Southeastern Law Enforcement Training Seminars
MAY 31 - JUNE 3, 2010
The VIDOCQ Society is a members-only crime-solving club that meets once a month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. VIDOCQ will present programs on Monday, May 31, Wednesday, June 2, and Thursday, June 3 in Lawrenceburg. There will be seven Society Members who will be available during SELETS to discuss a “cold case”, one-on-one, with the appropriate law enforcement official. Jurisdictions registered for this seminar are invited to bring one “cold case” file and meet with VIDOCQ. Please advise SELETS if you wish to set up a private meeting by calling 931-762-7777 or e-mail selets@charterinternet.com
The VIDOCQ Society is named for Eugene Francois Vidocq, the ground-breaking 19th century French detective who helped police by using the psychology of the criminal to solve “cold case” homicides. Vidocq was a former criminal himself and used his knowledge of the criminal mind to look at murder from the psychological perspective of the perpetrator. At meetings, the Society members listen to local law enforcement officials from around the world who bring in cold cases for review.
The VIDOCQ Society members are forensic professionals; current and former FBI profilers, homicide investigators, scientists, psychologists, prosecutors and coroners who use their experience to provide justice for investigations that have gone cold. Members are selected by committee invitation only.
The Society was formed in 1990 by William Fleisher, Richard Walter and Frank Bender. It solved its first case in 1991, clearing an innocent man of involvement in the murder of Huey Cox in Little Rock, Arkansas.
VIDOCQ will only consider cases that meet certain requirements: they must be unsolved deaths more than two years old; the victims cannot have been involved in criminal activity such as prostitution or drug dealing; and the case must be formally presented to them by the appropriate law enforcement agency. The Society does not charge for its services and pays for the travel expenses of law enforcement agents who come to present cases.
The Society was a plot point in the finale of the 2007-2008 season of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and is the subject of the book, “The Murder Room”, by Michael Capuzzo.
View the biographies of the VIDOCQ cold case team
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