George Metesky: The Mad Bomber

George Metesky nicknamed the “Mad Bomber” outwitted New York City police for 16 years. Between 1940 and 1956 alone, he had set off more than 30 small bombs, striking phone booths, movie theaters, and other public areas. The investigators, having come to a standstill asked James Brussel, a psychiatrist in New York, for his help. After having studied all he could James Brussel made a profile, one that led the police right to Metesky’s front door. This profile being based on psychological ideas gave officials the needed information to arrest Metesky in January of 1957. In the subsequent years, New York City police, among others, started consulting psychologists and psychiatrists; wanting them to create profiles for challenging criminals who

These profiles fall between psychology and law enforcement, some call it “investigative psychology” while another refers to it as “crime action profiling”. The main connection, the common goal they all share; help investigators examine evidence, narrow down a suspect pool, or give helpful tips on how to interrogate a suspect already in custody. Psychology is used to investigate behavioral patterns, personality traits, and psychopathologies. Demographic variables including age, race, and geographical locations are also used in the profiles. Recently criminologists, law enforcement officials, and psychologists have all teamed together to take criminal profiling, which started out as an art and transform it into a reliable science. This science of psychology is used to track down criminals; solely based on behavior these profiles are able to predict what will happen

Psychology gives law enforcement such an advantage because it studies human behavior. FBI agents are able to garner understanding of a criminal’s personality by answering questions about the behavior displayed at four different crime scene phases; the antecedent, method and manner, body disposal, and post offense behavior. Studies advocate that serial murderers, based on their behavior and interaction with their victims, can be divided into categories: through sexual control, execution, mutilation, or plunder. Due to the helpfulness of psychology in criminal profiling, the FBI has begun working closely with psychologist going so far as to employ them. Time and effort is now being put into psychology it is deemed as a valuable asset for law enforcement, which is why the relationship between psychology and law enforcement has taken a stronghold. Psychology has made a major impact in the way law enforcement apprehends and interrogates its criminals; this art of psychology has turned into a science. Statistics teamed with known psychological facts has changed criminal profiling making it reliably; different points of view have come together to create a unique mix of information. This information not only improves the process, but also changes it for the