Thursday, December 1, 2011

Helping People is What Counts

Lately I am not very interested in the Behavioral Analysis Unit anymore. I lost a lot of interest when I realized how dedicated you need to be. I want to have a family when I grow up. The behavioral analysis unit makes it very difficult to have a life outside of the career. The training and schooling you have to go through is very difficult and time consuming also. I have decided writing a blog on the Behavioral Analysis Unit was not such a good idea since I have changed my career three times since the beginning of this blog.

My careers all have one thing in common, helping people. I didn’t have the easiest childhood. My father passed away and I wasn’t living in the best environment. I would hate seeing someone go through the things that I did. I also realized how much worse my life could have been. I hate seeing people go through tragic events. That is what give me the urge to help them out. The Behavioral Analysis Unit often helps save people’s lives. They use a criminals actions to predict their behavior. This helps them find the criminal before they have time to harm or cause any damage. A therapist helps people by talking to them about their problems. They help them find ways to solve their problems and cope with a tragic event. There are many types of therapists, each one helps with a certain topic. Nurses help save people’s live that have been injured. They are kind of like the last resort to saving people. You hope that no one ends up in the hospital, but if they do the nurses and doctors can work wonders. Many lives are saved by nurses and doctors everyday. In my opinion they are the biggest heroes, they help save lives and can make mircales happen in less than minutes.

The career im sticking with as of now is nurse. They don’t require as difficult of training as the
Behavioral analysis unit does and you save just as many lives, if not more. There are some really amazing colledges right here in Iowa, so it wont be as hard to find an education on this career. When I become a nurse I want to go to school part time to continue my training and become a doctor. A doctor would benefit even more because I could save even more lives. I just love helping people all around and any career that involves doing that would be great for me.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

everyday life

Profiling is not an easy task to accomplish. One must have the ability to focus and study a human being without being distracted. By studying the behavior of a human you can find out almost anything you need to know about them. You can tell when they are lying or nervous. Behavioral science is used in everyday lives. Its used in a physical way to determine where you stand with a person. Its used in mental ways to determine whether or not you will get along with somebody. Many times when you’ve been around someone for a long period of time, you begin to notice different things about a persons behavior. For instance if you sister was lying to you about wearing your clothes, you could possibly tell she lying by a physical change in her, maybe she will stutter or possibly just fidget with her hands. These are distinct ways of analyzing someone’s behavior.

Since I have decided to switch to behavioral therapist, there are different profiles I will be studying. By creating a patients profile, you discover what there problem is. You can decide which disorder or disease they fall under. Once their disorder is decided, you can help them deal with it or slowly get over/ move on with it.

Today in class we were talking about PTSD. We were profiling the soldiers and their behavior to determine whether or not they had PTSD. You don’t have to be an expert to study ones behavior. But if you enjoy it and want to use it to help others It is a good idea to become professional. There are many more careers that involve behavioral science. Whatever career you decide, it is still a good idea to take psychology and sociology classes in college. They will help you in the long run and are interesting classes.

You also decide your friends through behavioral science. You study a persons behavior and personality in order to decide if you want them to be your friend or not. If you find to many personality flaws you cant avoid you simply don’t choose them as a friend. Another way it helps you with your friends is by determining their flaws. Once you determine a persons flaws you try to work around them in as many ways as possible. Everyone uses behavioral science, but many times people don’t notice when they use it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

change of mind

This weekend I was watching criminal minds. It was an interesting episode. Hodge’s wife was killed by his nemesis, the Reaper. Its an older episode, but it mad me realize that this job takes a lot of dedication. I don’t think I could actually join the behavioral analysis unit. I could never have a family if I did, because your putting everything in your life at risk when you work for the BAU. I have a lot of respect for the people that do this job, because you have to base your life on it. I could not go through life without making a family, so I’ve decided this is not the career for me. I would still enjoy a job like this, and that my goal as of now. I still want to major in behavioral science. I might possibly try a job for NYPD, they have many crimes that behavioral study could help solve.

Finding a job similar is going to be much easier than getting into the FBI. I think I would be happy, even if I ended up just being a therapist. I enjoy helping people and this career is a good way of doing it. I definitely think the BAU and being in the FBI is one of the hardest jobs in the U.S. its probably even harder not being able to tell your family what is going on. This job puts not only yourself but other people at risk. I believe that in order to be in the BAU you need to be older and your kids should be grown up, or just not make a family and focus on the career.

