Investigative Psychologist: Police Insight & Crime Analysis

Last Updated:
February 6, 2026

Investigative psychology is a relatively new area of applied psychology. Working within the criminal justice system, it is a specialist field within forensic psychology.

Psychologists in this field work with the police to help solve crimes by understanding the types of crimes and criminals. Different uses of violence, for instance, can tell investigative psychologists what personality types to look for in solving a crime. The science is useful in predicting how criminals might act after a crime such as serial killing, and that guides police toward individuals acting in incriminating ways.

Investigative psychology is closely related to forensic psychology , but is more concerned with police decision-making than with the court system and helping victims.

Investigative psychologists might be called upon to advise police on how to handle a wide range of criminals. To take an extreme example, a woman talking on her cell phone in traffic should be treated very differently from someone with a weapon threatening children in a school.

In contrast to the historical ‘profiler’, the investigative psychologist makes ‘investigative inferences’ about criminals based on scientific facts, empirical evidence and psychological theories.

It essentially developed when psychologists felt that if they were to be asked to add value to an investigation or process within the criminal justice system, it should be based upon research, data and scientific theory rather than ‘gut instinct’.

Investigative psychologists often look for patterns within criminal behavior to develop theories about both the psychological and sociological characteristics of offenders – this may also involve linking different crimes to the same perpetrator.

Investigative psychologists work on cases of all levels of severity where such an approach may help an investigation, not just the most serious cases or those thought to involve psychopaths. As well as providing insight to an investigation around characteristics of the offender, they will often recommend strategies for the ongoing investigation, such as interview techniques etc.

Investigative psychologists may also be called upon to assess evidence given to police or courts, providing insight into the reliability of eyewitness testimony or corroborating/disputing the accuracy of testimony or confession for example.

In addition, they may be asked to give opinions on an offender’s likelihood of violence – again, any such ‘opinion’ will be based on empirical evidence and statistics alongside psychological theory.

Finally, investigative psychologists may be involved in other areas of legal investigation such as insurance fraud, corruption or invasion of taxes. They may also be asked for professional opinions in matters such as crowd control. In these respects, their involvement is usually preemptive – to help establish detection processes and identify problem areas for further investigation.

Investigative psychologists help police by providing insight into crimes and offenders that are based upon scientifically established facts and evidence. They can assist in crimes of all kinds, not just those seen as potentially committed by psychopaths.

Investigative psychologists can help police to make decisions throughout an investigation to ensure that police focus their efforts where it is most likely to produce results by providing insight into important personal characteristics or behavioral patterns of the offender.

Such insights might include: which factors of the crime are most important; in which area is the offender likely to live; and is the offender likely to commit another crime. This information means that police can target resources in the most appropriate areas, appropriate known criminals can be considered and relevant database searches can be carried out.

These insights are all based on scientific reasoning from information already gathered and application of psychological…