Police Now Able To Profile Pedophiles By Clothes, Tattoos And Books They Read Thanks To Texas Rangers

Police in the United Kingdom are now able to profile pedophiles based on their clothing, tattoos and even the books they read thanks to research compiled by the Texas Rangers. The program teaches officers to identify common traits shared among convicted pedophiles including specific behaviors, choices in clothing and specific items in their possession. The profiling method is being used to help officers identify potential pedophiles earlier so that children will be spared the abuse in the future.

The Mirror reports that 400 front-line officers have gone through the pedophile identification training. In addition to police officers, 160 public servants such as teachers and doctors have gone through the program as well. The training, called the Intervene to Protect a Child (IPC) program, was designed based off of training developed by the Texas Rangers. The training was created from interviews with known pedophiles and compiling a list of common traits or behaviors in the group.

According to RT, the program has already resulted in the identification of a pedophile who was being frequented by a young girl. The officer, who had been through the training, identified an elderly man as a potential pedophile after spotting Viagra and condoms in the old man’s home. Upon further investigation, the officer found that the old man was being visited by woman who also had a young child. The officer voiced his concerns and social services immediately barred the man from seeing the little girl in the future.

“This guy was being very evasive with me when normally we would engage. He was very stand-offish and wanted me to leave.”

The officer noted that the man’s demeanor changed immediately when discussing the girl which was one of the signs that the officer learned to identify during the program. Though the specifics of the program have no been released to the public due to the nature of the work, officers say the training teaches them to identify certain tattoos, clothing items and behaviors that are consistent in known pedophiles.

“If people wear certain clothing, if people have certain tattoos, if people behave in a certain way, that might be an indication. This training is about targeting frontline staff who are not working in the arena of child sexual exploitation.”

In addition to learning to identify pedophiles, the program also teaches how to identify potential abuse victims. It seems that those going through the training have rave reviews as they noted they wished they had this training six months ago as it may have stopped a child from being abused.

“What has been gratifying is hearing the feedback from the audience and people saying I wish I’d had this training six months ago because I know I missed an indicator that something was going badly wrong and I didn’t have the confidence to do something about it.”

What do you think about police profiling pedophiles? Do you believe the program can teach officers to accurately identify potential pedophiles and victims?

[Image Credit: Getty Images/ Cameron Spencer]