A behavioral therapist would be a good choice for a similar career. This helps people and is basically the same thing. The difference is that you don’t have to people at risk. So from now on im going to focus on my other option because the FBI simply wont fit into my life style

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds Is a show based in Quantico, Virginia, the Behavioral Analysis Unit is a unit of the FBI. They are called in by local police departments to help in solving crimes of a serial and/or extremely violent nature where the perpetrator is not known. To shorten it they call them unsubs, the BAU use the scientific art of profiling to find and track the unsub. Profiling involves coming up with basic characteristics of the unsub and the victims. Because of the nature of the work put in place by the BAU, the member are very dedicated. The work is time consuming and psychologically demanding, its members are fiercely loyal to the Unit and to its other members. Also because of the work's overall demanding nature, not many members of the BAU have been able to maintain a happy or stable family life.

"Aaron Hotchner

used to be a prosecutor, and was formerly assigned to the FBI Field Office in Seattle. After stepping down for a period of time, he has returned to lead the unit. He has a son named Jack with his former wife Haley. They eventually divorced and remained on good terms until Haley was murdered by the psychopath George Foyet. Hotch's attempts to balance his family life and his job successfully have been something of an ongoing theme on the show.

Emily Prentiss

is the daughter of an ambassador and a US diplomat. After Agent Elle Greenaway left the BAU for good following a case when she had shot an unsub in cold blood, Prentiss showed up with papers stating she was the newest member of the BAU which caught both Hotch and Gideon off-guard as they hadn't signed off on her transfer. She became a permanent member of the team in "Lessons Learned" where it was revealed that she was fluent in Arabic. She also has a tough relationship with her mother. She got pregnant at the age of 15 and later chose to have an abortion. Prentiss is also skilled at chess. In 6x13 ("The Thirteenth Step"), Prentiss receives some disturbing news from her previous boss at Interpol. In the following episode, "Sense Memory", after coming home from work, she notices that someone had been in her house because her cat's back was wet and her window was open. She also received several strange phone calls, with the caller id saying, "Caller Unknown". This also leaves Agent Morgan concerned for Prentiss. Prentiss only appeared in 18 episodes of season 6. She faked her death to escape an old nemesis with the help of both Hotch and JJ while the rest of the team continues to assume she is dead. On May 28, 2011, it was announced that Paget Brewster would actually be returning as Emily Prentiss.

David Rossi

a "'founding father' of the BAU", was in early retirement until his voluntary return to the BAU in 2007, replacing Jason Gideon who had abruptly resigned from the BAU. He had retired in order to write books and go on lecture tours, but returned to settle some unfinished business which wasn't immediately specified. It was later revealed that the case involved three young children whose parents had been murdered in a possible home-invasion case that had remained unsolved. This haunted Rossi for twenty years and prompted him to return to the BAU where he eventually solved it.

Derek Morgan

is a confident and assertive everyman character, the son of an African-American father and mixed-race mother. He went to Northwestern University on a football scholarship, holds a black belt in Judo, runs FBI self-defense classes, and served in a bomb squad unit and as a Chicago police officer. In season 2 it was explained that after the death of his father when he was ten, Morgan struggled somewhat - youthful fighting earned him a juvenile criminal record. He was taken under the wing of a local youth center coordinator, Carl Buford. Buford acted as a surrogate father to Morgan and helped Morgan to obtain a college football scholarship, but also sexually abused him - the episode Profiler Profiled revealed and focused on this. In season 3 it was revealed that he hated religion because, as he said, something bad happened to him when he was 13. He went to church everyday and prayed for it to stop, but it didn't. Because of this, he had a resentment towards God and church. He prayed for the first time in 20 years, at exactly the time he later found out, that Garcia was being operated on after being shot. Former unit chief Aaron Hotchner promoted him to unit chief in Hotch's place, a promotion Morgan saw as only temporary until the "Boston Reaper" was captured. After Hotchner returned following grieving over his ex-wife's murder, he again took his place as unit chief.

