1. Introduction

Ever since the events of September 11, 2001, Canadians have become increasingly preoccupied with national security. The use of profiling and its potentially harmful repercussions on persons belonging to a minority group (Gabor, 2004; Wortley and Tanner, 2003, 2005) and its real contribution to the maintenance of public security is currently under debate. However, profiling is a police tactic that has existed since well before the events of September 11, including its use in connection with anti-drug trafficking and the prediction of traits and characteristics of various types of criminals, as is done during investigations. Despite the ethical questions that must necessarily arise around such a practice, several defenders of profiling still support its effectiveness (or at least its usefulness).

1.1 Summary of the issue

The context of this report is one where security agencies need tools to ensure national security, but there is some sensitivity with respect to the rights protected by the Canadian Human Rights Act. As Karpinski and Théroux (2008) noted in their report The Dilemmas of Ensuring National Security while Protecting Human Rights: the point of view of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the police, border service agencies and intelligence services struggle to exercise their responsibility to guarantee citizen security without becoming instigators of discrimination. Faced with the growing popularity of profiling, attributable in part to the image presented by the popular media, this report focuses on the question of the true effectiveness of the methods involved in this practice. Specifically, this report examines whether profiling constitutes a valid, effective means for the State to maintain national security.

The very definition of profiling raises issues, in terms of not only the current ethical debate, but also the empirical research on its usefulness and many functions. Firstly, its diverse, often divergent, connotations can often easily lead to confusion. More specifically, the term profiling is often used in a context that renders it analogous to discrimination. Authors who adopt this definition, such as Wortley and Tanner (2003; 2005), designate this practice as the act of targeting an individual because of his race or ethnic membership without other reasonable clues for suspecting an individual of a crime. However, most of the empirical literature on profiling approach this construct from a purely descriptive point of view of criminal investigation methods and instead designate the cataloguing of sociodemographic particularities as well as individual and psychological dispositions, personality traits, geographic location and the criminal and legal history of various types of criminals.

For practical reasons and to facilitate reader comprehension, it is important to clarify here that in this report we are interested in the second type of profiling. We stress the importance of a precise definition in terms of the objectives of this work because it is also necessary to clarify what this report does not aim to do, which is to evaluate the harmful psychosocial effects of engaging in such a practice. We recognize, however, that it is difficult to prepare such a study without any reference to the issues arising from this practice for the individuals targeted.

Although profiling seems to have suddenly become a more widespread phenomenon, the influence of the media on popular (and often erroneous) perceptions remains insidious. In fact, the images conveyed by various police series as well as the public attention aroused by certain individuals promoting themselves as profilers provides a sometimes idealized image of the actual role assumed by an "authentic" profiler in a criminal investigation. The resulting popular image of a profiler is a quasi-mythical being with special abilities and intuition that always help him to successfully target wanted criminals.

Two important limits on research into North American profiling should be mentioned for the purposes of this report. On one hand, the number of profilers currently working in Canada is very limited, which does not facilitate the task of conducting and publishing empirical studies on the effectiveness of this practice. Such studies would be a most important complement to the work presented here. On the other hand, the majority of the existing empirical studies on the effectiveness of profiling should be interpreted with caution, given the fact that 1) authentic profilers rarely participate in studies and expose their methods and abilities (Turvey, 1999) and 2) determining exactly which individuals claim to be profilers in research situations would be an arduous task since, in several countries, profiling is not yet a regulated profession, so anyone could legally call himself a profiler (this is not the case in Canada, however). In addition, the practice of profiling, like the criteria for becoming a profiler, can vary significantly from one country to another. Unfortunately, self-proclaimed profilers are especially likely to participate in published studies. This type of profiler rarely has formal training in the field. Consequently, the credibility of the profilers who took part in the majority of the research remains highly variable.

1.2 Objective

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the effectiveness of various types of profiling as identified in empirical literature on the subject. More precisely, the aim of this project is to evaluate, with the help of a critical review of the literature, whether various profiling methods are sufficiently developed and sophisticated to justify their application to national security. Finally, the results of this research, as well as the conclusions drawn from this evaluation, will be used to make recommendations for the Canadian Human Rights Commission with respect to what consideration this method of investigation should be given.

1.3 Plan

This report will cover the empirical effectiveness of profiling as observed in various researched and applied contexts. The report will begin with an introduction to the methodological framework and research criteria used to evaluate the effectiveness of profiling. This will be followed by a presentation of the results of empirical research into the effectiveness of behavioural and geographic profiling as well as its admissibility in court. The next section, which will focus specifically on the preventive aspect of profiling, deals more specifically with its applications in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, school shootings and the prevention of recidivism in incarcerated individuals. Decision-making in situations of uncertainty, notably cognitive bias and heuristic decisions manifested when a person is compelled to make a decision in matters of security based on limited, insufficient or ambiguous information, will be covered in the sixth section of the report. Finally, conclusions drawn from empirical results and limits inherent to the research published to date on the subject of profiling will be presented in the final section.

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