The Profiler: Difference between revisions

A character -- generallycharacter—generally a psychologist -- whopsychologist—who has the ability to discern the characteristics of a criminal from the attributes of the crime. In some cases, [['''The Profiler]]''' uses a special form of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] by way of [[Writer Onon Board]], taking unerringly correct leaps of reasoning. In others, the [[Applied Phlebotinum|phlebotinum]] is more literal, with the character having psychic abilities that let them see into the past or read the minds of criminals.

From the name of the specialty in law enforcement. Also a series of the same name, with a profiler as its main character, naturally enough. The [[ITV]] series ''[[Wire in The Blood]]'' employs [['''The Profiler]]'''.

Real-life profilers try to stress that profiling will never be a replacement for old-fashioned police work, and their work is better used as a tool to exclude suspects who don't fit the profile as opposed to fingering the guilty party by describing them to a "T" right down to the color of his/her shoes. It doesn't help that the very first profiler -- Drprofiler—Dr. James Brussel, an eminent psychologist who consulted on the New York City "[[Mad Bomber]]" case in the 1950s -- ''did'' correctly predict what kind of suit the bomber would be wearing when arrested (and [https://web.archive.org/web/20121029110919/http://www.gladwell.com/2007/2007_11_12_a_profile.html almost nothing else]). <ref> Note also that Brussel's profile had been made public, so it's possible that the bomber's choice of clothing had been unconsciously influenced by it.</ref>

Naturally, the public hasn't listened for the most part. Thus Profilers in TV-land are far more effecient, accurate and almost ''never'' wrong.

Not to be confused with ''[[Profiler (TV)|Profiler]]''.

* In [[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]. L performs a remarkable feat of profiling early in the series, but credits it to his ability to recognize a personality similar to his own. His sketch of the {{spoiler|Second Kira is less complete, and he's completely beaten to the punch on the Third, though it's implied that he could've done better if he weren't so depressed and distracted}}. To be fair, they are all using a supernatural method of murder, which makes them much harder to predict or track down.

* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|The Profile]] from [[Moon Knight]] is a mutant who can look at various "tells" and instantly profile people to such an amazing degree that it's basically telepathy. He can predict what people will do to the "ninety ninth percentile". This is a less heroic example, as The Profile is a [[Jerkass]] who will [[Only in It For Thethe Money|work for anyone]].

* In ''[[Bookhunter (Comic Book)|Bookhunter]]'', "ALA's top profiler" shows up briefly, and identifies the book thief as a loner... and as a childhood bed-wetter with a speech impediment. The readers never find out how accurate or inaccurate this profile actually is.

== Films -- Live-ActionFilm ==

* [[Amateur Sleuth]] example: [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Hercule Poirot's]] personal favourite method of solving murders is the use of "the psychology". Even more so than order, method and the little grey cells. ''Cards on the Table'' provides a good example of this.

* ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' is always profiling both clients and adversaries, usually based on tiny details he observes with the [[Sherlock Scan]].

* Vincent D'Onofrio's character in ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' would fit here.

* Ally Walker as "Dr. Sam Waters", the title character of ''[[Profiler (TV)|Profiler]]''.

* Lance Henriksen as "Frank Black" in ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]''.

* In ''[[The X-Files (TV)|The X-Files]]'', Mulder's original forte before he found the title case files and went onto the supernatural tangent that made up his career from then on.

* The entire main cast of ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]'', except for JJ, who is the media liaison, and Garcia, who is the technical analyst (read: computer person), though JJ becomes one in the 7th season and Garcia in the 6th inherited some of her media work.

** Some of their leaps of logic are still quite far-fetched though, especially in later seasons and ''especially'' when they accurately profile unique or bizarre psychoses.

** Also notable, most of the team are not psychologists- Hotch studied Law and used to be a prosecutor, Pretniss is {{spoiler|ex-CIA}}, JJ as mentioned was media liason, Rossi (a co-founder of the unit) has a military background, and Reid ''does'' have a psychology degree, but its [[Improbably High IQ|only one in his collection, and is only a B.A., even though he has three doctorates in hard sciences.]]

* Megan Reeves on ''[[Numb3rs (TV)|Numb3rs]]''.

* Rebecca Locke in the [[Too Good to Last]] series ''[[The Inside]]'', along with most of the main cast.

* Anne Fortier in ''Fortier'' does profile serial killers but does so without the supernatural prescience of many fictional profilers. Instead her greatest strength is her ability to talk and to get other people to talk.

* Dr. Sweets on ''[[Bones (TV)|Bones]]'' is initially brought on to mediate the Brennan/Booth relationship, but also works with them as a occasional forensic psychologist. In one episode he details his extensive education, including multiple doctorates, one of which probably gave him the training for this kind of work.

* Subverted in ''[[Monk (TV)|Monk]]'', where a group of investigators use advanced technology to profile a killer and come up with a completely incorrect solution.

* Lightman from ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'' takes this role, thought he's actually a social psychologist by training.

* Most of the team in ''[[Flashpoint (TV series)|Flashpoint]]'' fit this to an extent, though Parker is the most proficient and is the best at doing it.

* Pathologist Ducky Mallard in ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'' adds profiling to his extensive list of other talents in later seasons.

* ''[[Hunter: The Vigil (Tabletop Game)|Hunter: The Vigil]]'' features the Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit, a division of the FBI dedicated to tracking down [[Slasher MoviesMovie|Slashers]] and other supernatural serial killers. They also receive [[Psychic Powers]] as part of a chemical process that aid them in interrogation and detective work.

* Frank Bishop from ''[[Fillmore!]]'', a retired profiler brought on to find a serial shredder.

* Judson Ray. Badass Chicago cop brought onboard as a profiler by the aforementioned John Douglas. Notable for helping to solve his own attempted murder (it was his wife).

* Paul Britton, one of Britain's leading forensic psychologist who (according to his books anyway) effectively kickstarted and setup the forensic psychology field in Britain and worked on several high profile cases such as Fred and Rosemary West and the Jamie Bulger Case.

* There is a new area of Psychology called Investigative Psychology lead by David Canter (A famed profiler himself) that intents to find a way to use Offender Profiling outside the more horrific types of crimes and even in non-forensic fields. It's far from being as exact as other fields in Psychology, and that's saying something, but it has had some success using Geographical Profiling (normally only used with serial offenders) in nonrelated areas such as Marketing. So it was recently upgraded from "[[It Will Never Catch On|Most likely to end up being nothing but a footnote in some textbook]]." too "Ambitious new field."

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