New Law Mandates Law Enforcement Participation in FBI ’ s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program >>
House Bill 255 passed unanimously in both the State of Georgia House and Senate in the 2021 legislative session . Bi-partisan support of this legislation has highlighted the public safety priorities of both the executive and legislative branches of State government in Georgia . Championed by Representative Scott Holcomb ( D-Atlanta ) in the House and carried in the Senate by Senator John Albers ( R-Roswell ) the bill mandates law enforcement participation in the FBI ’ s ViCAP system , among other things . the database lacked robust Georgia case information to link or provide investigative suggestions in unresolved cases . I testified as an expert on signature behavior in a case in Rockmart , Georgia , illustrating how instrumental ViCAP was in identifying a suspect in the double homicide of a mother and daughter . Requiring mandatory entry will give the analyst better opportunities to link offender behavior sooner , resulting in apprehending offenders quicker , and preventing them from potentially creating more victims in the future .
What is ViCAP ? The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program allows for the analysis of serial violent and sexually motivated crimes . The FBI maintains the database as the largest investigative repository of violent crime cases in the United States . As with any database , ViCAP ’ s value is increased the more it is used . So , the more cases are entered into the system , the stronger the investigative tool . Law enforcement agencies enter sexual assault and homicide cases that meet the FBI ’ s criteria into the ViCAP system for possible matches to cases across the country with similar case characteristics .
Representative Holcomb has said of the ViCAP mandate , “ the ViCAP section of HB 255 was developed through a collaborative process with FBI and I am completely confident that this will help solve some of the most heinous crimes we see in our state .”
Keith Howard is the Chief Deputy of Morgan County Sheriff ’ s Office and currently Georgia ’ s only active certified criminal profiler . Since his days in the now deactivated GBI Crime Analysis Unit , where he supervised 4 behavioral science profilers , Keith has been a ViCAP enthusiast . Of the program , he says , ViCAP has long been under utilized by Georgia public safety agencies investigating violent crime . Prior to Governor Kemp signing legislation making ViCAP entries mandatory ,
So , what does the new mandate mean for law enforcement agencies , in real terms ? HB 255 requires that each law enforcement agency shall request access from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to enter information into the data base and that each law enforcement agency that investigates the following types of cases , enter criteria into ViCAP :
• a homicide or attempted homicide in which the actions of the perpetrator are known or suspected to be serial in nature or are random or sexually oriented
• a rape , aggravated sodomy , or aggravated assault with the intent to rape in which the actions of the perpetrator are known or suspected to be serial
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