By Stephanie Hatton
Police1 Member
While there are those within the law enforcement community who will fervently defend using self-proclaimed psychics in order to develop further leads in cases that have grown relatively cold, there are a plethora of professional law enforcement agencies around the country who have duly questioned their use.
So, the question remains: Should law enforcement agencies utilize psychics? The reason for my interest in this particular subject is a rather personal one in that I have known several well-respected law enforcement officers who have actually consulted with psychics on cases that were basically going nowhere fast.
Each time, the psychics provided either vague or rather-broad information that did not result in the solving of their cases.
Multitude of Frauds
My personal opinion in this matter is that there is currently no scientific proof available that definitively proves (one way or the other) that psychics truly possess supernatural or paranormal powers that feature the ability to “see” or “know” things that average human beings are simply not capable of “seeing” or “knowing.”
My sincere desire in writing this article is to illustrate that while most of these alleged psychics mean well, there really is no credible scientific evidence demonstrating that an individual claiming to have some sort of ‘psychic power’ has ever actually solved a crime.
Notably, the vast majority of the scientific community has traditionally scoffed at the mere mention of the word “psychic” due to all of the negative connotations that are associated with and attached to the mystical world of psychics. I imagine that many of the pessimistic views pertaining to the authenticity of psychics stems from the multitude of frauds within the psychic community that have already been fully exposed.
Does the name Sylvia Browne ring a bell? It very well should, as she has been exposed numerous times for giving families false information in regards to their deceased and/or missing loved ones. While there are many other psychics to choose from, Sylvia Browne is one that instantly comes to mind. I am not trying to pick on poor Sylvia Browne; so much as I am simply stating well documented information that is known about her.
Most recently, Sylvia Browne was exposed for making a false prediction in 2004, in regards to Amanda Berry. Sylvia Browne told Amanda’s mother Louwana Miller that her daughter was dead. Sadly, Louwana Miller died in 2006 of heart failure, never knowing that her daughter was being held captive — along with Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight — by Ariel Castro, who kidnapped, repeatedly raped, and beat all three of these women in his house of horrors in Cleveland.
It has been estimated that Sylvia Browne has given false and/or misleading information to the police as well as grieving family members in at least 115 cases. With this kind of deplorable track record, why would anyone believe a word that comes out of this woman’s mouth? Yet she continues to sell books, make television and radio appearances, conduct private readings and yes, she also offers her “help” to law enforcement.
Million Dollar Skeptic
Currently, a well-known skeptic of the paranormal community named James Randi has offered any self-proclaimed psychic a million dollars to provide evidence — under supervised scientific observations — that he/she truly possesses psychic abilities. To date, no psychic has even attempted to accept Mr. Randi’s scientific challenge let alone try to showcase their psychic powers to the scientific community. Notably, Mr. Randi has designated that any psychic who wants to take his challenge must have a media profile (meaning that the psychic must be easily identified within the media via a television interview, newspaper story, press release, etc.) that outlines exactly what powers the supposed psychic claims to have.
Additionally, the psychic must provide evidence of an academic endorsement. Once these two conditions have been met, anyone who has voluntarily endorsed the psychic (publicly and academically) must provide a statement that verifies their complete endorsement of the reputed psychic.
I find it utterly fascinating that after approximately 150 years of scientific testing of psychics that there has not been even one person who has clearly demonstrated that they actually possess a single psychic ability. Yet there are those within the law enforcement community who will steadfastly defend their use of psychics during police investigations. I must admit that this is a bit mind boggling to me.
While I completely understand the motivation to make use of every possible tool when it comes to successfully solving cold cases — especially ones involving serial rape, murder and child abductions — I do not understand why law enforcement even tolerates the involvement of psychics when all of the proof points towards psychics bringing zero credibility to the table.
Even the officers that I have personally known to use psychics have stated that psychics very rarely come through with finding people or even remotely solving their cases.
Morally and Ethically Bankrupt
Therefore, I find it absolutely unacceptable that so many psychics are out there making grandiose claims about allegedly solving so many murder cases as well as locating multitudes of missing people, when in reality, the only thing that they are doing is exploiting people and making a nice living off of duping those who are grieving over the loss of a loved one.
Markedly, this is one of the biggest reasons why I think that psychics are morally and ethically bankrupt as have entirely no business whatsoever being involved in police investigations. I feel that it is somewhat of a conflict of interest for law enforcement to knowingly sanction psychics when:
a.) there is zero scientific evidence to wholly support endorsing them in the first place; and
b.) these psychics should be put out of business and castigated for being flat out con artists.
Ultimately, I feel that it totally compromises the integrity of any on-going investigation and makes a mockery of the entire investigation process. I know that some people will see no harm in using them, but quite frankly, I cannot think of a valid reason or benefit for any department to even remotely entertain the idea of asking for the ‘assistance’ of any purported psychic during an investigation .
About the Author
Stephanie Hatton is a former police officer and current criminal justice professor from Ohio.
