ABSTRACT
In general, the geographic profiling problem is the determination of the unknown offender's ‘anchor point’ relative to the locations where his illegitimate activities have been perpetrated. 1 In some cases, as we saw in the previous chapter, profilers and investigative psychologists associate the anchor point with the unknown offender's place of residence. However, an anchor point need not be where the offender lives but rather a fixed point of reference relative to the dispersed locations at which his criminal activity takes place. In this case, the anchor point has implications for the dispersion of future criminal activity and the type of crime that the offender chooses to engage in. Although the determination of the offender's anchor point may not lead law enforcement directly to a particular address, it might still prove to be a valuable guide for the distribution of law enforcement resources, and it might increase the likelihood of either apprehending the unknown offender or pre-empting or interrupting his planned activities.
