RCMP Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS)

Introduction

In the mid 1980s, following several complex, multi-jurisdictional serial homicide investigations (the Clifford Olson case being the most notable), it became apparent to Canadian law enforcement officials that a system was required to identify and track serial violent crime/criminals. The Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) Advisory Committee, comprised of the major police services across the country, agreed on the need for a central repository to capture, collate and compare violent crimes.

Major Crimes File (MCF)

Following research into the FBI's automated case linkage system, known as the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP), the Canadian police community was presented with the Major Crimes File (MCF) as Canada's first attempt at automated case linkage. Data relative to homicides was to be captured on "fill-in-the-blank" questionnaires by investigators in the field and then forwarded to regional analysts who would input the data. Subsequent analysis would then be based upon a query of key words and phrases, or combinations thereof.

By 1990, the MCF had approximately 800 cases on the database; however, no "hits" (linkages) had occurred and the system had acquired a less than enviable reputation as an investigative aid. Concurrent with the lack-lustre performance of the MCF, Inspector Ron MacKay, Officer-in-charge of the Violent Crime Analysis Branch at RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario returned from training at the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia.

Insp. MacKay had spent ten months at the Academy to acquire the training and skills necessary to become Canada's first qualified Criminal Investigative Analyst, or "Psychological Profiler", as it is more commonly known. Upon his return, he recognized the advantage of having an automated case linkage system which utilized some of the same behavioural principles that were applied in psychological profiling to identify and track serial violent crime/criminals.

In 1991, Insp. MacKay undertook a cursory examination of the MCF and, upon finding the dismal results thereof, had a position created to examine the MCF and determine whether it could be improved or rather, should be replaced altogether.

ViCLAS Research

In 1991, Sgt. Greg Johnson, who had little computer skills but extensive experience in the investigation of serious crimes was recruited to head up what would become the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS). Sgt. Johnson, along with others, including Sgt. Sharon Olver of the Ontario Provincial Police, and Sgt. Gerald Seguin of the Sureté de Québec, spent the next eight months conducting research into the most successful American automated case linkage systems.

Other Serious Crime Linkage Systems

Some of the systems they examined included:

• FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP);
• Iowa State Sex Crimes Analysis System;
• Minnesota State Sex Crimes Analysis System (MINN/SCAP);
• Washington State Homicide Investigation Tracking System (HITS);
• New York State Homicide Investigation & Lead Tracking (HALT);
• New Jersey Homicide Evaluation & Assessment Tracking (HEAT); and
• Pennsylvania State ATAC Program.

Research revealed that each of these systems were valuable investigative tools and a drastic improvement on our Major Crimes File. Unfortunately none of the systems met our needs so it was decided that a new Canadian system would be developed that would incorporate the best features of each of these systems.

One of the other shortcomings identified in the research of the American systems is that there is no one national major crime linkage system. The FBI's ViCAP system has not been adopted by all police forces in the U.S. and it does not track serious sexual assaults. Research has shown that the escalation of violence which often occurs in sexual offenses can ultimately lead to homicide.

In addition to examining software, research was also conducted into the types of questions that were important to capture in serious serial offenses. Input was sought and provided by numerous experts in the field of behavioural science, including Dr. Peter Collins of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, and with their assistance a list of 262 questions was formulated. The questions cover details of all aspects of an incident including victimology, modus operandi, forensics and behavioural information.

The content of the questions would provide investigators with the ability to link offenses based on the offenders behaviour. Research has shown that serial offenders are motivated to commit crimes by an insatiable fantasy. They may change their method and/or locations but their fantasy will remain constant. Inspector Ron MacKay explains, "The fantasy ritual will continue over time and space. The guy that rapes out of anger when's he's 25 will rape out of anger when he's 35."

The questions were put together in booklet form and were designed to eliminate as many open ended questions as possible. This allows for standardized data collection and more efficient search and find capabilities. The booklet, available in French and English, should be completed by the investigator. It takes approximately 2 hours to complete and can be used as an investigator's guide. If the investigator can answer every one of the questions he or she can be assured they have conducted a thorough investigation.

Types of Crimes

The next consideration in the ViCLAS development was the type of investigations that would be captured. After careful consideration the following list was developed:

All solved or unsolved homicides and attempted homicides;

Solved or unsolved sexual assaults;

Missing persons, where the circumstances indicate a strong possibility of foul play and the victim is still missing;

Unidentified bodies, where the manner of death is known or suspected to be homicide; and,

All non-parental abduction and attempted abductions.

