Crime Seen (25 page)

The expertise of the Criminal Profiling Unit had expanded to respond to emerging crime trends such as terrorism, gang violence and cybercrimes. They regularly hosted profiling understudies from police agencies around the world who not only came to the OPP for practical experience working cases with profilers, but also to gain insight into the other behavioural science support services offered.

The OPP had 6100 uniform police officers and 1200 of them were women. Alongside their brother officers they worked in highly specialized areas such as criminal profiling, polygraph, forensic identification, underwater search and rescue, electronic crime, child pornography, wiretaps, and were in charge of uniform officers and civilians in detachments and regional command centres across the province. They had volunteered for United Nations assignments in places like Haiti, Sudan/South Sudan, Kosovo, East Timor, Jordan and Lebanon. A policewoman was the ride master of the OPP’s Golden Helmets Motorcycle Precision Team. Women in the OPP knew there were limitless opportunities for them to pursue their dream jobs and promotions to the highest rank, including commissioner. When the next woman fills that position, she will follow in the footsteps of Gwen Boniface who in 1998 became the OPP’s twelfth commissioner, and first woman to achieve the rank.

My retirement didn’t last long. Although it was nice to be away from the winter cold, six months living in a retirement community in Florida was enough rumination time for me. Plus I’d had my fill of pool exercise classes to the tunes of Barbra Streisand, early-bird dinner specials and bingo as my evening’s entertainment.

When I got back home in the spring I decided to reboot and start up my own consulting business, as well as get my private investigator’s licence. (In Ontario if you want to be an investigator for hire you have to pass a fifty-hour course to get your licence—pretty easy for us ex-cops, as long as you don’t forget you’re not carrying a badge anymore.) I knew my behavioural sciences and profiling background would be useful to more than just those in the policing business.

My second career involves a variety of investigation and interviewing assignments for private, corporate and government clients. My assignments involve allegations of everything from child abduction and abuse to harassment, human rights violations, threatening, and violence in the workplace. I balance those with speaking engagements and teaching in-class and online courses in criminal investigative analysis and investigative interviewing. I’ve also remained active in volunteering for victim justice initiatives, not-for-profit fundraisers and talking at recruitment initiatives that encourage women and men to consider careers in policing.

Given the popularity of criminal profiling, over the years I’ve appeared in documentaries and fact-based TV shows like
Exhibit A
and
Murder She Solved
, as well as consulted with authors on their books and scriptwriters for TV shows such as
Flashpoint
and
Rookie Blue
. While I often get asked to be a media commentator for various real-time network news programs, these are the types of requests I always decline. Being a boutique profiler speculating on someone else’s unfolding criminal investigation, without having all the facts at my disposal, is not something I am interested in doing.

I consider it an obligation and necessity to keep my skills up to date in my new, self-managed career. I hadn’t attended a Quantico in-service in more than a decade and in 2014 the perfect opportunity presented itself: a professional week-long program that not only hosted profilers, but also researchers, investigative and forensic psychiatrists and psychologists from Canada, the US, Australia and Netherlands. Just like the old days, our agenda included updates on the latest behavioural analysis techniques, research and solved case reviews, as well as the opportunity for visiting police to present violent-crime cases for profiling assistance.

Three of my 1990–91 fellowship classmates made up the more than fifty of us in attendance. The BSU had long since moved out of the basement of the Academy to an off-site office location south of Quantico, but a number of their members returned and sat in with us each day. Later in the week we were joined for dinner by some of our original instructors to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the ICIAF—Judson Ray, Gregg McCrary, Ken Lanning and Roy Hazelwood among them. I was also thrilled to make the acquaintance of seventy-six-year-old Roger Depue, the first BSU chief and the one responsible for establishing the FBI’s police fellowship training. I was grateful to be able to shake his hand and personally thank him for setting the stage for not only one, but two, of the best careers a girl could have.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To now-retired OPP commissioner Chris Lewis, my heartfelt gratitude for his early and lasting support of this book. I am indebted to the many men and women of the OPP, FBI, other law enforcement agencies and all those who helped me to stay on track with my story facts and keep my memories upright.

I want to express my deepest appreciation to the victims and/or their families for giving me permission to share their tragedies and how I came to be involved in them. Thank you to Bruce and Crystal Dunahee, Doug and Donna French, Sheldon Kennedy, Jim and Anna Stephenson, Tara McDonald, Rodney Stafford, Aline and Pee Wee Wilson, and Jen. In particular, thank you to Orville and Susan Osbourne for allowing me to also share the graphic details of the murders of Ian and Nancy Blackburn in order to help explain how my work on their case was done. All of you are wonderful examples of courage and strength.

I never could have imagined the cathartic experience writing this book would be for me. Award-winning writer and friend Stevie Cameron persuaded me to tell my story the way I wanted to tell it—with the sensationalism battened down. I loved my job as much the day I retired as the day I was hired and I am so glad that Stevie convinced me that people would be interested to know why. Thank you to Louise Dennys and Marion Garner of Penguin Random House for taking a chance on me and particularly to my editor, Pamela Murray, for her patience, encouragement and guidance. I know it was not an easy job trying to turn this “just the facts” cop into a writer.

Whatever I have achieved personally or professionally in my life, I would not have without the love and support of family and friends. Mom, Gerry, Barb, Bo, J.D., Cheryl, Wayne and the rest of our clan—thank you for always being there. Police padre, Father Bob Hale—what a joy to have had you and your Rochester crew in my life. And to my “Ya Yas” and “Titunas”—you are simply the best.

NOTES

1.
  
http://www.heritagemississauga.com/page/Mississauga-Train-Derailment

2.
  
http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC70.pdf

3.
  
http://www.atg.wa.gov/uploadedFiles/Another/Supporting_Law_Enforcement/Homicide_Investigation_Tracking_System_%28HITS%29/Child_Abduction_Murder_Research/CMIIPDF.pdf
, page 13.

4.
  
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs037/1102448202986/archive/1103344752665.html

5.
  Utility of unknown offender profile in serial predator investigations investigation can be found at
http://www.opconline.ca/depts/omcm/Campbell/Bernardo_Investigation_Review%20PDF.pdf
, page 156.

6.
  August 24, 2012 interview and other communications with RCMP officer Larry Wilson.

7.
  FBI profile of Scarborough rapist found at:
www.opconline.ca/depts/omcm/Campbell/Bernardo_Investigation_Review%20PDF.pdf
, Appendix 3, page 365.

8.
  Personal correspondence

9.
  Personal correspondence

10.
“Microsoft Collaborates With Global Police to Develop Child Exploitation Tracking System for Law Enforcement Agencies,” Microsoft News Center, April 07, 2005.
www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2005/apr05/04-07cetspr.aspx

11.
icaremissingpersonscoldcases.yuku.com/

12.
www.missing-u.ca/
British Columbia joined the initiative in 2008. (At press the OPP was transitioning all of its cases to the new National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains website at
www.canadasmissing.ca
)

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