Profiling in Operational-Search and Other Law Enforcement

Activities

Marina Vladimirovna Sawelewa

, Aleksandr Borisovich Smushkin

, Natalia Leonidovna

Potapova

and Ekaterina Vladimirovna Ionova

Saratov State Law Academy, Saratov, Russian Federation

Keywords: Operational-search activities, operational-search profiling, forensic profiling, screening profiling, digital

profiling.

Abstract: The article focuses on the current trend of modern law enforcement activity - profiling. Profiling is considered

in it with the help of hermeneutic, comparative, legal comparative and a set of logical methods, primarily in

the operational-search, as well as other areas of law enforcement. Goal of the article: analysis of the available

recommendations for the profiling implementation in law enforcement and the development of proposals for

identifying certain types of compiling a psychological profile of a person, as well as justifying the need to use

profiling methods. To achieve this goal, the authors solved the following tasks: differentiation of profiling

types in law enforcement, emphasizing the need for professional training and obtaining relevant competencies

for the effective performance of profiling. Taking into account the digitalization trends in all spheres of

activity, both digital profiling (search for a person using open sources and electronic databases according to

the given characteristics of a digital profile) and the use of hardware-software and software systems in the

course of operational-search profiling during operational-search activities related with personal verbal and/or

eye contact with the object. Basics of the tactics of such use of digital technologies in operational-search and

investigative activities are considered. The authors suggest specific innovative directions as conclusions: in

terms of practical law enforcement structures enrichment with relevant specialists; in terms of using profiling

for general and private crime prevention; in terms of digitalization of investigative and operational-search

activities related to digital profiling.

1 INTRODUCTION

Among the psychological methods used by

operational-search bodies, a special place is occupied

by the method of compiling a psychological profile of

a person - profiling. The object of this research is a

specific field of profiling application - operational-

search activity. The issues of forensic and operation-

al-search profiling were considered in the works of

both domestic and foreign scientists. The following

works can be noted: Vedenina A.I., Anfinogenova

A.I., Bogomolova S.N., Obraztsova V.A., Mironova

D.V., Paul Ekman, J. Douglas, J. Gebert, J. Brassel,

B. Tervey, D. Kanter, B. Ainsworth, D. Rossi and

other authors. However, it seems insufficient to

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2655-1233

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1619-8325

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8717-6898

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0117-1277

consider just profiling techniques. The novelty of this

work is a comprehensive study of the profiling

opportunities implementation in operational-search

and other activities, taking into account domestic and

foreign recommendations. The task of our research is

to analyze the available recommendations for the

profiling implementation in law enforcement and the

development of proposals for identifying certain

types of compiling a psychological profile of a

person, as well as justifying the need to use profiling

methods. Moreover, a positive difference between

work and similar ones will be considering the impact

of digitalization on all spheres of human life.

128

Sawelewa, M., Smushkin, A., Potapova, N. and Ionova, E.

Proﬁling in Operational-Search and Other Law Enforcement Activities.

DOI: 10.5220/0010630300003152

In Proceedings of the VII International Scientiﬁc-Practical Conference “Criminal Law and Operative Search Activities: Problems of Legislation, Science and Practice” (CLOSA 2021), pages

128-132

ISBN: 978-989-758-532-6; ISSN: 2184-9854

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

A wide range of methods was used to accomplish the

research tasks. First of all, it is necessary to note the

universal dialectical method and its components. In

course of the research such of general scientific

methods as logical analysis, synthesis, analogy,

hypothesis and others were implemented, as well as

comparative legal and hermeneutic methods were

actively used. The hermeneutic method made it

possible to identify the origin of the “profiling” term

and other categories used. These methods in the

aggregate made it possible to pro-vide the level of

research complexity that is necessary to solve the

stated tasks and comply with the logic of scientific

knowledge in the questions posed. Pro-filing is

essentially a diverse phenomenon, so the research of

the “profiling” term is impossible without

interdisciplinary and comparative approaches.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In the light of interdisciplinary approach to solving

the most important problems of detection, disclosure,

investigation and suppression of crimes, it can be

stated that through the evolution of sociopsychology,

psychiatry, neurolinguistics, medicine, statistics,

computer modeling, criminology, forensic science,

such a concept as forensic profiling has entered the

scientific circulation, which in the most general form

can be defined as a certain type of professional

behavior of specialists in various fields.

The range of definitions of the “profiling”

category is quite wide and in-cludes both

consideration of profiling as a way of compiling a

brief description of an unknown criminal (Ainsworth,

2001), and methods aimed at preventing crimes

during security measures by identifying potentially

dangerous persons using applied psychology

(Obraztsov, 2003; Semenyuk, 2018).

The most reasonable opinion is that it combines

the positive features of both of these approaches. So,

E.S. Cherkasova, considering the areas of pro-filing

application, names, first of all, an operational-search

orientation, the compiling a psychological profile of

an unidentified offender and preventive monitoring of

the passengers’ response and pre-flight inspection of

persons characterized by suspicious behavior

(Cherkasova, 2013). While researching the essence

and directions of using the information obtained by

the considered method, it seems expedient to classify

this phenomenon.