The Prototype

Now that the research portion was complete, a prototype had to be developed. Sgt. Keith Davidson who was originally the coordinator for Violent Crime Analysis in British Columbia and now a qualified Criminal Investigative Analyst became involved. He had attended a conference on linkage systems in the United States and was convinced of the utility of a Canadian system. He was aware that Sgt. Johnson was already working on a National system so he decided to design and launch a linkage system within British Columbia.

The system he developed was called MaCROS. Although it was relatively low tech by current day standards, the concept was the same as that of ViCLAS. It incorporated many of the behaviour principals ViCLAS was founded on. MaCROS proved to be a valuable tool in the analysis of high- profile predatory crime and demonstrated the major impact it could have Canada-Wide. Sgt. Davidson served as a consultant to Sgt. Johnson and the developers of the National system during it's development and continues to play a key role in the ViCLAS of today and the future.

The Computer System

Civilian Members John Ripley and Paul Leury were hired directly upon their graduation from Algonquin College in Ottawa. Unlike Sgt. Johnson, they were experts in the field of computer science and software engineering but knew very little about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police systems and even less about the investigation of serious violent high profile crimes. They underwent many briefings from Sgt. Johnson, Sgt. Davidson and other experts in the field.

Armed with their new found knowledge which continued to develop as the project advanced, they went about the business of creating the ViCLAS system. It was developed using the latest version of "FOXPRO for Windows" and would store the data on individual local networks. Initially, each ViCLAS unit across the country had their own independent provincial database that they maintained. Now, using modern modem technology and specialized encryption software to ensure the security of data, each of the databases are linked. At regularly scheduled times each unit uploads their new or edited cases to the database located on a server in Ottawa and downloads the newest entries which were put on by other units.

The ViCLAS software allows for user friendly entry of the data which is taken from the previously mentioned questionnaire booklet. The screens mimic, where possible, the actual question as it appears in the booklet. Narrative fields are minimized which reduces the chances for human error. The data entry conventions used makes the system portable to many languages. As a matter of fact, the user can now select from a menu option the language he or she chooses to operate in. Those languages include English, French, Dutch and German, as well as, British English or Australian English.

The ViCLAS Specialist

Once the ViCLAS computer system was in place it was recognized that, although the system is quite easy to use, it would take experts to ask it the right questions and to interpret the results.

Each Specialist, as they are known, is selected based on previous work experience. The ideal candidate should have a least five (5) years of operational police experience in the investigation of serious crimes such as sexual assault and homicide. Additionally, they should have an academic background in the humanities and a good knowledge of computers and various software programs. Each Specialist is expected to continually upgrade their skills and to take advantage of any courses offered which will provide them with further insight into the behaviour of serious, serial and deviant offenders.

Although ViCLAS specialists may work on individual cases they do not work in isolation. They will often seek advice from others on such matters as analytical strategies to confirm their conclusions. As they develop experience and expertise in this relatively new field, they are coming up with some new and innovative approaches. If the ViCLAS unit only has one or two specialists, they can contact any other Unit across the country who are more than willing to assist in any way they can.

ViCLAS Centres

Currently there is a ViCLAS centre in every province in Canada except for Prince Edward Island who are served by Nova Scotia. Seven (7) sites are maintained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and one (1) each maintained by the Ontario Provincial Police, Surete du Quebec, and the Montreal Urban Community Police for a total of ten (10) centres. British Columbia handles cases from the Yukon, and Alberta handles cases from the North West Territories. The largest centre is run by the Ontario Provincial Police in Orillia. They currently have 41 full time positions dedicated to ViCLAS. They also are responsible for a number of remote sites including: Niagara Regional Police, Hamilton Wentworth Regional Police, Waterloo Regional Police, and the London Police Service. These sites maintain their own booklets, do the data entry and submit their finished work via electronic file to the Ontario Provincial Police ViCLAS centre where it is given a quality review and placed on the main system for further processing and/or analysis.

