James R. Fitzgerald (born June 24, 1953) is an American criminal profiler, forensic linguist, and author. He is a retired FBI agent and best known for his role in the UNABOM investigation, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of Ted Kaczynski.

Law enforcement career

Fitzgerald's career in

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

began in 1976 as a

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania. In 1987, after eleven years of local police work culminating in his promotion to the rank of sergeant, he was recruited by the

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 ...

. Upon graduation from the FBI Academy in

Quantico, Virginia Quantico (; formerly Potomac) is a town in southeastern Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 578 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., bound ...

, Fitzgerald was assigned to the New York Field Division's Joint Bank Robbery Task Force. In 1995, Fitzgerald was promoted to Criminal Profiler at the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, which would later become the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, or BAU. Through myriad investigations of

homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

, serial rape,

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

, and workplace violence, Fitzgerald refined his skills in forensic linguistics and threat assessment, specialties that were used in the UNABOM investigation. In an interview with NPR, Fitzgerald said the Unabomber's writings were a "pivotal factor" in cracking the Unabomber's case. He further claimed that he and his colleagues used the writing in the '' Unabomber Manifesto'' to help pinpoint the age and geographic origin of their suspect. Fitzgerald was also responsible for developing training programs and tools to improve the threat assessment capabilities of the FBI. Among these is the Communicated Threat Assessment Database (CTAD), an exhaustively indexed repository of data consisting of every communicated threat encountered in the course of FBI investigations.

Later career

Fitzgerald has remained active in the fields of criminal profiling and forensic linguistics since retiring from the FBI in 2007, holding positions as adjunct faculty at both

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

in Hempstead, New York, Stockton University in Pomona, New Jersey, and California University of Pennsylvania in California, Pennsylvania. He continues to work as a private consultant and technical advisor to free media productions, such as '' Criminal Minds'' and '' Sleepy Hollow''. Fitzgerald served as a consulting producer in the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

's 2017 miniseries '' Manhunt: Unabomber'', which features actor Sam Worthington as James "Fitz" Fitzgerald, described by Fitzgerald as "a composite character" of many investigators in the Unabomber case.

Television

* A&E's ''Killer Profile'' – Executive Producer and Co-Host * CBS TV’s ''The Case of: Jon Benet Ramsey'' – on-air expert * CBS TV's '' Criminal Minds'' – Technical Advisor *

’s '' Manhunt: Unabomber'' – Consulting Producer

Publications

*2003: "Workplace violence: from threat to intervention", in ''Clinics in Occupational and Environmental Medicine'' *2004: "Using A Forensic Linguistic Approach to Track the Unabomber", in ''Profilers'', Campbell, John H., and DeNevi, Don, Prometheus Books *2006: ''Forensic Linguistic Services at the Behavioral Analysis Unit-1'', an FBI handbook detailing services offered at the BAU-1 *2007: "The FBI's Communicated Threat Assessment Database; History, Design, and Implementation", in ''FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin'' *2014: '' A Journey to the Center of the Mind, Book I'', ''The Coming-of-Age Years,'' Infinity Publishing *2017: ''A Journey to the Center of the Mind, Book II'', ''The Police Officer Years,'' Infinity Publishing *2017: ''A Journey to the Center of the Mind, Book III'', ''The (First Ten) FBI Years,'' Infinity Publishing

References

External links

James Fitzgerald's official Website
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