Based on the goals/directions of using profiling, it

seems appropriate to highlight

operational-search profiling - used to assess the

subject in the course of interrogation and observation

and other operational-search activities.

forensic profiling - compiling a psychological

portrait of a serial offender in order to find him.

preventive profiling - aimed at solving the issue of

identifying an offender in a crowd based on an

assessment of his behavioral evidence,

screening profiling used to resolve the issue of

recruiting persons prone to illegal activities/criminal

behavior.

The profiling is equally important in the

penitentiary system, which al-lows to identify the

person who provokes conflicts and disposes other

prisoners to sabotage.

Profiling in operational-search activity is a certain

range of knowledge and competencies of general

profiling, used in the operational-search activities of

specially authorized state bodies, openly and secretly,

and in other official tasks performance. In its most

general form, profiling can be defined as a sys-tem of

non-verbal and operational psychological diagnostics

of the subject's personality.

Operational-search profiling in a "pure" form is

implemented as a sur-vey, observation and some

other activities related to personal communication.

An operative, observing physiognomic and some

other behavioral reactions of a person, may suggest

that the person is concealing certain circumstances or

an outright lie. Basically, one cannot but agree with

Korobkov V.A., Vedenin A.V., who indicate that the

problematic aspect of the psychological support of

OSA is the diagnosis and assessment of the man. In

this context, from the cur-rent scientific and practical

research, it is possible to distinguish the method of

compiling a psychological profile (profiling) as a

promising direction for im-proving the effectiveness

of the professional activities of law enforcement bod-

ies (Korobkov, Vedenin, 2015).

These authors point of view on the importance of

developing educational and methodological support,

timely training of specialists who acquire knowledge

and skills in behavioral psychology and profiling for

solving problems of operational-search activities

using operational-search profiling merits

consideration (Korobkov, Vedenin, 2015). The

graduated specialists should have a set of modern

competencies and proper psychological training to

apply their knowledge in the operational-search

activities.

It was no coincidence that the researchers of the

assessment of the personal and professional qualities

Proﬁling in Operational-Search and Other Law Enforcement Activities

129

of the profiler come to the conclusion that the

employees of the operational-search activity

departments and educators have natural boundaries

for stopping the profiling when the communication

problem is solved. Perhaps that is why the ability to

empathy is highest among psychologists, who are

obliged to go to the end in their profiling behavior,

that is, until stable personality changes are obtained

(Hamidov, 2019).

In the face of active digitalization of all spheres of

human life, it seems necessary to propose the

introduction of digitalization elements into the

profiling activities. The issues of external non-verbal

display of internal reactions and emotions were

developed in sufficient detail by P. Ekman (Ekman,

2016). A certain index was assigned to each mimic,

articulatory and gestural reaction. A conclusion on

the reaction is made under the set of indices. It seems

that modern developments in biometric face

identification also make digital recognition of

physiognomic facial reactions possible. Certainly,

even a hardware-software complex will not be able to

fully read a person's thoughts, but it is possible to

program the identification of several basic emotions

and reactions that make it possible to diagnose

dichotomous pairs of lie-truth, joy-sadness, as well as

aggression. Such a hardware-software complex will

make it possible to at least partially cover the needs

of the operational-search bodies for professional

profilers. At the same time, subjective factors will be

excluded from the assessment of reactions. In terms

of the tactics of such complex use, we allow both

direct monitoring by an operative of the indicators

displayed on the screen, and the allocation of an

experienced employee for placement in a separate

room and for monitoring indicators and giving

recommendations to the person conducting the survey

in the micro-headset. It seems that such methods are

also applicable in verbal investigative actions.

Following the approach of Paul Ekman, forensic

profiling can be defined as a forensic tool, the essence

of which is to determine a person by the nature and

method of committing a socially dangerous act

(Ekman, 2016). We see the essence of forensic

profiling in the use of correlations and

interdependencies that specialists establish between

the personal behavioral characteristics of an offender

and forensic signs of a crime in order to identify,

disclose, investigate and prevent crimes. A similar

correlation, according to Goodwill Alasdair M.

Lehman, Robert J., Eric. Beauregard, Andrei,

Andreea can serve as the main confirmation of the

effectiveness of forensic profiling, especially in the

situation of finding a serial sex offender (Goodwill,

Lehmann, Beauregard, Andrey, 2016). Separately, it

is worth mentioning the geographic profiling of

offenders, which, according to foreign studies, shows

high efficiency (Lino, Calado, Belchior, Cruz,

Lobato, A. 2018). Partly, the role of profiling in the

differentiation of neurological and mental disorders

in offenders and the prospective pre-diction of their

behavior can be noted (Camperio, Andrea, 2019).

