights and seek revenge against those who were “mean” to them.

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shadow-boxing/201611/power-assertive-murder

 

For more information about the criminal mind, visit www.katherineramsland.com Dr. Ramsland is the author of dozens of books and articles on the subject. Her latest, “Confessions of a Serial Killer,” is the untold story of Dennis Bader, the BTK killer. Scary stuff.

 

The average person is unlikely to interact with a serial killer, but many law enforcement officers or profilers get specific training in order to keep it that way – to keep the community safe from predators. It has been found that not all serial killers work alone, and a good percentage (around 15%) are women.

 

 

How do you keep from becoming a victim?

 

  • Don’t go out with people you don’t know.
  • Don’t get into cars with people you don’t know.
  • Don’t go shopping at night by yourself.
  • Park your car in well-lit areas and lock it.
  • If your car has a flat tire in a grocery store parking lot, go back into the store to get help. Don’t accept assistance from a stranger who just happens to be near your car.
  • Become familiar with self-defense techniques. Take a class to become proficient.

 

Use common sense, be extra aware when alone, and stay safe!

 

*Photo credit: Ted Bundy – Wikipedia

 

 

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KN, p. 76 “Save the duct tape and glue the dashboard!”

 

Criminals that tie their victims up during the commission of a crime frequently use duct tape for the job. That duct tape is almost always full of prints that get embedded into the tape. It’s practically impossible to manipulate and tear the tape while wearing gloves (I tried this once and the gloves got so stuck to the tape that I threw the resulting mess away), so the crook leaves prints while unrolling and tearing the tape. Even if he has wiped the smooth surface of the tape clean to cover his identity, the sticky side can’t be wiped without taking away the sticky. Balls of tape tossed aside by a suspect have been processed successfully for prints, but first the tape had to be released from itself.

 

Separating folded duct tape from itself

What to do? Drop lots of a 2% chloroform tape release agent on the area where the two pieces of tape meet. Two people need to work together on this – one person places the drops continuously while the other person pulls the tape apart. The ends of the tape should then be folded over (about ¼”) and the tape flattened for 24 hours before doing anything else to it.

 

Adhesive-side developer

 After 24 hours, adhesive-side developer should be applied to the sticky side of the duct tape, allowed to sit for a few minutes, then rinsed off. The prints are clearly visible, can be photographed, covered with clear tape to protect them, viewed under an Optical Comparator, entered into the system, and sent off to AFIS.

 

Duct tape prints

 

 

Dashboard prints:

Up until recently, we could not collect decent prints from the dashboard of a getaway car in a reasonable length of time. Most car and truck dashboards have a slightly bumpy surface, more or less because it’s a selling point to non-criminal types – supposedly the pebbled surfaces mean no more pesky fingerprints to clean off if you’re a mom transporting kids after school. Sheila says the juice spills just get buried in the grooves.

 

But, it’s a potential fingerprint heaven for the CSIs who need to process the abandoned bank heist car. Think about it. If you press your hand onto a dashboard, your skin (with all the loops and whorls and arches and oils) is also pressing into the crevices of the pebbled surface. The problem is that a straight gel lift or hinge lifter will not pick up the prints effectively or may only pick up the top of the print.

 

Dashboard surface

 

 But, the investigator sees the possible print and doesn’t want to lose the opportunity to catch the crook. The answer in the past was to dust the likely area with magnetic fingerprint powder, then apply a Blue Glue gel and wait for the gel to cure before lifting it off the dash – about five hours. FIVE hours? The crook is getting away! No time to wait!

 

These days, the preferred lifting product (after applying the magnetic powder to enhance the print) is a transparent liquid silicone (PVS200 – polyvinyl siloxane), applied with an extruder gun. It flows down into the crevices, dries in six minutes, and gets into every bit of the print. After the polyvinyl dries, it can be lifted, and then placed on a backing card to preserve the print. At that point, it can be placed under an Optical Comparator, photographed, and sent off to AFIS for an ID/comparison.

 

This epoxy is not good for every surface (it rips paper, etc) but is very good for pitted, bumpy surfaces like alligator skin and dashboards. Gotcha!

Dashboard Lift

 

 

Planning to become a crime scene investigator? Then remember to collect the balls of duct tape tossed on the floor or in the garbage cans at the crime scene. Almost definitely, a great source for prints. And don’t forget your extruder gun!

 

*Photos taken by Patti Phillips at the Sirchie Education and Training facility in Youngsville, NC.

 

For more information about Sirchie and its products for the law enforcement community, please visit www.Sirchie.com.

 

 

 

 

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