Criminal Minds:
Predator Profiles

Predator Profiles (a psychological profile) of criminal minds helps you to "know your enemy" – an ancient military fundamental still vital today.

As Outdoor Safety pointed out, I’ve created this simple concept to give you a handy rule-of-thumb: a violent criminal is either a Force Predator or a Friendly Predator. You’ll instantly know a force predator – he’ll suddenly attack you from the open or from ambush, though he may first play cat-and-mouse while deciding whether or not to attack you. However, a friendly predator will first try to get near you to isolate and trap you, then attack you. Many victims, afraid to appear rude, ignored their gut feelings and were trusting, easy, naïve prey for a friendly predator. Never forget that and you’ll never fall for a stranger’s lure.

Predators are so naturally devious that oftentimes even their families don’t know of their double lives:

"I just can't equate the man I loved for 15 years with the monster who attacked these women. He even said: 'How could any man do that? Those poor women,' when he read about the rapes in the local paper. It was as if the moment he came home he was Mark Campbell, loving husband, devoted father and happy family man - blotting out this other, secret life that I knew nothing about."
Excerpted from The Glasgow Daily Record (UK) – 19 October 2007

Psychological Profiles

Robbers (muggers) and carjackers confront victims with force or threats. Up to 75 percent of all robbers are desperate drug addicts prone to violence. An undercover narcotics police officer once said, “Everything a drug addict thinks, says, or does has only one purpose: to get more drugs. Absolutely nothing else matters.”

Victims should instantly give up their money or car and flee. Fortunately, drug addicts are usually satisfied with money alone and don’t ordinarily escalate the robbery to rape, though they may kill to silence a witness.

Incidentally, one in three robbery victims are injured and one in ten are hospitalized. One in eight robbers is female. Only three of ten robberies result in arrest. (US DOJ)

Rapists use force or threat to commit a sexual act upon a non-consenting victim and may escalate to further injury or murder. Serial killers are usually sexual predators who dominate, rape, torture, and murder to fulfill sexual fantasies of criminal minds. Psychological profiles of rapists are detailed in Rapist Types.

Incidentally, rapists average seven victims before their first arrest, and most flashers (exhibitionists) and window-peepers are (or eventually become) rapists. (US DOJ)

Murderers usually have close contact with the victim except when killing by means of long-range shooting, poison, arson, bomb, or trap. A mass murderer kills more than two victims at one time, a spree killer kills more than two victims over several hours or days, and a serial killer kills more than two victims over a longer time period.

Most serial killers have the Predatory Mind of a psychopath, have above average IQs and are nice, quiet, normal neighbors (but often act robotic once they shift into killing mode). Anywhere from 100 to 2,500 are operating at any one time in the U.S.

Most serial killers have at least two of these three childhood traits in common: bedwetting, arson (desire to destroy with little risk to oneself), and the torturing of animals (sadism toward helpless victims). The bedwetting, by itself, is innocuous. But the other two traits, especially animal torture, are chilling omens of more evil to come from criminal minds.

However, many murderers aren’t “predators on the hunt.” Roughly one-third are the “risky people” discussed in Losing It - Petty Murders – the human time bombs. They usually already know the victim (most are family members) and kill in the heat of passion on the spur of the moment. These killers usually have an inclination to violence and almost always give warning signs of increasing pressure and impending eruption, in retrospect making these murders seem almost inevitable.

Incidentally, one in ten murderers is female. Only six of ten murders result in arrest. (US DOJ)

Psychological Profiles, Mind Games, Crime Prevention Tips and Personal Safety Devices

Enhancing Your Options
Pepper Spray & a Noisemaker visibly ready will greatly enhance your first option – Posturing as a tough target – and probably deter a predator immediately. Your fifth option – Fighting – is enhanced as well.

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KRAV MAGA, a practical self-defense system used by many police forces worldwide, teaches you to defend yourself, enhances your survival instinct, and can be applied under extreme stress. It's not flashy, just very effective. I highly recommend it. The Krav Maga TV - Online Training videos are especially convenient to learn at home when your schedule allows or if you don't live near a training center.

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