The Numbers

It has been three years since the implementation of ViCLAS across the country and the database continues to swell with cases. As of May, 1997, there were approximately 20,000 cases on the system. Over three thousand, two hundred (3200) linkages have been made thus far. Of the linkages that were made, investigators identified 80 % as confirmed linkages and 3 % as potential linkages. These are cases that were already known to be linked by investigators. An additional 7 % were confirmed and 10 % identified as potential linkages by ViCLAS. These were cases that investigators were unaware were connected.

When linkages are made between cases they are put into a "Series." These "Series" can contain any number of linkages, depending on how many cases an offender was involved in. There are currently over eleven hundred (1100) series now on ViCLAS. These numbers confirm that there are a large number of serial offenders committing crimes against people on a regular basis in Canada. Linkages are expected to increase dramatically as compliance rates (compliance rates are based on the actual number of cases being put on the system, as compared to the currently much larger number of cases that qualify as ViCLAS reportable cases) increase and many provinces make reporting mandatory as it now is in the province of Ontario.

ViCLAS in Other Countries

Dr. David Cavanaugh of Harvard University, who was a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ViCAP system has said about ViCLAS, the Canadians will have "...done to automated case linkage what the Japanese did with assembly line auto production. They have taken a good American idea and transformed it into the best in the world." It is not surprising that with endorsements like that and the portability of ViCLAS to other languages that other countries are looking at the system with envy.

A number of Countries including, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Holland, and the United Kingdom have adopted ViCLAS and are using it as their major case linkage system as well as the American states of Tennessee and Indiana. The RCMP have given the software away free to these countries and have provided them with the necessary technical support and training to operate it. The requests for information on the system continues to come in, the most recent from Japan.

Due to the number of additional requests and the fact the software is currently undergoing some re-engineering there has been a moratorium placed on providing the software to new countries. Once the software re-engineering is complete consideration will be given on a case by case basis, to additional countries.

How it Works

When a serious crime occurs that qualifies as a ViCLAS reportable case, an investigator completes the questionnaire/booklet. The booklet is then sent to the ViCLAS centre responsible for the area the offence is reported in. The booklet then undergoes a quality assurance review, and some centres actually perform this twice. If the booklet passes the quality assurance review it is entered into the ViCLAS computer system by a trained data entry person. If the book does not pass the quality review the investigator may be contacted directly to clear up some minor points or the book maybe returned to the originator to be resubmitted when completed correctly.

Once the book has been entered on the system, the ViCLAS specialist begins the analytical process. This involves conducting extensive background research on both the victim and offender, if he or she is known. A typical analysis will involve the specialist reviewing all data that was available on the subject(s) including information from computerized police information retrieval systems, parolee files and any other reliable information source. They will review all statements, reports and photographs available and in some cases speak to investigators.

Once they have conducted their background research they will draw upon their experience and expertise by conducting various structured queries of the ViCLAS computer system. Each analyst will have his or her own approach to this process, but all will in some way, be looking at victimology, the offender, modus operandi, behavioural and forensic data found at the scene for clues that may link cases to each other and/or reveal the identity of the offender.

In order to provide the investigators with feedback, they are advised, usually in writing, the results of the analysis, whether it is positive or negative. In the case where a potential link is made the investigators are asked to provide the ViCLAS unit with the results of their investigation. A potential link is a situation where the ViCLAS specialist has reason to believe that a specific person, known, or unknown, may be responsible for one or more crimes. When this occurs the ViCLAS specialist connects the cases on the database in the form of a series. The ViCLAS record is then updated in the database accordingly when the investigator confirms or rejects the link by virtue of his/her investigation.

Current Issues

Investigator Resistance: Many investigators are resistant to investing the time and effort it takes to complete the booklet. Most, as you might expect, would rather be out knocking on doors or making arrests. In order to address the concerns of these investigators ViCLAS has launched an extensive marketing campaign to explain the benefits of submitting these booklets. In addition, a field investigators guide has been produced which should assist in the completion of the form itself and lectures are given at a wide range of investigator's courses across the country.

Key Fact Evidence: In many homicide and other serious cases, investigators may have what is referred to as key fact or hold back evidence. This evidence is held back for a number of important investigative reasons. This evidence is very significant from the perspective of the ViCLAS analyst as it may be the very item that links one case to the other. Investigators, however, are reluctant to put it on ViCLAS for fear of disclosure of what might be their only solid piece of evidence. ViCLAS offers investigators the following assurance. Key fact evidence is treated very seriously. There are currently only about 60 ViCLAS specialists in all of Canada that have access to the system. None of these specialists will release key fact evidence to anyone, including other police officers. Even the case reports, which are a complete listing of questions and answers on a case has the key fact evidence x-ed out.

