Criminal Psychological Profiling: A Comparative Study Of Knowledge And Perception Between Police Officers And Criminology And Criminal Justice Students

The purpose of this study is to examine the knowledge and perceptions of police officers from police departments in North Texas and students in the Criminology and Criminal Justice program at the University of Texas at Arlington on criminal psychological profiling. Data was obtained from a sample of graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Texas at Arlington and police officers in the Investigation Unit at Irving Police Department. Officers and students seemed to agree that criminal psychological profiling was a significant tool in the criminal justice field, while having differing perceptions of whether education or experience were more important in this field. Officers and students also disagreed on what levels of law enforcement should use criminal psychological profiling. However, the majority of participants showed some knowledge of the basic workings of criminal psychological profiling.