• Evaluate how best to use the services of a Behavioural Investigative Advisor
• Evaluate a BIA report
• Avoid the potential pitfalls of interpreting a BIA report
• Consider the legal and ethical issues in using such reports

This session will consider the academic and practical functions of profiling as an investigative tool and will be highly interactive with several demonstrations and key examples.

Please note, this workshop can only be run with between 9 and 15 participants.

Please note each workshop costs an additional £100 to the standard registration fee.

Prof Laurence Alison
B.Sc. Psychology; M.Sc. Investigative Psychology; PhD. Investigative Psychology; Chartered Forensic Psychologist, Division of Forensic Psychology

Prof. Alison is Director of the Centre for Critical Incident Research (CCIR) (www.incscid.org). CCIR promotes the systematic evaluation of critical decisions and conducts research on investigative decision-making, developing opportunities to assist in training programmes and in the provision of an evidence-based approach to major investigation. Prof Alison has a track record of publishing on the subject of policing and investigation in several leading internationally recognised journals and has lectured nationally and internationally about these subjects. His core area of interest is social cognition and the processes by which individuals make sense of ambiguous, complex or contradictory information. This has led to involvement of evaluations of expert reports prepared for the police and courts, so called 'offender profilers' advice and credibility assessments of significant witnesses and victims.

His work has attracted attention from many police forces in the UK and abroad, including the Kent Police Advanced Detective Training programme, Strathclyde Police crime analysis section, the Forensic Science Institute in Krakow and The Bundeskriminalamt in Wiesbaden.
He has contributed to a number of major police enquiries, particularly complex and controversial investigations, including R-v-Stagg, and a review of the behavioural information in the DOWLER enquiry. He has been a key psychological advisor in several major debriefs, including the recent London Bombings.

Louise Almond
B.Sc. Psychology; M.Sc. Investigative Psychology

Ms Almond is a Research Associate at the Centre for Critical Incident Research (CCIR) and she will graduate with a PhD in Investigative Psychology in 2006. Her PhD investigated the characteristics and behaviour of youths who sexually harm. In 2001, Ms Almond carried out a project commissioned by the Home Office into arson and arsonists and she has published in this area.