Question E

[Jonetta]

Jerry’s past history with the FBI left him with nothing but disdain about profiling. Lucy appealed to him from several different angles and, in the end, decided to set up the meeting with Dillon. What is your opinion of how she handled the situation? Was having Hans be there unexpectedly a benefit or a potential distraction for Jerry? What impression do you think Jerry really had?

[Anita]

She tried every way she could to get Jerry to at least listen to a profile. Lucy is a big believer in profiling, and I agree that it is a valuable tool in an investigation. But Jerry was also right that it would be hard evidence that would nail the killer. Unfortunately, they had next to no hard evidence. Lucy was right to contact Dillion and when he and Hans get together it is a solid profile. Jerry was a tough customer, but it gave him something to think.

[Sharon]

Lucy did everything right. She did her best to show Jerry profiling benefits from every perspective. He refused to open his mind. I found him very frustrating. Personally, I would have gone to his boss, but I know that would make the situation worse.

Hans added to Dillion's profile. Besides he has a special gift and he could read Jerry's reactions and counter his arguments.

[Robin]

Jerry was stubborn. He didn't want anything to do with profiling the killer and just wanted to stick to old fashioned detective work.

I was surprised Lucy just didn't talk to Dillon about the profile and leave Jerry out of it. I like the way she got him to sit down and listen to what they were saying. When Hans mentioned knowing some colleagues of Jerry, he wasn't as opposed as he was when he found out what they were going to talk about.

[Jonetta]

Jerry seemed to believe that profiling gives you an answer; Lucy knows it provides you focus. After every attempt to appeal to him reasonably, she was left no choice but to do her job. Lucy did it in the most respectful way, regardless of how dismissive Jerry was being.

Yes, Jerry is right that it’s all about evidence…but not to the exclusion of tools that make you smarter in knowing where to look. He’s right to have a level of skepticism but dead wrong in outright ignoring a valuable tool. The one thing that profile did was have them place more focus on Steven’s murder, which ended up being right. It was funny how Dillon thought the killer was a woman and Hans couldn’t pick any gender at all. That was perfect in that two top professionals in the field agreed on just about everything in that profile but had some nuanced differences.

The one thing I respected about Jerry was that in every other aspect he was a skilled investigator, which made his behavior about profiling so out of kilter. But it wasn’t the subject of profiling driving him…it was his guilt about losing those two young boys. It just messed up his perspective. I also liked how he respected Lucy’s points of view, even when he wasn’t understanding it. He gave her space. That told me he really was a good guy.

[Anita]

A lot of times partners have to agree to disagree on an aspect of a case. Jerry at least was not being disrespectful to Lucy over the profiling and was willing to at least listen. His first experience with the FBI turned out so badly based, in part, on a faulty profile.

[Jonetta]

Anita, I agree. Even Jerry noticed she had mad skills and didn’t dismiss that. He didn’t overlook what he respected.