Criminal Justice Day attracts students
By Amanda Seef
NEWS EDITOR
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| Photos by Lauren Miller, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Above, members of the State Police and Rochester Police Department’s SWAT Team speak about their jobs with students. The SWAT team and the State Police’s helicopter were also on campus, among many other departments. |
Special Agent John Douglas opened his “A Journey into Darkness” presentation to a sold- out crowd in Edward’s Blue Room Wednesday, April 16. The speech, a look into crime analysis and crime profiling of serial killers, ended to much applause as Douglas presented insights into his unique theories.
“Give me a city full with prostitution or drug culture,” Douglas said as he began his presentation. “It’s fertile grounds for a serial killer — and I guess also fertile grounds for a governor.”
The lecture was free to the public as well as students, bringing in local law enforcement officers such as Rochester Police Chief David T. Moore and Brockport Police Chief Daniel Varrenti.
“[John Douglas] is a very dynamic speaker and enjoys interacting with the students,” said Jim Ross, a professor in the Criminal Justice department.
The Criminal Justice Student Association, Dean of School of Professions, Association of Latin American Students, department of criminal justice, Brockport Student Government and the mandatory BSG fee sponsored the lecture.
“It cost about $8,200 to $8,500 for just the speaker,” said Korni Swaroop Kumar, chairperson of the criminal justice department.
This is the third year the conference was held by the Criminal Justice Student Association. They also sponsored law enforcement demonstrations that occurred earlier in the day.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the students,” Ross said. “They handled themselves professionally — it’s why we’re one of the best and most active clubs on campus.”
Douglas is a former unit chief for the FBI’s National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime. He also was the model and original choice to play the role of Scott Glen in The Silence of the Lambs. He is now retired after 25 years of service.
Prior to the lecture, there was a signing of his newest book, Inside the Mind of the BTK: The True Story Behind the Thirty-Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita Serial Killer, which was cowritten by Johnny Dodd.
“Without a doubt, Rader is one of the most disturbing individuals I have ever studied,” Douglas said on his Web site, johndouglasmindhunter.com.
The book, which was also repeatedly mentioned in the lecture, reveals “the whole incredible story,” according to his Web site, “and also draws from it a program for new and improved police methodology to prevent such serial killers from remaining at large, including early intervention in childhood development and more community involvement in apprehension.”
Douglas said he wrote his newest book because he was the only non law-enforcement person to interview the BTK killer.
“I also had questions,” Douglas said, “like, why did he stop for nine years?”
During his experience with investigating the BTK serial killer, Douglas found that in reaction to his own methods, “The police did not always listen — some were like, ‘what is this-witchcraft?’”
He told to the audience that he was greatly affected by some of the prison interviews and was a patient in the hospital quite a few times. After one prison interview (with Seattle’s Green River Killer), Douglas was in a coma for a week and diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“I want to get a feel for what makes [serial killers] tick,” Douglas said. “This is your next door neighbor … you start to feel like you know the person.”
Douglas wrote numerous other books that are part autobiography, part true crime, including the bestseller Mindhunter.
The presentation consisted of a PowerPoint with gruesome, detailed pictures of the victims Douglas had to face. To a crowd of about 500, he carefully explained many serial killer cases with which he was directly involved.
In analyzing current law enforcement agencies, Douglas said the most common mistake in poor investigations is when the “police come together, share a beer, and are friends and there’s no tug-of-war with the evidence.”
He also criticized past treatment of serial killers and how easily they may get paroled.
“You can’t rehabilitate someone who has never been habilitated — you can’t change their mind set.”
After the presentation, Douglas attended an exclusive dinner in the Cooper New York Ballroom in which the Criminal Justice Student Association presented him with Brockport apparel.
“The whole thing was very well-organized,” Douglas said.
Douglas will continue to give presentations on his compelling story about his years on a “team that tackles the most baffling and senseless of unsolved crime.”
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