Police investigations in Malta : how investigations are carried out and whether criminal profiling is utilised

Abstract

Criminal profiling is a vast and evolving subject. “Criminal profiling is designed to generate information on a perpetrator of a crime, usually a serial offender, through an analysis of the crime scene left by the perpetrator” (Muller D. A., 2000). ‘Police investigations in Malta: How investigations are carried out and whether criminal profiling is utilised’ will provide an insight on the investigative process of a crime as well as the modus operandi of a criminal investigation. Furthermore, this study will look into the use of criminal profiling in criminal investigations in Malta. This study incorporates the research of scholars on criminal profiling and police investigations, including the various methods of criminal profiling, the background of criminal profiling and its flaws. It will also include the goals and aims of a criminal investigation and the modus operandi that one must follow when it comes to criminal investigation. The method of research when it comes to this dissertation is qualitative, with interviews with police inspectors as the main research tool. The interviews were conducted on four police inspectors and a police superintendent which all form part of different units in the Major Crime Unit at the Malta Police Force. Thematic analysis was then used to derive themes and common answers from the interviews, which can later be researched about. From the results, it was concluded that throughout the whole units in the Major Crime Unit, the same principles and steps were used in the investigations. It was also made clear that a form of criminal profiling is used but it is more a personal preference whether or not an officer chooses to use the principles of criminal profiling in the investigation. From the interviews, it was derived that more modern technology could make the investigations more efficient and less time consuming since the first hours of an investigation are crucial for the collection of evidence.