Jennifer "JJ" Jareau

acts as the team's liaison with the media and local police agencies. She has a son named Henry, with detective William LaMontagne Jr whom she met while the team were working a case in New Orleans in the Season 2 episode, 'Jones'. In the second episode of season six JJ was forced to take a promotion to the Pentagon and left the team for the rest of the season. JJ returns to the show in the episode titled "Lauren" where she receives a call and returns to help the BAU find Emily and capture Ian Doyle before it's too late. When Emily is stabbed by Doyle and rushed to a hospital, JJ announces she didn't make it and died. However, it is later revealed that Emily is alive and JJ meets her at a cafe in Paris where she provides her with three passports and bank accounts to start a new life in hiding from Doyle. On April 15, 2011 A.J. Cook signed a deal to return as JJ for two seasons beginning season seven. At the end of the final scene of season 6, JJ revealed that she wanted to return to the team during a conversation with Rossi

Spencer Reid

is a genius who graduated from a Las Vegas public high school at age 12. He is almost always introduced as Dr. Reid, even as the others are introduced as Agent 'blank' because Gideon knew people would not take him seriously because of his age, as well after an introduction he never shakes hands. It has been revealed that he holds phds in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering, Bas in Psychology and Sociology, and is working on a BA in Philosophy. He claims to have an Eidetic memory, and hints that he could possibly suffer from Schizophrenia since his mother has it. E408 He has also said that he was bullied when he was younger.

Penelope Garcia

is the team's analyst at BAU Headquarters in Quantico, VA. She is flamboyant, fun-loving, and provides the rest of the team with comic relief whenever it is needed. She got her last name from her stepfather, hence the Latina implication, but she is not. She was shot and almost killed in season three. She and SSA Morgan share a very friendly-flirty relationship but never go beyond that. Penelope lost both of her parents at the age of 18 and, as she says, "went off the rails for a while." Penelope taught herself to hack after she dropped out of college and was grouped with the best hackers in the world. After being caught by the FBI, she was given a choice of living in a high security prison for the rest of her life or working for the BAU division of the FBI as an analyst. She is currently in a relationship with fellow FBI employee Kevin Lynch."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Criminal_Minds_characters)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

crimes solved with the BAU

The objective of the BAU is to provide behavioral based investigative and operational support by using case experience, research, and training to difficult and time-consuming crimes, usually involving acts or threats of violence. The units areas supported include Crimes Against Children, Crimes Against Adults, Communicated Threats, Corruption, and Bombing and Arson Investigations. The BAU receives requests for help from Federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies. Response to these requests for BAU help are analysed through the network of field NCAVC coordinators. BAU assistance is provided during on-site case consultations, phone conference calls, and/or consultations held at the BAU with case investigators. However, the popular belief of a profiler is wrong , there is no such position in the FBI called "profiler", this position is commonly seen on television and in cinema.

The BAU provides assistance to Law Enforcement Angencies. This assistance
is provided through the process of "criminal investigative analysis". Criminal investigative analysis is a job of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative side to a crime. It includes reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting offender behavior, and interaction with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the crime scene. BAU staff conduct detailed analyses of crimes for the reasoning of providing one or more of the following services: crime analysis, investigative suggestions, profiles of unknown offenders, threat analysis, critical incident analysis, interview strategies, major case management, search warrant assistance, prosecutive and trial strategies, and expert testimony.

The BAU keeps a reference file for agents in various forensic disciplines such as odontology, anthropology, entomology, or pathology.

The BAU may be of assistance in a serial criminal investigation for a variety of reasons. These may include:
The State, County, and/or Local Authorities are unable to gain any headway in a serial crime case
Exemption: Illinois and California have their own State Bureaus of Investigation but may still request assistance, if needed The criminal(s) cross(es) state lines
The criminal(s) cross(es) into any other country in the Americas
If passing to an overseas location, Interpol has jurisdiction The offender(s) is already on the FBI's wanted list
There are suspicions of terrorist activity; in which case, multiple branches of the FBI may be involved (including the Counter-Terrorism Unit)

More information to the above services, the BAU staff created the Child Abduction Response Plan to assist investigators faced with these investigations. Recently, the BAU released "
The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective" report to guide school administrators, teachers, parents, and law enforcement in identifying and evaluating threats in schools.



http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

What Education Is Needed To Join The BAU?

Preferred majors to start a career in behavioral science include Criminal Justice or a related field such as Sociology, Psychology, Forensic Science, or Criminology. The best school to study at would be FBI Academy.

The FBI Academy, Behavioral Science Unit is a program to develop relevant programs of research, training , and knowledge in behavioral and social sciences that will help to improve the operational and effectiveness of the FBI squads. The law enforcement are also helped. The Behavioral Science Unit helps to create bodies of knowledge in special areas, and to help the learning of applied research on significant behavioral and social science issues for use in the training of the FBI and people who help with the support of operational matters. This program offers a Bahvioral Analysis intership. It last for twelve weeks. This is a volunteer Internship Program that brings students to work at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

The internship gives students a chance to work and apply their knowledge to real world criminals and their behavior. The internship duties will vary depending on what the BAU needs assistance with. Generally, duties include literature searches and reviews; research design; and data collection, coding, entry, and analysis. Interns also assist with special crime analysis projects such as researching various aspects of crimes and criminal behavior, and developing and extending resource materials for the Behavioral Science Unit in topical areas such as hate crimes, gang violence, law enforcement officers killed, counterterrorism, and other areas. Applicants have to be very be aware that the subject matter involved may be graphic and violent. Work hours are from 8:00am – 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. Experience working with computers is also very desirable.



