Profiling Cop-Killers

Drawing heavily on original research designed to train police officers to survive deadly encounters, Profiling Cop-Killers examines the sociological history, psychology, and motives of 50 murderers of police officers in 2011. The book identifies the commonalities and differences between groups of offenders by age, examining the previously hidden connections between an offender’s lethal choices, criminal history, drug and alcohol usage, and interpersonal relationships.

Using Erikson’s theory of life span development, the author applies the test of the struggle for identity to offender profiles, words, and actions—analyzing the interaction of offenders’ maturity levels, mastery of challenges by phase, and degree of deviancy exhibited in their violent acts. The book also includes a closer look at diagnoses of concern and the crossroads of offender behavior and officer actions.

This book aims to equip those who work with offenders, police officers, and the mentally ill to read the signs of future violence. Demonstrating the complex set of circumstances that may lead an individual to commit these crimes, this book will challenge readers to think differently about the people who take the lives of law enforcement officers. In doing so, it seeks to answer the question: Who are cop-killers and why do they commit the ultimate crime of violence against the peacekeepers of society?