David J. Icove (born May 14, 1949) is a former

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Criminal Profiler and FBI Academy Instructor in the elite Behavioral Analysis Unit. He was one of the FBI's first criminal profilers to specialize in the apprehension of serial arsonists and bombers. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers and co-author, along with Gerald A. Haynes, of Kirk's Fire Investigation, the leading textbook in the field of

fire investigation Fire investigation (sometimes referred to as origin and cause investigation) is the analysis of fire-related incidents. After firefighters extinguish a fire, an investigation is launched to determine the origin and cause of the fire or explosi ...

Early life and education

David Icove was born May 14, 1949, in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

, and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He graduated in 1967 from Shaker Heights High School and attended college at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

and the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

Career

A leading authority in forensic engineering examinations of fires and explosions, he is co-author of '' Kirk's Fire Investigation'', ''Combating Arson-for-Profit'', and ''Forensic Fire Scene Reconstruction'', three of the leading expert treatises in the field. '' Kirk's Fire Investigation'' has long been regarded as the primary textbook in the field of

. It is currently in its 8th edition (published in 2017, ). Paul Leland Kirk (1902–1970), the author of the original text ''Fire Investigation'', was the basis for '' Kirk's Fire Investigation''. Hired in 1984 by the

, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, he developed the first modern-day motive classification system for arson for the FBI. He also developed at the FBI an

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

research project known as PROFILE
PDF
a rule-based expert system programmed to detect and link serial violent crimes using data parsed from real-time news stories, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, and other FBI databases. Representing the FBI, he testified three times before key U.S. Congressional Committees seeking guidance on key legislative initiatives. In 1993, he transferred to the U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority Police to eventually become the Assistant Chief of Police for Criminal Investigations. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, he represented TVA full-time as a Task Force Agent on the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, until his retirement in 2005. In May 2015, he joined a board of directors to form the Murder Accountability Project (MAP), a nonprofit organization that detects and disseminates information about homicides, especially unsolved killings and serial murders committed in the United States. MAP's board consists of a group of retired detectives, investigative journalists, homicide scholars, and a forensic psychiatrist, who strive to use

to identify and link clusters of homicides based upon a combination of victim/offender relationships, manner of death, and geographic location. As of 2019, David Icove is the UL (safety organization) Professor of Practice at The University of Tennessee in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, where he directs their Fire Protection Engineering Graduate Program.

Professional associations

* Registered Professional Engineer * Board Certified Diplomate and Fellow
National Academy of Forensic Engineers
* Fellow, Society of Fire Protection Engineers * Senior and Life Member,

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

* Member, National Society of Professional Engineers * Member,

National Fire Protection Association The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a U.S.-based international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property damage, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards. , the NFPA claims to have 5 ...

* Member and Certified Fire Investigator, International Association of Arson Investigators

Awards

* Shaker Heights High School Alumni Hall of Fame, Class of 1967 * Charles Edward Ferris Award – University of Tennessee * National Arson Prevention Award – Insurance Committee for Arson Control

Personal

Dr. Icove currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee.

References

External links

Personal Home PageUTK Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Icove, David 1949 births Living people Law enforcement officials from Tennessee University of Maryland, College Park alumni University of Tennessee alumni Federal Bureau of Investigation agents People from Shaker Heights, Ohio