VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The former Vancouver Police officer who was the first to suggest the case of Vancouver's missing women was the work of a serial killer is pleased with a Vancouver Police Department report into the investigation's shortcomings.
Dr. Kim Rossmo, now well-known for his geographic profiling work, developed a theory that a serial killer was at work back in 1999, but his work was dismissed by management.
Rossmo calls the report into the handling of the Robert Pickton case an 'amazing autopsy of a failed criminal investigation.'
He says it also demonstrates how frustrating it was to deal with higher-ranking officials at the time. "You have to give a lot of credit to the efforts of some of the people at the lower end of the rank structure, that with very few resources, because they didn't have the power to get resources, did the best they could. And they just weren't properly supported by upper management."
He says while it appears the VPD has done its best to address the organizational issues, other problems remain. "There's still structural issues in place, the most important one being the fact we have a single metropolitan area policed by a number of different police agencies. And that is just a recipe for inefficiencies and ineffectiveness and the Pickton case is just a dramatic example of that."
Rossmo came to the conclusion a predator was at work using mathematical models that showed the disappearance of so many women couldn't have been a coincidence. However, his work was dismissed, and Rossmo was eventually terminated from the department. Rossmo now teaches at Texas State University.