A psychic detective is a person who investigates crimes by using purported paranormal psychic abilities. These may include postcognition, psychometry, telepathy, dowsing, clairvoyance, and remote viewing.
Psychic detectives are frequently sought by law enforcement agencies during homicide and missing persons investigations that have exhausted all other avenues of investigation. However, there is no peer-reviewed academic journal or respected law enforcement publication that reports psychics have ever brought a homicide or missing person case to a successful conclusion.
What is a Psychic Detective?
A psychic detective is a person who uses their extrasensory perception (ESP) to help police solve crimes. They may retro-cognitively observe a crime scene, or they can tune into the minds of people who have been harmed or are missing. They also use their abilities to find lost or hidden treasures.
Psychic detectives can be used to assist law enforcement with many different types of investigations, including homicides and missing persons. They are often hired at the request of victims' families to help solve these cases.
Some agencies have strict policies prohibiting the use of psychics in their criminal investigations. These policies are based on the fact that psychic tips are generally vague and open to interpretation. However, some agencies have a more lenient policy that allows them to look into all information provided to them by psychics, regardless of how it came to them.
This policy has worked well in some cases. For instance, in the case of Elizabeth Smart, a Utah woman who was missing for 13 months, a psychic was brought in to help locate her. This helped lead to the arrest of a man who had abducted her.
However, these policies can have the unfortunate side effect of causing police to overlook legitimate investigative leads or be discouraged from following up on them. This can result in a false sense of security for people who are genuinely missing, or it can create an environment where the victim's friends and family believe that local law enforcement is not doing enough to find them.
In order to avoid this situation, some agencies are establishing procedures whereby the psychic is only brought in when the police have received specific information. This policy is effective because it does not exclude a certain type of source, but simply requires that police follow up on all information provided by any source.
Despite this, many people still believe that psychics are effective at solving crimes and locating missing persons. This is due in large part to the media coverage of high profile cases where a psychic has successfully assisted law enforcement.
How to Become a Psychic Detective
Psychic detectives use paranormal skills like postcognition, psychometry, telepathy, and clairvoyance to solve crimes. They can also use their psychic abilities to help find missing people and to locate their family members.
The use of psychics in criminal investigations has become increasingly popular over the years. This popularity is largely due to the success of many TV shows and movies, such as The X-Files, Fringe, and Medium, which often feature psychics helping to solve crimes.
These shows and movies frequently lead the public to believe that psychic detectives have an incredibly high success rate in solving criminal cases, especially when compared to standard investigative methods. However, a large amount of independent study and peer-reviewed academic research has failed to prove that psychics have any advantages over other test subjects in investigating crimes.
This is because the ability to communicate with the dead is based on a paranormal sense, which is different from what most law enforcement professionals have learned in their formal training. This means that the majority of information given to police investigators by psychic detectives is very vague and does not have any real bearing on the investigation.
During criminal or missing person investigations, psychic detectives are able to tune into the mind of a perpetrator or victim and offer new and potentially valuable insights into the case. They can also retro-cognitively observe events that may have taken place during the investigation, a process known as remote witnessing.
In addition to helping police to investigate cases, psychic detectives can also act as a remote witness for families who are grieving the loss of a loved one or who have been unable to contact their missing family member. They can also give their clients a clearer perspective on the past and present and help them to make sense of difficult and confusing situations.
In order to be a successful psychic detective, you must be knowledgeable about the various paranormal abilities that can be used for crime investigation. These abilities include clairvoyance, telepathy, and dowsing. You also need to be a well-rounded individual who is committed to helping those in need.
Psychic Detective Training
The media is filled with stories of psychic detectives finding missing people and homicide victims, but the reality is far different. Psychic detectives are not as prevalent as the popular media would have us believe, and their effectiveness is also surprisingly low.
The question of whether or not a psychic can be useful in an investigation is a very complicated one. Each agency will have to decide how to utilize the services of a psychic on a case-by-case basis. The decision will depend on a number of factors including the victim's family, the agency's relationship with the media, and the current public and political climate.
Many law enforcement agencies do not have a policy regarding the use of psychics in homicide and missing person investigations. However, many of them do entertain psychics at the request of the victim's family or in high profile cases. In these situations, it is important to keep in mind that psychics do not necessarily have a formal role with the police department and will sometimes be entertaining in the name of media relations.
Despite the popularity of psychic detectives in the media, their success rates are very low and oftentimes a waste of time. According to a survey, less than 6.3% of respondents stated that they have been successful in using the information provided by a psychic on a case.
