ViCAP began in 1985 with the focus of apprehending transient serial killers who crossed jurisdictional boundaries with impunity. Since then it has expanded and now includes data on homicides and attempted homicides, missing persons believed to be victims of foul play, kidnappings, sexual assaults and unidentified human remains.
Back then, ViCAP information sat on a mainframe computer in Quantico, Va., accessible only to FBI personnel, and users usually submitted their case information to us through the mail.
In the mid-1990s, the FBI migrated ViCAP to a client-server system to get the information closer to the people who needed it most-state and local law enforcement. That basically meant the bureau put ViCAP software on desktop computers in police agencies around the country. Users were then able to electronically send the FBI their case information, as well as any requests for assistance.
The process was faster, but the bureau and other law enforcement agencies continued looking for ways to enhance it. Then, after several years of development in coordination with the ViCAP advisory board of state and local representatives ViCAP Web was born. ViCAP Web is accessible through the Law Enforcement Online portal.
The new Web-enabled system has several benefits. Formerly, only ViCAP personnel had access to the system's data. Now, agencies will have direct access to the national database so they will be able to input and retrieve data instantly, search the database for similar cases, review historical cases, and update their own investigative data. As a result, the database will be more current.
Other benefits include the ability to offer nationwide web-based training to users, faster updates and enhancements to the system, and the end of maintaining hundreds of standalone ViCAP computers.
In the short-term, law enforcement agencies will reap the benefits of this new and improved ViCAP. In the long-term, it's the American public-kept safer from violent criminals-who will benefit.
Since its beginning in 1985, ViCAP, has linked an untold number of seemingly unrelated violent crime investigations. The database contains about 150,000 open and closed violent crime investigations submitted by some 3,800 state and local law enforcement agencies-and includes some "cold cases" that go back to the 1950s.
ViCAP also offers additional assistance to participating agencies-including multi-agency coordination efforts, investigative support, case management help, crime mapping, case series matrices, and on-scene case assistance.
