The crime drama Criminal Minds ran for a whopping 15 seasons before finally wrapping up this year. Despite the violent nature of the content, the series was able to keep the audience intrigued with its edgy drama.
However, even though viewers have been fascinated by the proceedings of the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU) for years, not many know much about the unit as such. In fact, criminal profiling has been featured or been referenced not only in Criminal Minds but in movies and on popular television over the years as a mysterious, high-profile analytical method that gives one a peek into the criminal psyche. Let us look at ten things that escaped us about this esteemed unit of the FBI.
BAU Is Real
The first thing to know is that the BAU is not a figment of imagination, but indeed a unit within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The unit was created as part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime.
First established as the Behavioural Science Unit (BSU) in the 1970s, the unit was mainly a research wing until it was re-established in the 1990s in its current form. The unit consults in violent criminal cases and works in tandem with investigators.
BAU Consults In A Variety of Crimes
Whereas in the show the brunt of the cases appears to be gruesome, psychopathic acts of serial killings and sexual crimes, the real BAU unit's purview is a bit wider. BAU's authority extends into different types of crimes--their expertise may be sought in cases of violence perpetrated against adults, or children, threats of terrorism, arson, etc.
It goes without saying that the BAU is a highly selective, elite unit within the FBI who offer research and analysis of criminal behavior to assist law enforcement organizations within their jurisdiction.
Applying To BAU Ain't For Everbody
The CBS crime drama has indicated that the BAU goes hunting for geniuses to their team, picking them off the FBI academy or seeking them off the streets.
However, in reality, getting into BAU is highly competitive and open only to agents within the FBI who have years of experience and an excellent track record. The range of skills required at any time apparently often depends on the nature of vacancies available.
BAU Officers Don't Catch Criminals
One of the primary USPs of Criminal Minds, apart from the profiling of an offender's mind, is the heart-stopping cat and mouse game that the agents have to play with the perpetrators. Catching an 'unsub'--fans know that an unsub is an unknown or unidentified subject--is just about as exciting as coming to conclusions about his warped psychology.
However, agents at the BAU do not actually perform fieldwork, nor are they involved in physically hunting criminals down. Their task ends with researching and analyzing the behavior of a particular perpetrator and handing over the information to the relevant task force.
No Such Thing As Profilers
Popular culture is often known to take liberties with real-life concepts, fictionalizing them for mainstream audiences. And it's hard when the bubble finally breaks.
Unfortunately for fans, the highly popularized idea of an FBI profiler is really just an idea. The BAU does conduct psychological profiling of sorts but it does not really have a position known as a profiler. The agents are experts in criminal psychology, reviewing case files, researching and analyzing criminal behavior, offering valuable insights into behavior patterns and assisting investigators with threats, and critical incidents analysis. The process they follow is known as criminal investigative analysis.
BAU Has Several Divisions
Unlike in the show, where only one team is responsible for assessing all sorts of violent crimes that require consultation, the real-life organization is separated into divisions that respond to specific types of crimes.
The BAU has divisions looking into counterterrorism and arson, as well as others that deal with child abduction, crimes against adults, corruption. Over the years the BAU has also extended its expertise to non-violent offenses, white-collar crimes, and cybercrimes.
BAU in Criminal Minds Re Details
The production designers of the show take pains to achieve the look and feel of the real organization, however much fictionalized some of the content might be.
The BAU sets go into details, complete with plaques commemorating the core values of the FBI, awards of excellence received by the agents, complete wardrobes, etc. Fans would definitely covet a behind-the-scenes tour of the FBI's profiling offices on set.
BAU In Popular Culture
As already mentioned, the BAU has featured or been mentioned not just on Criminal Minds but in various other films and television shows over the years.
The Behavioural Science Unit, which later evolved into the Behavioural Analytical Unit, was featured in the classic psychological thriller, The Silence of the Lambs. It is rumored that BSU agents actually consulted during the making of the film and that Jodie Foster, who played Clarice Starling, was guided by an FBI agent to get her role right. The BSU has also been mentioned in other crime dramas like HBO's The Wire. The Netflix Original, Mindhunter, focuses on the formative years of the BSU.
Real-Life Agent In Criminal Minds
The showrunners of the popular crime drama have acknowledged that the characters of Jason Gideon, a senior supervisory special agent, played by actor Mandy Patinkin who left the show post-season 2, as well as that of David Rossi, the senior agent who took over from Gideon, were inspired by real-life retired FBI special agent John E. Douglas.
Douglas was a veteran of the FBI, one of the trailblazers of the art and science of criminal profiling. His true-crime book "Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit" published in 1995, has since spurned many screen interpretations, the most recent being Mindhunter, centered on two FBI detectives, one of whom is rumored to be based on Douglas himself.
Applying Criminal Psychology
Criminal Minds serves up for the audience sensationalized, intense drama surrounding the extent of human depravity. But what viewers don't know is that in the 1970s, when the BSU was first being formed, criminal psychology or hostage negotiation was not really considered applicable to catching criminals on the ground.
The series Mindhunter brings this to the fore, focusing on the BSU in its nascent stages and the struggle to make criminal psychology and the assessment of behavior patterns an acceptable procedure for identifying and bringing down bizarre criminals. While Criminal Minds shows a fully operational BAU, Mindhunter tells the story of the BSU during its inception.
