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Behind the Desk: The Real Road to Becoming an FBI Profiler · Inside The Criminal Mind

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How do you become a profiler? This is one of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the questions I get asked the most when I teach
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: criminal psychology classes. There is no job called FBI profiler.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: There's a long queue behind that door. The title on
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the door is actually Supervisory Special Agent in one of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the FBI's behavior analysis units. Profiler is the nickname the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: public kept after the Bureau stopped using it. The work
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: sits inside the National Center for the Analysis of Violent
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Crime at Quantico under the Critical Incident Response Group. There
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: are several units, not one squad on a jet. Counterterrorism,
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  Speaker 1: bombing threats, and cybercrimes against children, crimes against adults, and VICAP,
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  Speaker 1: plus research and training. Most of the job is consultation,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: crime analysis, interview strategy, threat assessment, requested usually by field
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: offices and local police. You are not assigned a serial
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: killer because you aced abnormal psychology. Step one to become
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: a special agent, not a profiler, is eligibility. You need
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to be a U.S. citizen, at least 23 years of age,
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  Speaker 1: and apply before you're 36, unless a veteran or prior
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: federal law enforcement exception applies. Bachelor's degree is from an
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: accredited school, two years of full-time professional work, or one
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: year with a grad degree. Sworn law enforcement... Time can
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: substitute on some grade tracks. Valid license, pass the physical
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: fitness and medical standards, qualify to carry a firearm, qualify
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: for safe top-secret SCI clearance, no felony record. The FBI
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: does not require a psych major. It requires a file
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: that survives a background investigation. Step 2 is the Special
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Agent Selection System. Application packet, screening, testing, interview process. medical, polygraph,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and a background that can run a year or longer.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Then the basic field training course at Quantico, roughly 16
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to 19 weeks and about 850 hours of law, firearms,
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  Speaker 1: defensive tactics, and investigative work. You leave as a new
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: agent assigned to a field office. You do not leave
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: as a profiler. My buddies who are profilers, one of
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: them actually is a recruiter, and this is exactly what
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: he does. He does the background checks. Step three is
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the part the brochures bury. You work cases, bank robberies, gangs,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: crimes against children, whatever the office needs. Retired agents who
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: later made BAU often describe seven to 15 years of
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  Speaker 1: investigated time before the unit was even a realistic bid.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Mary Ellen O'Toole, who you probably know, put the window
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  Speaker 1: in that range. It has changed from everybody that I've
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: talked to. It seems to be seven to eight years.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Mark Seferik described the typical BAU agent as a seasoned
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: investigator with an analytical mind and a strong stomach. Field
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: offices also have what they call an NCAVC coordinators who
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: handle local requests. That coordinator job is closer to the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: work than a classroom. Step four is an internal competitive application.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Cameron Mullin, who built cyber behavioral work inside BAU, described
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: what happens after selections. Months of classroom phase one training
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: in psychology, sociology, and crime scene analysis. Another academy, not
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: a seminar. Then rotations across units. You carry cases outside
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  Speaker 1: your specialty. Certification is an accredited protocol that usually takes
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: 18 months to two years. You're a generalist first. The
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: niche comes a little later. ATF profilers, for instance, follow
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a parallel senior agent path and still complete FBI BAU training.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Nobody skips the cases and drops into the basement because
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: they write well about psychopathy. If the goal is the
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: work and not the title, there are adjacent doors. Intel analyst,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: threat assessment coordinator. Those jobs also do not hire from
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  Speaker 1: a poster. They hire people who have already sat with
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: ugly facts long enough to stop decorating them. And that
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  Speaker 1: is really the actual first requirement. The rest is paperwork, years,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: and vacancy. It's about experience, folks. So... The next time
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: somebody tells you, I want to become a profiler, just remember,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: it doesn't work that way. First, you have to become
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: an FBI agent, and that's a process. That's it for now.