By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI built a sophisticated database to help catch serial killers and rapists but hardly anyone used it since its launch more than three decades ago, Newsweek reports.
The idea was to help local, state and federal law enforcement discern behavioral patterns, like the type of knife used or how a body was disposed.
Trouble is, law enforcement used the technology, called Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, or ViCap, in less than 1% of the violent crimes committed a year.
The FBI hasn’t divulged how many crimes ViCap has helped solve. In a 12-year period ending in the 1990s, only 33 crimes were linked to the use of the system, Newsweek wrote.
The program cost taxpayers about $30 million.