For this reason, it is important to conduct research and find out whether or not a psychic can be helpful in an investigation. This can be done by reading various articles about the subject, researching law enforcement agencies who have a history of utilizing psychics in their cases, and interviewing law enforcement professionals who have worked with or utilized information provided by psychic detectives.
A recent survey of law enforcement agencies, conducted by the FBI, indicated that a significant percentage of the respondents have at least some form of experience with the use of psychics on homicide and missing person cases. Specifically, 30 of the respondents advised that they had solicited the services of a psychic and 43 of the respondents said that their agency had utilized resources in following up on the information provided by a psychic.
Psychic Detective Certification
Psychic detectives are individuals who utilize a variety of paranormal psychic abilities, such as postcognition (the paranormal perception of the past), psychometry (information psychically gained from objects), telepathy, dowsing, clairvoyance, and remote viewing. They may also use spiritualist or mediumship abilities to help law enforcement uncover clues to a crime.
While the mainstream media has been largely supportive of psychic detectives and their ability to help solve cases, academic research into their use has been largely inconclusive. There is a lack of empirical evidence to support the success rate of psychic detectives on high profile cases, and police agencies and district attorneys are reluctant to publicly endorse their use in any manner.
The results of the survey indicate that although the majority of respondents believe psychics can be utilized during a homicide or missing person investigation, few actually follow up on information provided by a psychic in any way. In fact, only 48.5 percent of respondent agencies indicated that they have ever followed up on a tip provided by a psychic during an investigation.
Most of the responses to this question were ambiguous in nature and did not provide any specifics on how and what they followed up on. Additionally, many of the respondents did not provide any contact information to follow up on the information provided by a psychic.
In addition to the survey results, interviews were conducted with current and former law enforcement professionals who have utilized and/or follow-up on information provided by psychic detectives during high profile homicide and missing person investigations. Most interviewees had decades of experience in the investigative field and were knowledgeable on the benefits and limitations of working with psychics.
The survey resulted in 102 responses from law enforcement officers who worked on a variety of high profile cases, including homicide and missing persons investigations. These investigators were asked to fill out a short questionnaire regarding the use of psychics in a homicide or missing person investigation. The survey also contained questions pertaining to the agency’s policy and/or procedure of using psychic detectives, as well as whether or not they had ever tracked the amount of money spent, time and resources invested, and manpower hours utilized in response to a tip from a psychic.
Do Psychic Detectives Really Help Solve Crimes?
Psychic detectives have assisted law enforcement agencies with numerous high profile investigations. They have assisted with abductions, murders, and disappearances.
However, empirical evidence supporting their use in these cases is lacking. In addition, most law enforcement agencies do not track the resources utilized in response to information provided by psychics.
Background
A psychic detective is a person who claims to be able to use telepathy or clairvoyance to help law enforcement agencies with their investigations. While this is not a new idea, it has become increasingly popular over the years because of the popularity of TV shows like The X-Files and Fringe.
Psychic detectives are usually called to the scene of a crime for their assistance. This can be a valuable tool in some cases and can often help police officers to identify additional evidence or confirm that they are on the right track.
Some of these psychics are used by law enforcement agencies to help solve crimes, particularly homicide and missing persons investigations. These high profile investigations usually receive a great deal of media attention and the use of these psychics can be seen as a way to increase their credibility in the eyes of the public.
However, a large number of psychic detectives are not legitimate and do not have any real abilities. Many of these people are simply attempting to scam unsuspecting victims and criminals out of money.
One of the most famous and infamous psychic detectives was Dutchman Gerard Croiset (1909-1980), who solved some of the century’s most baffling crimes by using clairvoyant powers. He became a household name in the Netherlands and travelled the world helping police in half a dozen countries.
He is credited with locating hundreds of lost objects, accurately foretelling future events, and excelling in paranormal healing. He is also known for his ability to retrocognite events and was often seen as the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional character of Sherlock Holmes.
As a result, Croiset has been celebrated internationally as one of the most talented clairvoyants of all time. Professor Wilhelm Tenhaeff, a well-known mystical researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, recognized Croiset’s extraordinary powers when he was only six years old and began teaching him how to use them.
Croiset soon started to assist the Dutch police. He was a member of the Netherlands Association for Clairvoyants and had contacts all over Europe. In fact, he helped the police in several countries in their search for children who had disappeared.
Methods
Psychics have long been known to provide invaluable leads and information to law enforcement agencies through visions, dreams, and telepathy. They have helped to solve many baffling crimes, often by providing valuable evidence that conventional methods of investigation have failed to detect.
Despite their reputation for helping law enforcement with missing persons and homicide investigations, their success rate has been mixed. Some police officers and organizations believe psychics are useful in certain cases, while others consider them unreliable and deny their use.
