Cases examined by VICAP include:Excerpted from the ENN EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT- Saturday, April 12, 1997 Vol. 1 - 102
The FBI's Violent Crime Apprehension Program (VICAP) ...
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
VICAP's mission is to facilitate cooperation, communication, and coordination between law enforcement agencies and provide support in their efforts to investigate, identify, track, apprehend, and prosecute violent serial offenders.
Write to: Federal Bureau of Investigation Critical Incident Response Group FBI Academy Quantico, VA 22135
Phone: (800)-634-4097
VICAP is a nationwide data information center designed to collect, collate, and analyze crimes of violence - specifically murder.
Cases examined by VICAP include:
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Solved or unsolved homicides or attempts, especially those that
involve an abduction; are apparently random, motiveless, or
sexually oriented; or are known or suspected to be part of a
series.
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Missing persons, where the circumstances indicate a strong
possibility of foul play and the victim is still missing.
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Unidentified dead bodies where the manner of death is known or
suspected to be homicide.
Cases with an arrested or identified offender should be submitted for comparison and possible matching with unsolved cases in the VICAP system.
Once a case is entered into the VICAP database, it is compared continually against all other entries on the basis of certain aspects of the crime. The purpose of this is to detect signature aspects of homicide and similar patterns of modus operandi (MOs), which will, in turn, allow VICAP personnel to pinpoint those crimes that may have been committed by the same offender and notify the agencies involved.
When a serial murder suspect has been identified, VICAP can assist the law enforcement agencies with relevant cases by coordinating a multi-agency investigative conference. The multi-agency conference becomes especially important when the suspect or suspects have traveled throughout the country. A very valuable product of prior conferences was the coordination of activities such as search warrants, interview matters, and laboratory testing.
When requested, VICAP staff will prepare the "VICAP Alert" notice for publication in the FBI's "Law Enforcement Bulletin." These notices typically address offender descriptive data, crime(s), background, MO, maps showing travel and dates, photographs of the offender and vehicles, and the name and telephone number of a contact person in the requesting agency.
VICAP also offers services in investigative support (e.g., timelines, investigative matrix, etc.), major case management consultation and facilitation, and training in crime analysis.
Courtesy of, and thank you to the Federal Bureau of Investigation