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Criminal Psychological Profiles of Fleeing Suspects by R. S. Eden

 The  Calgary City Police dog section once did a study on how the brain  performs under certain situations. The initial step was to go to the  local university and inquire how the brain works given certain  circumstances. After gleaning the information provided there, it was  compared to a number of successful tracks that had been completed by  members of the section. The information was surprisingly consistent and  has been effective in assisting dog handlers on tracks.


When  an officer begins to pursue a fleeing suspect by the application of a  police dog, there are a number of factors which come into play. These  factors can combine to defeat the dog. For example time delay, winds,  temperature, vehicular and pedestrian traffic often result in the dog  losing the track.


If  the dog loses the track, and is unable to recover and continue, the  officer can bring his skills into play as a person al tracker.  Mantracking, combined with the theory regarding criminal psychological  profiles of a fleeing suspects can often result in a recovery of the  track for the dog. Patrol officers have also used these same skills to  recover evidence where there is no dog team available to them. These  techniques have also been used to help locate suspects that have just  fled the scene of a crime.


Tracks  left by individuals can be categorized into two basic areas. The first  being passive tracks, the second being active tracks.


PASSIVE TRACKS - OFFICER SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS


Passive  tracks are those tracks which are left by people who are not seemingly  in any rush or panic. The person is under little or no pressure to avoid  being detected. Lost persons, elderly people who walk away from homes  and even criminals who do not feel pressured by their circumstances. The  following information provided by a Sheriff's Bloodhound handler is a  typical example of a passive criminal track.

Dale  Myer is a Senior Handler with the Contra Costa County California  Sheriff's Volunteer Search and Rescue Bloodhound Squad. He has gleaned  some valuable information with respect to pursuing suspects who were IV  drug users.


"I  wanted to pass along an observation of mine regarding the effect of IV  drug use on human scent and how it applies to officer safety."


"The  Contra Costa Search and Rescue Bloodhounds are primarily used for  trailing lost people. Over the past ten years about half our trails turn  into criminal cases and we'll have some hot pursuit calls as well. The  handlers have come to expect and recognize the adrenaline scent or  "fear" scent when working around the scene of a violent act. We also  expect it when a bad guy is fleeing the scene. The hounds get "wired"  every time they hit the adrenaline scent and they really work that trail  hard."


"There  have been many times where our handlers start working a trail expecting  the dog to react to the adrenaline scent and they didn't flinch. The  hound starts working like it's a day old training trail. We have  followed up on many cases where the dog didn't react to the expected  "fear" scent and have found the common denominator to be IV drug use.  Somehow the drug user's adrenaline scent is masked or they simply don't  pump adrenaline because they are high and have no fear."


"The  bottom line is you may be working a trail expecting your dog to react  and indicate strongly when you're getting close but in reality the dog  might just walk up to the bad guy before you even realize you're in the  ballpark."


"If  you begin a trail and your dog doesn't react as you expect, you might  be dealing with a drug user. STOP and take 30 seconds to brief your  runners of what you may have. This should keep them on their toes even  though they don't see the dog react ing strongly. This is the most  important time to have your back up's alert and ready to react. Also, if  you work your dog on lead, a longer lead may be in order to give you  added clearance should the dog just walk up to the bad guy without  warning."


The  above information stresses the importance of having a backup, even  though you may not appear to be on a hot trail. This passive track  turned out to be a situation which could have become deadly under  different circumstances.


ACTIVE TRACKS


The  active track is what we deal with the most. As a result we know that  the suspect we are after is under pressure to avoid apprehension. The  person may or may not know that you are in pursuit of him, however due  to the nature of the crime, he is intent on putting as much possible  ground between him and the crime scene.


When  attending the crime scene, you need to obtain as much intelligence as  you can on your potential quarry. The point where he was last seen, or  most likely to have been. If a robbery, what type of weapon was  produced, and if a gun, some idea as to what caliber of weapon. This all  helps in your mental preparation. Determine the description details of  the suspect, including clothing, but remember that many suspects discard  clothing or change at a predetermined location to assist in masking  their flight. Physical features are most important. Determine if there  is more than one suspect if possible, and I like to find out if the  person appears to have been drinking. If so, is he heavily intoxicated. I  have on more than one occasion had tracks end rather abruptly when the  dog located the suspect within a few hundred yards of the crime scene  due to his level of intoxication. They simply go to ground and hide  rather than continuing their flight.

Suspects  who are attempting to elude arrest show some surprisingly similar  maneuvers when leaving crime scenes. The most common habits that were  found to occur in the Calgary study are as follows.


1. A suspect exiting a doorway will usually turn to the knob side of the door.

2.  When crossing from a street to an alley, or vice versa, he will use the  right side of a house, even if the left side has a walkway and the  right side is obstructed by a high fence.

3. In running down an alley or street, the suspect will use the right side.

4.  If he can be forced by your containment to continually use left turns,  he will panic and go to ground, which allows the handler a better  possibility for capture.

5.  Normally the suspect will only employ left turns to avoid immediate  capture, or to gain some distant objective that cannot be reached by  using right turns. In almost all cases, the suspects first turn will be  to the left, and then a series of consecutive rights.

6. Evidence discarded or thrown by the suspect will normally be tossed on the right side of the track.

7.  Two or more suspects running together will go to ground faster than a  person traveling alone. Should one suspect be apprehended, the second  suspect will often stay close to the scene, or will attempt to return to  the scene to see what is happening to his partner. This is often  accomplished by the second suspect by using a wide circle to the right.  Once his partner has been removed from the scene, the second subject  will resume his flight. For this reason, I always advise that suspects  apprehended on the scene, by patrol or by police dogs, be secured in a  patrol car, however not removed from the scene of his arrest. This  encourages the second suspect to stay close by out of curiosity and  increases the likelihood of his successful arrest.

8. The Calgary study showed that 80% of all urban tracks terminated within 4 blocks.


If  applied properly this information can result in assisting you in  relocating tracks where the dog has momentarily lost it. All too often  new dog handlers depend entirely on their dog to track and locate the  suspect. Too much dependence on the dog will often lead to failure where  success could have developed. If the officer takes advantage of the  criminal psychological aspects and redeploys his partner in a direction  chosen by using the previously mentioned profiles, he will often recover  tracks momentarily lost by his dog.

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