astronomy

Kim Rossmo

Kim Rossmo is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kim Rossmo rather than just read about it. In short: Kim Rossmo (born 1955) is a Canadian criminologist specializing in geographic profiling. Career He joined the Vancouver Police Department as a civilian employee in 1978 and became a sworn officer in 1980.

Key takeaways

Kim Rossmo belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kim Rossmo to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kim Rossmo from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kim Rossmo (born 1955) is a Canadian criminologist specializing in geographic profiling.

Career He joined the Vancouver Police Department as a civilian employee in 1978 and became a sworn officer in 1980. In 1987 he received a master's degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University and in 1995 became the first police officer in Canada to obtain a doctorate in criminology. His dissertation research resulted in a new criminal investigative methodology called geographic profiling, based on Rossmo's formula. This technology was integrated into a specialized crime analysis software product called Rigel. The Rigel product is developed by the software company Environmental Criminology Research Inc. (ECRI), which Rossmo co-founded. In 1995, he was promoted to detective inspector and founded a geographic profiling section within the Vancouver Police Department. In 1998, his analysis of cases of missing sex trade workers determined that a serial killer was at work, a conclusion ultimately vindicated by the arrest and conviction of Robert Pickton in 2002. A retired Vancouver police staff sergeant has claimed that animosity toward Rossmo delayed the arrest of Pickton, leaving him free to carry out additional murders. His analytic results were not accepted at the time and after a dispute with senior members of the department he left in 2001. His unsuccessful lawsuit against the Vancouver Police Board for wrongful dismissal exposed considerable apparent dysfunction within that department.

Washington DC and Texas After serving as director of research at the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C., from 2001 to 2003, he moved to Texas State University where he currently holds the Endowed Chair in Criminology and is director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation. Since then, he has applied techniques of geographic profiling to counterterrorism, animal foraging, biological invasions, and epidemiology. He has also researched and published on the subject of criminal investigative failures. He has written three books.

References

External links paper by Rossmo on his method speaker bio Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kim Rossmo

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kim Rossmo claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kim Rossmo before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kim Rossmo ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kim Rossmo

In research: Kim Rossmo appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kim Rossmo in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kim Rossmo is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, Canadian criminologists, Canadian sociologist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kim Rossmo outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Kim Rossmo in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kim Rossmo means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kim Rossmo out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kim Rossmo in simple terms?

Kim Rossmo (born 1955) is a Canadian criminologist specializing in geographic profiling. Career He joined the Vancouver Police Department as a civilian employee in 1978 and became a sworn officer in 1980.

Why does Kim Rossmo matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kim Rossmo?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kim Rossmo.