In addition to the previously mentioned restrictions on key fact evidence the computer system provides an audit trail of those persons who have viewed or printed it. The new system will feature built in security levels. Your security rating will determine whether or not you have access to key fact evidence.

Access to Information and Privacy Legislation: The disclosure of the ViCLAS booklet as a result of a request as per the Access to Information and Privacy Legislation has been and remains a concern. Even the disclosure of a blank booklet is cause for concern as we do not want to educate the criminal element as to the types of behaviour that we find particularly important. Disclosure of certain portions of the booklet, would be injurious to this sensitive and extremely important investigative technique, therefore the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are not desirous of its being made available to the public even in its blank format. With respect to completed booklets, these are considered to be part of an investigation and must be afforded the same protection as are all investigative records. On going investigations are provided the utmost protection and will not be disclosed, and a ViCLAS booklet will be protected in the same fashion.

The federal Access to Information and Privacy Legislation also allows for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to impose a mandatory, class exemption to all information received "in confidence" from foreign governments, provincial governments, or municipal or regional governments established by or pursuant to an Act of the legislature of a province, or an institution of any such a government. Submitting departments should complete the appropriate "in confidence" portion found at the beginning of each booklet. This will provide institutions, in possession of completed booklets, who are subjected to an access request, adequate justification to challenge any attempt to have the contents disclosed.

Should a participating agency, under the jurisdiction of any access legislation, receive a request seeking disclosure of either an uncompleted or completed questionnaire booklet, they should immediately consult with the

Royal Canadian
Mounted Police
Violent Crime Analysis Branch,
1426 St. Joseph Blvd., Gloucester, Ontario
(613) 993-4398.

Plans for the Future

In order to deal with the increased strain on the system and to take advantage of current technology, ViCLAS is undergoing a re-engineering. The basic behaviour style questions will remain the same but the software and hardware will undergo some changes. The software is being developed in DELPHI using object oriented programing. The end user will find data input and case analysis functions drastically improved. The search capabilities will be improved to allow the user more flexibility. The new system will allow "And/Or" searches instead of just the "And" search available today. It will reduce redundant keystrokes by allowing "Cut & Paste" features as found in Microsoft Windows programs.

The new system will also allow for "plug and play" add ons. This will make it easier for other countries to adapt ViCLAS to their own unique needs without altering the basic core of the program. One such application is an automated search engine that is currently being researched. It will automatically take a target case and compare it against every other case in the database and return the results in a matter of minutes. This will not replace the human analytical process but enhance it.

There will be only one database serving all ViCLAS centres in Canada. The new system will operate on a Hewlett Packard Quad Pentium Pro 200, with 512 megabyte of ram, and a 16 Gigabyte hard drive. The database will be run on a Microsoft SQL server.

The RCMP are working with the FBI who are in the process of redesigning their ViCAP system. It is hoped that by sharing information they will be able to develop a system that will allow the portability of information across systems.

Even after the current re-engineering is complete ViCLAS will continue researching ways of improving the system. With input from our clients and staying current with the technology of the day ViCLAS will strive to maintain it's position as a world leader in the field of case linkage systems.

Conclusion

In the words of Insp. Ron MacKay. "The linking of a series of crimes committed by the same offender not only increases investigative efficiency, it also enhances the grounds for multiple charges and dangerous offender status, with resultant indefinite/longer sentences for serial offenders."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and most other major police departments in Canada have adopted a community-based approach to modern day policing. Community-based policing is more than crime prevention programs or public relations exercises. It is a philosophy of problem solving with consultation and input from partners and clients. ViCLAS operates on a similar model. It is more than just a computer system used by specially trained experts to link major crimes. ViCLAS is a system that encourages and facilitates communication between investigators with the common goal of solving serious serial criminal acts and putting dangerous human predatorial offenders in jail. The ViCLAS system is considered a success whether a case is solved by virtue of the ViCLAS specialist using all of the tools at his disposal including the ViCLAS computer system or as a result of communication generated between investigators attending ViCLAS lectures, conferences, or courses.