Criminal Investigation

Can America fight an enemy within its borders while preserving civil liberties? This program examines the critical role of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces in the hunt for al Qaeda sleeper cells, and how that role has created new challenges for the agency. Detailing the FBI's discovery and capture of Detroit and Buffalo cells, its response to foreign intelligence, domestic surveillance difficulties, and the intricate workings and results of FBI/CIA cooperation, this program depicts an American intelligence community struggling to adapt to the complexities of the war on terror. Original BBCW broadcast title: America-Hunt for the Sleeper Cells. (41 minutes)

What is the right way to interrogate victims, witnesses, and suspects? And, of equal instructive value, what is the wrong way? This program investigates both, as trained British actors apply the principles of cognitive interviewing, conversation management, and nonverbal communication in a series of unscripted Q-and-A sessions related to a purse-snatching. Segments dramatizing the incident from the victim's and witness's points of view are also included. In addition, film clips of a totally separate mugging are included-ideal for use as a witness/interrogator practice exercise. (62 minutes)

Every day, hundreds of millions of e-mails are sent, answered, and forwarded. This immense volume, combined with the candor that so pervades the medium, has stirred up trouble for computer-users at every level-even Bill Gates himself. In this program, Internet legal expert Dr. Michael Geist, computer forensics specialists, and others explain how deleted e-mails are retrieved and how those indiscreet bits of e-evidence are influencing litigation and causing consternation for companies throughout North America. The bottom line? Think before you hit send"-or, failing that, hire the best lawyer you can afford. (10 minutes)"

This riveting program demonstrates the art and science of criminal profiling through the work of renowned forensic psychologists David Caldwell, Gus Gary, Dayle Hinman, and Mike Prodan. Detailed reconstructions of the sensational Crystal Todd murder; the case of the cold-blooded Seattle serial arsonist; the devious murder of Rachel Carlson and her baby; the chilling case of Susan Smith, convicted of killing her two children; and the notorious Riverside, California, prostitute murders are featured. A concise retrospective on the Mad Bomber case, a model of criminal profiling, is also included. A Discovery Channel Production. (48 minutes)

This program provides extended interviews selected from those featured in An Overview of Investigative Interviewing, offering viewers a more detailed look at the processes involved in interrogating suspects. The first interview is considered to be well conducted, employing the techniques of cognitive interviewing, conversation management, and nonverbal communication, while the second interview contains errors in judgment. A careful analysis of each model helps students to assimilate these British methodologies for use in a real-world context. (60 minutes)

This program offers extended interviews selected from those featured in An Overview of Investigative Interviewing, providing viewers with a more detailed look at how cognitive interviewing, conversation management, and nonverbal communication are applied to interrogating victims and witnesses in the U.K. The victim interview is presented as a well-conducted interview, while the witness interview is designed to demonstrate flaws in technique. (58 minutes)

A purse is snatched on the street. When the victim, a witness, and a suspect are brought in for interrogation, it is up to the Detective Sergeant to skillfully question each person to extract the facts from the inevitable hodge-podge of images, impressions, recollections, and evasions. This detailed three-part series presents the British approach to cognitive interviewing, conversation management, and nonverbal communication in a scenario-based format. Dramatizations scrutinize the mugging and subsequent interrogations from multiple points of view, highlighting both good and bad interviewing technique. 3-part series, 58-62 minutes each.

With nothing staged or dramatized, this 4-part series portrays with gritty, often sobering realism how crimes are solved by specialized units of the New York City Police Department. Cameras travel with the officers, capturing investigative details and the methods employed, while candid interviews and ongoing commentary lend further insight into the law enforcement profession. 4-part series, 54 minutes each.

Many of the procedures in modern criminology were developed in Europe around the turn of the 20th century. This comprehensive three-part series, complete with archival footage, crime scene photos, and interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, presents a broad catalog of case histories-both celebrated crimes from the past and modern-day cases that follow the evidence from the corpse, to the crime scene, to the courtroom. 3-part series, 55 minutes each.

DWB: Driving While Black. For many African-Americans, simply having dark skin seems to be grounds for being pulled over on the highway and searched for drugs. Police call it profiling," based on years of successful drug interdiction through traffic stops, but angry and humiliated victims call it "racial profiling"-a blatant form of discrimination-and want it stopped. In part one of this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent Michel McQueen investigate the issue from the victims' points of view. In part two, Koppel and McQueen look at profiling through the eyes of the police, with special commentary by law professor and former OJ Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden. Some language may be objectionable. (41 minutes)"

When someone is in trouble, they call the police; when the police are in trouble, they call ESU. This program travels with the highly trained, heavily armed officers of the NYPD's Emergency Services Unit who specialize in forced entries, raids, and situations where the violence or potential for extreme violence are more than ordinary police are prepared to handle. Cameras capture ongoing operations as the ESU storms a crack house and responds to emergency calls. (54 minutes)

By its nature the work is grisly, but a successful homicide investigation can at least give survivors the consolation of justice. In an ongoing case and in a notorious one that was closed, this program shows how killers are caught by NYPD homicide experts. Veteran Detective Robert Mooney discusses his methods, including forensics and what he calls victimology," the background checks that often lead right to the suspect. Police archive footage includes Detective Mooney interrogating an eventually convicted murderer. Contains harsh language. Viewer discretion is advised. (54 minutes)"

Since New York City enacted its zero-tolerance drug policy in the early 1990s, arrests for narcotics violations have increased over 40 percent. This program goes on the streets where the policy is enforced, taking a gritty look at narcotics stake-outs and arrest procedures. Cameras follow the real-life beats of Detective Danny Murphy and Sergeant Vincent Curulli in Brooklyn, Detective Larry Burke in the Bronx, and Detective Bernie Malone, a 17-year NYPD veteran now working with the DEA. Contains harsh language. (54 minutes)

New York City spends $23 million annually on prostitution control. This program goes undercover with Detective Kevin Mannion and members of his specialized Vice Division team tasked with tracking down pedophiles and child pornographers both on the street and on the Internet. Surveillance cameras and live-action interviews provide firsthand access into police procedures as the team arrest a pimp on the streets of Manhattan and conduct a chilling Internet pedophile sting. Contains explicit language. (54 minutes)

In 2001, the last piece of a serial rape/murder case that had tantalized London police for nearly 20 years finally fell into place. In this program, retired FBI profiler Robert Ressler, LAPD psychologist Kris Mohandie, and British law enforcement professionals discuss the history and techniques of criminal profiling within the context of the Railway Rapist crimes that terrorized greater London during the 1980s. In addition, the sensational case of Rachel Nickell, murdered in broad daylight on Wimbledon Common in 1992, illustrates how profiling improperly applied can hijack an investigation. Forensic psychologist Gisli Gudjonsson, of King's College London, provides commentary on that crime. (46 minutes)