Cases of the help of a psychologist specialist in

compiling a psychological portrait of an unidentified

offender, narrowing the search circle and capturing

him have become world-famous. In addition, a

behavioral reconstruction of the crime event took

place in compiling a psychological profile of an

unidentified offender (Logunova, 2011). Likewise,

forensic profiling contributes to the fulfillment of

investigation tasks. The effectiveness of a database of

offenders’ profiles has been repeatedly emphasized

by foreign researchers (Fox, Farrington, 2018.)

However, checking the reactions of passengers at

airports and refusing to allow persons suspected of a

possible terrorist attack to board the plane are no less

effective. Partly, similar actions can be made in any

place where people gather. In the profiling selection

of suspected people from the general mass, the tasks

of both suppressing an incipient crime and preventing

crimes can be solved. The important role of the

profiling control of passenger reactions is emphasized

by many authors (Wagoner, 2020).

It seems that this cannot be limited, and in order

to prevent corruption and other delinquent behavior,

it is necessary to introduce a profiling interview with

applicants for positions in law enforcement bodies, as

well as a periodic interview with a profiler during

recertification. We call this type of profiling as

screening one.

The issue of digital profiling deserves a separate

consideration (Balogun, Zuva, 2018). Of course, in

the digital profiling the primacy of development be-

longs to German scientists (Hoffman, Musolff, 2000).

The raster scan for an offender allows to create a

digital profile of a person according to specified

characteristics (modus operandi, personal qualities,

social indicators, an of-fender's handwriting, etc.), to

search through open and departmental social

networks and databases, private and state information

arrays. After that, the identified suspected person is

subject to verification by operational-search and

investigative methods.

As noted by A.P. Sukhodolov, M.A. Kaluzhina,

B.A. Spasennikov, V.S. Kolodin, the digital profiling

process is a sequential cycle of six steps:

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1. Definition of the original goal: what

information is needed in relation to a specific

case.

2. Collection, evaluation of data containing the

necessary information.

3. Selection of relevant information and

extraction of indicators for each of the analyzed

areas of knowledge.

4. Comparison of information indicators to

identify inconsistencies or similarities.

5. Determination of criteria by comparison and

creation of a “digital pro-file”.

6. Analysis of the obtained “digital profile” in

comparison with the original goal (Sukhodolov

A.P., Kaluzhina M.A., Spasennikov B.A.,

Kolodin V.S., 2019).

An alternative is the Entity Profiling with Binary

Predicates (EPBP) user profiling method, which

analyzes the non-volatile data remaining on digital

de-vices. Based on data attributes, the EPBP method

model generates user pro-files and performs

similarity analysis to differentiate users (Kwon, Lee,

Jeong, 2021).

An important role is played by automated checks

and other potential of-fenders. Thus, the automatic

analysis of texts on social networks, according to

foreign scientists, will help to identify potential so-

called “school shooters” (Neuman, Assaf, Cohen,

Knoll, 2016).

4 CONCLUSIONS

The research underlines the high efficiency of

profiling research in law enforcement, which leads to

an increased need for specialists with relevant

competencies. Therefore, we propose the following

innovations.

In terms of practical law enforcement structures

enrichment with relevant specialists:

 fixing in the educational and methodological

materials of universities of the systems of law

enforcement agencies (Ministry of Internal

Affairs, FSB, Investigative Committee, etc.) of

the section related to profiling as mandatory for

study;

 professional development or retraining of

practical employees in the profiling basics;

 intensification of the specialists training in

profiling and an increase in their number until

they are fixed as a mandatory staffing unit at

anybody per-forming operational-search

activities;

 inclusion of general and private prevention

based on profiling research in forensic and

operational-search methods.

In terms of using profiling for general and private

crime prevention:

 preliminary interview, before hiring, with a

profiler, an applicant for a position in law

enforcement (and, first of all, operational-

search) bodies, as well as a subsequent periodic

(once every 3 years) interview with a profiler;

 introduction of profiler specialists or at least

persons who have obtained the initial profiling

skills for high-risk and high-density facilities

(train stations, airports, venues for public

events, etc.) to prevent terrorist attacks;

 using the specialist profilers when planning an

investigation to compile a psychological

profile of a wanted person or an offender (it

acquires particular importance in the

commission of serial crimes);

 using the help of a profiler or hardware-

software in the verbal operational measures and

investigative actions, specially designed for

contactless assessment by voice, physiognomy

and other parameters of the testimony and

explanations of the questioned or interrogated

person.

 using the unmanned aerial vehicles and video

cameras equipped with special hardware-

software systems designed for profiling

assessment of verbal and non-verbal

manifestations of a behavioral nature, installed

in crowded places.

In terms of digitalization of operational-search

and investigative activities:

 active introduction of digital profiling like the

German "raster scan";

 development and implementation of hardware-

software systems for tracking non-verbal

reactions of a person during operational-search

activities and investigative actions.

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