Criminal Forensic Investigators and Population Ecology

A sub-field of ecology that deals with how individual species of populations interact with their environment is population ecology. The concept recognizes that a species is an organized group of organisms, in our case human organisms into a population. Scientists can tell more about a species of organisms through testing the population, because the population will have commonalities with the individual. Populations of a species will have a certain genotype, which is part of the genetic makeup of the cells of the individual. Population ecology studies the demographics, and interactions between populations that coexist with each other.

Often the effects of population ecology is observable; there are characteristics in physical development, and in behavior. The information gained from the population ecology studies are used in many areas, including the field of forensic profiling. Crime scene investigators (CSI) collect samples from a crime scene. Once collected the samples are examined. For instance, murder victims may have something belonging to the perpetrator on their body, such as skin under their fingernails or hair. Because this type of ecology deals with a species, the sample that was collected at the scene of a crime can tell the sex, approximate age, and ethnicity of the suspect. All the information can be found through testing tissues on the cellular level. Once apprehended the evidence from DNA testing can be enough to put the criminal away for a long time.

Population ecology can account to how criminal profiling works. Criminals that have certain personality traits may have a certain way they operate during a crime; this is called method of operations, which is called m.o. for short. Many criminal profilers are psychologists and use psychological models that had their start from renown doctors such as Sigmund Freud, and others. CSI investigators from the FBI are trained by the Behavioral Science Unit; the main division is in Quantico Virginia.

Behavioral science researchers work very closely with the basic concepts of population ecology. The philosophy can be applied to police science, criminology, and even the study of terrorism and how to fight it. The study has biological, psychological, social, as well as criminal aspects.

To create a profile the CSI team will collect evidence at a crime scene, such as hair, fibers from clothing, hair. The investigators collect anything that may be possible evidence, such as a weapon. They collect fingerprints if there were any left at the scene. Next, the team looks for patterns associated with the crimes. Next the investigators attempt to reconstruct the crime, based on the information that has been collected. The profile is made when all the steps of the investigation have been completed. The science of population ecology has pioneered the path, so that the criminal profilers can predict the age and sex of the suspect, and they may be able to pin down the possible motives for the crime.