There are plenty of colleges for this career. You just need to take as many psychology and sociology classes as possible. A good place to find a college in the study of behavioral analysis is in California, Texas, or Florida. Yale is another excellent school to attend for this career. The hard acceptance would be a major problem, but there are plenty of other colleges you may also attend. Yale is also very pricey which may be another issue. So if your really looking into behavioral science apply to as many colleges as possible. You will need scholarships, because there are few to no colleges for behavioral science in a place like Iowa. The price for you to go would be much higher, since you are out of state.











http://www.fbijobs.gov/2342.asp#1

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

What is The BAU?

The mission of the Behavioral Analysis Units (BAU) is to provide much needed support for complex cases with little time to be solved and other matters through the study of criminal profiling, investigative case experience, education, specialized training, and research. Each unit in the BAU has a special role they play.

The first unit is counterterrorism and threat assessment. This unit focuses on crimes involving terrorism, threats, arson, bombings, stalking, cyber-related violations, and anticipated or active crisis situations.
the second unit is crimes against adults. This unit focuses on serial, mass, spree and other murders. The unit also resources sexual assaults; kidnappings; missing person cases; and other violent crimes targeting adult victims. The BAU 2 also provides assistance in potentially non-violent investigations, such as white-collar crime, public corruption, organized crime, and civil rights matters.

The third unit is crimes against children. This unit helps with cases of abductions, mysterious disappearances of children, homicides, and sexual victimization.

If I were to join one of the units I would least likely join the first. I would most likely join the second, but its undecided. Each unit requires most of the same training so I will have plenty of time to change my mind.

Sources:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cirg/investigations-and-operations-support

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Why The Behavioral Analysis Unit Is Interesting.

   Every year I spend atleast half of my summer at my sister Lacie’s house. She has two daughters named Ella and Emileigh. They both mean the world to me. I have four sisters total, but I am not as close to the my other sisters. Lacie and I have a very special bond, she is more like a second mother to me.

It was a late night, I had just got back from a date. I was dropped off at my sisters for the night. Both of the kids were in bed and there was not much to do. I turned on the television to find a show I would like. I was looking through the channels when the title Criminal Minds sparked my interest. I asked Lacie if she had ever watched the show. She told me she has seen almost every episode and that they were much better the CSI and L.O. I decided to give the show a shot.

The first episode I watched was about a family whose parents were killed with an axe. The killer cleaned all of the finger prints and left no evidence. The children of the victims were in the house while it happened, but left untouched. The children kept receiving gifts that reminded them of the brutal murder of their parents for years after. The Behavioral Analysis unit profiled the killer as an adult, much like a large kid. They assumed it was an accident and the gifts were being sent out of guilt. One of the daughters told them a detail she left out when they were interviewed after the murder. The family had went to a carnival the day before the murder. The daughter said there was a strange clown following her so they had to leave. The B.A.U visited the carnival and talked to the owner. The owner said there was no clowns in the carnival, but their was a clown right in front of them. They chased the clown down and arrested him. The owner of the carnival was the clowns father. The clown was just like a big kid and had very little knowledge of right and wrong. He followed the little girl home the night of the murder, because he wanted to play with her. The father saw the clown and hit him with an axe. The clown was large and took the axe, being scared and hit the father repeatedly with the axe, killing the father and mother. The clown didn’t mean to hurt them he was just scared and unaware of the situation. The owner of the carnival cleaned the finger prints at the scene and left. The clown was arrested and the family could finally move on.

This episode was the first of many. My sister and I watched a marathon afterwards. This is what originally sparked my interest in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Since then I have watched almost every episode and researched this career. I think its very interesting how they profile criminals on how the think and react. This is hopefully what I will get into after college, or something very similar. They help people and save many lives, and I would love to be apart of that.

What are the three different units and how do they work? What college and classes would be best for this career? What training would you need to go through? What kind of crimes have been solved with behavioral analysis unit? What are other jobs similar to this career? How do they profile criminals? What types of profiles are there?