I was watching that show, 'To Catch a Predator'...Regardless of your feelings on their methods, at the end of the day, they do catch sexual predators BEFORE they commit the act--Which is a great positive to me. Now, obviously the use of the internet and all that makes it very easy, but it makes me wonder if there could be new ways of catching suspected serial killers before they kill again. The problem with serial killers is they are--IMO--unlike any other kind of criminal. They're random. They're not gangsters, whom have organized groups and a hierachy and commit very specific crimes. They're not internet pedophiles, who stalk young girls in chats.

I was however, wondering if the approach used in the movie "Cruising" would ever actually work in real life. For those who are unaware, the movie stars Al Pacino. In the story, serial killings of young homosexual men of a similar physical appearance and who hang out in a similar lifestyle have been occurring. Pacino's character is a cop who is sent to go totally undercover into this world, this lifestyle, in order to attract the killer--to draw him out.

I don't know if police stations do that in real life, but it sounds like it could work, although it would be potentially very dangerous for the cop.

I'm just speculating and figured I'd start this discussion as more than other kind of killer or criminal, serial killers are to me the most heinous and I'd love if there were none of them around.

I was watching that show, 'To Catch a Predator'...Regardless of your feelings on their methods, at the end of the day, they do catch sexual predators BEFORE they commit the act--Which is a great positive to me. Now, obviously the use of the internet and all that makes it very easy, but it makes me wonder if there could be new ways of catching suspected serial killers before they kill again. The problem with serial killers is they are--IMO--unlike any other kind of criminal. They're random. They're not gangsters, whom have organized groups and a hierachy and commit very specific crimes. They're not internet pedophiles, who stalk young girls in chats.

I was however, wondering if the approach used in the movie "Cruising" would ever actually work in real life. For those who are unaware, the movie stars Al Pacino. In the story, serial killings of young homosexual men of a similar physical appearance and who hang out in a similar lifestyle have been occurring. Pacino's character is a cop who is sent to go totally undercover into this world, this lifestyle, in order to attract the killer--to draw him out.

I don't know if police stations do that in real life, but it sounds like it could work, although it would be potentially very dangerous for the cop.

I'm just speculating and figured I'd start this discussion as more than other kind of killer or criminal, serial killers are to me the most heinous and I'd love if there were none of them around.

I agree with your line of thinking that it would be great if we could catch them before they commit murder. Did you see "Minority Report"? Imagine if that were possible. The only problem with this is you could only charge them with attempted murder and in some cases, they wouldn't get much jail time if any and still be on the streets. Also, if cops do what you were alluding to int he movie, they risk being accused of entrapment. But overall, I agree with you. If we could catch them before hand, it would be great and save lives.

It would probably be too dangerous to attempt to catch serial killers in a "sting-type" operation. And given that most serial killers are smarter than average crooks, most "traps" would probably end in failure.

IMHO, some the ways that they could catch serial killers is:

1) Every city that has still has a "hooker stroll" should keep detailed records in a database of the sex workers in the area (based on arrest records) and should check the records periodically to see if there are any "disappearances."

2) Frankly, every state should take DNA samples from everybody arrested for a felony. Some do, but a number do not. This seems to be clearing a number of cold cases and would probably continue to do so if it were expanded.

3) The police in high crime areas need to receive better training in recognizing what to look for as far serial offenders. It's likely that a number of killers have slipped through the cracks because they were stopped by officers not trained to detect them.

4) I think that suspicious or undetermined deaths should be entered into a national database to see if there are any patterns in the deaths. IMHO, this would catch women that experience multiple "SIDS" incidents, men that have multiple wives/companions die mysteriously, doctors that have a statistically higher than average number of patients die and unusual similarities in deaths between areas across the country.

There are a few more things but I think that these might help clear a number of cases.