The popularity of popular TV shows like X-Files, Fringe, and Medium has fueled public interest in psychic detectives. These programs show law enforcement officials seeking out psychics for help in solving high profile homicide and missing person cases, often after all conventional avenues of inquiry have been exhausted.
Pop culture articles about psychic detectives also generally depict them as successful in their work. They usually mention a few cases they were involved in and include quotes from law enforcement officials or private detectives validating their success.
Some researchers have even conducted studies to determine the value of psychics and other non-traditional detectives in crime investigations. The results of these studies have found that, under controlled conditions, psychics perform no better than chance in providing investigatively useful information.
In a recent survey of police investigators, only 6.3% of respondents had firsthand knowledge of a psychic being helpful in bringing a homicide or missing person case to a positive resolution. This result is somewhat surprising, considering that most police agencies solicit psychics in a variety of circumstances.
Another interesting point to note in this survey was that of the 30 investigators who responded that their agency solicited a psychic in question six, only seven of those responded that they considered the information provided by the psychic to be helpful. This is significantly lower than the response of 23.6% who advised that they had not followed up on the information provided by a psychic in question five.
The difference between these two responses is a clear indication that most of the information obtained by psychics in this study was not solicited by the law enforcement agencies but provided by the psychic detective on their own accord. This is an important consideration when trying to establish a reliable and credible level of success for these detectives.
Results
Psychic detectives are an invaluable resource for law enforcement, but the results of their work in actual investigations have been less than stellar. Several academic studies have shown that psychics do not perform better than chance in crime investigation. For example, a British study pitted self-proclaimed psychics against undergraduate psychology students. They were given an object that was involved in a solved crime and were asked to predict whether it could be related to the event. The psychics were no better than the students, and neither group performed any better than chance alone.
The results of these studies are dismal, and have been repeated in many other similar tests. For instance, a study conducted at the University of Hertfordshire compared three professional psychics to three undergraduate psychology students. The students were given an object that was related to a crime, and were told to describe what they saw. They were unable to accurately predict the object's relationship to the crime, and neither group performed better than chance.
In the same study, a group of students and police detectives were also paired up for the same task. The investigators were able to provide much more detailed information than the student group. The investigators' statements tended to be more qualified, and they seemed to feel less at ease with the task than did the students.
However, this does not mean that the detectives are wrong. The data indicate that the psychics were right in some instances. It is not unusual for a detective to have a “hunch” or a “vision” about the crime.
Another interesting aspect of this research is that it shows that a number of psychics are able to provide very accurate information. The researchers also note that psychics are often able to cultivate a relationship with the family of the victim. This can be very helpful in obtaining valuable investigative leads.
One of the main ways that psychics are able to obtain useful information is by studying objects that the victim has. For example, a pair of shoes or jewelry can be very informative about the person who owns it. They can show a variety of characteristics, such as size, style, age, condition, and wear pattern. They can also tell the person's personality and the things that they enjoy doing. Psychic detectives can sometimes get this information from a person's possessions, which makes them very useful in criminal investigation.
Conclusions
Psychic detectives are the subjects of many television shows and movies, but do they really help solve crime? It's a controversial subject. Some say they don't help, while others say they're a valuable tool that often helps them find leads.
The use of psychics in official investigations is much rarer than they are portrayed in the media. In fact, some police departments prohibit psychic consultations altogether. Those who do allow them often do so only when the victim's family requests it and only after an investigation has gathered sufficient evidence to warrant its use.
In addition to this, the accuracy of a psychic's predictions can be difficult to verify when they are initially given. For example, a psychic might claim that a body was located near water or that a number of clues were found around the home. Until the case is solved, it's impossible to know if this is true or not.
Most alleged successes by psychics are what police officers call “retrofitting.” These improbable claims are usually made after the facts of the case are known, at which point the psychic can be matched with actual information that may be useful to law enforcement. In this manner, the psychic can re-purpose the information they originally provided to police into a seemingly accurate “hit.”
This is an agenda-driven pseudoscience that uses cherry-picking and careful selection of evidence to show a spectacular success ratio. However, the best way to judge whether psychic detectives are useful is not through this reductive method but by examining the entire data set and finding a statistically significant rate of success that is above chance.
Another factor that contributes to the apparent success of a psychic is their ability to cultivate a close relationship with the victim's family. When a psychic can make a personal connection with the family, she or he may be able to provide more reliable and legitimate information that can help investigators locate the perpetrator of a crime.
Moreover, it's also important to keep in mind that psychics do not perform well under controlled test conditions. They do better than average test subjects in terms of generalization, but they perform just as poorly when predicting specific events such as the time of a murder or the location of a missing person.