Retired FBI Agent Dr. Roger L. Depue has obtained quite a resume in the Law Enforcement field and has done many reports on his cases. He speaks at many different colleges and has been on dateline TV.
He was first recruited in the United States Marine Corps. He also served as a police officer before becoming chief of police at the age of 27 in the City of Claire, Michigan. “I also worked as a Claire Juvenile Officer with neglected abuse and delinquent children,” Depue said.
“I entered the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1968 as a special agent. I was assigned to the New Orleans and Washington D.C offices in special areas," he said.
Depue continued, “I have [the] qualifications of general police inspector, expert fire arm and [I was] selected to be a member of the first FBI S.W.A.T team named Spider One.” Depue is now retired and a co-founder of the Academy Group.
Depue wanted to educate students on how to correctly profile criminals based on behavior. He said, “It is very important to know the people around you. The more you know about the people around you, the more you know about their past behaviors and habits. Therefore, the more you can predict about their behaviors, [the more] you can influence their behaviors into either good or bad situations.”
He explained what he believes to be the definitions of evil and good. “Evil is when a person or action deteriorates from … the common good,” Depue said. “Evil can also be shown when good people see someone doing something bad, and they don't stand up to that person. They just pretend it's not happening and stay silent.”
Depue also explained the process of profiling to the Longwood students present at the event. He said, “The process of profile is to know the facts of the crime and the how, why and who.”
He continued, “Most profiling starts at the crime scene. We can learn a number of things from a criminal at a crime scene.” Depue further explained that there are two types of crime scenes: the disorganized crime scene and the organized scene.
According to Depue, “The organized crime scene will leave very little evidence. There will be no trace of body.”
He went on to explain, “A disorganized crime scene would be the opposite … There would be a lot of evidence. They would leave the body there. Normally disorganized criminals are inexperienced or young, unintelligent or mentally unstable.” Most of the time, at the disorganized crime scene, there will be a number of mistakes and, through those mistakes, the agents can sometimes identify the criminal or at least learn about their behaviors.
“Normally, these crime scenes represent the criminal's mind set.
If he has an organized mind, then he would leave an organized crime set,” Depue said.
He explained how criminals will often use multiple locations in their crimes. For example, he or she might abduct someone in one place, cause harm to the victim in another and dispose of the body in a third location.
He further explained how important it is to go the autopsy of the victim and how sometimes that medical examination can help you think through the cases. “Sometimes, the medical examination will say how he's only seen a certain type of wound a few times and most cases this had been the case,” he said. This can really help them get a lead as to who the criminal is.
Depue said, "The first time you experience an autopsy could end up being the reason you choose a different career path. Normally, the first and second ones are the worst, but it gets easier; although some people can't handle the autopsy.”
Through his experiences and his trust in his intuitions, Depue has become quite knowledgeable at profiling criminals and human beings in general. However, he still relies on the facts to show the truth. He explained how important it was to get real life experience at profiling, saying, “One of the most important things is to have cases because that's how you get better. You can't just learn everything from books.”
