Faculty Profile for Dr. Kim Rossmo

profile photo for Dr. Kim Rossmo
Dr. Kim Rossmo
Professor — School of Criminal Justice & Criminology
HINES 04
phone: (512) 245-2006
Scholarly/Creative Work
Awards
Grants
Service

Biography Section

Biography and Education

 Dr. Kim Rossmo is a full professor and the Director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Texas State University. He has researched and published in the areas of environmental criminology, the geography of crime, and criminal investigations. Dr. Rossmo was formerly the Director of Research for the Police Foundation in Washington, DC. Prior to that, he was the Detective Inspector in charge of the Vancouver Police Department’s Geographic Profiling Section, which provided investigative support for the international law enforcement community. Dr. Rossmo is a member of the Police Investigative Operations Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and was a commissioner and chair for the Austin Public Safety Commission for 10 years. He is an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, sits on the editorial board for Homicide Studies, and is a full fellow of the International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship. Recently, Dr. Rossmo completed projects studying the geospatial structure of terrorist cells, geographic profiling applications in counter-insurgency, and patterns of illegal border crossings. He is currently the principal investigator for two National Institute of Justice research grants, one on offender decision-making and the other on the systemic causes of wrongful convictions. He has published books on geographic profiling and criminal investigative failures, and a crime atlas for Texas. Dr. Rossmo has been awarded the Governor General of Canada Police Exemplary Service Medal.

Teaching Interests

 geographic profiling, environmental criminology, criminal investigations, wrongful convictions, policing, serial murder

Research Interests

 geography of crime, criminal investigations

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Rossmo, K., & Summers, L. (2021). Offender decision-making and displacement. Justice Quarterly, 38(375–405). https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2019.1666904
  • Rossmo, K. (2020). Jack the Ripper: A wrongful conviction (Commentary on: Louhelainen J., Miller D. Forensic investigation of a shawl linked to the “Jack the Ripper” murders). Journal of Forensic Sciences, 65, 330–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14191
  • Rossmo, K. (2019). Measuring the mind of a murderer: Psychometrics and crime. In Practical-criminological atlas of forensic psychometrics (Volume I): Murders (pp. 13-17). (pp. 13–17). Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Jurídica Sepin.
  • Rossmo, K., Velarde, L., & Mahood, T. (2019). Optimizing wilderness search and rescue: A Bayesian GIS analysis. Journal of Search and Rescue, 3, 44–58.
  • Eck, J., & Rossmo, K. (2019). The new detective: Rethinking criminal investigations. Criminology & Public Policy, 18, 601–622.

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: Twenty-Year Service Award, Texas State University. August 2003 - August 2023
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Denis-Szabo Prize, University of Montreal. November 11, 2021
  • Award / Honor Recipient: President's Award, International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship. December 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Paul Tappan Award, Western Society of Criminology. February 2019
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Fifteen-Year Service Award, Texas State University. August 2003 - September 2018

Selected Grants

  • Rossmo, Kim (Principal), Chai, Miin Miin (Co-Principal). The Mortal Tragedy: Analyzing Body Disposal Patterns in Homicide Cases, National Institute of Justice, Federal, $166500. (Funded: January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2026). Grant.
  • Rossmo, Kim (Principal), Pollock, Joycelyn M. Case Deconstruction of Criminal Investigative Failures, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Federal, $389690. (Submitted: 2014, Funded: January 2015 - January 2018). Grant.
  • Rossmo, Kim (Principal), Summers, Lucia (Co-Principal). Offender Decision-Making: Decision Trees and Displacement, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Federal, $377528. (Submitted: 2013, Funded: January 2014 - December 2017). Grant.
  • Rossmo, Kim (Principal). Military Applications of Geographic Profiling, U.S. Marine Corps, Federal, $1520000. (Funded: March 2010 - August 2013). Grant.
  • Rossmo, Kim. GeoProfiling and Polyagent Prediction (GP3), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Federal, $660000. (Funded: October 2008 - May 2009). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Chair
Tenure and Promotion/Reappointment Review Committee
August 2022-Present
Editorial Review Board Member
The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principle
2020-Present
Chair
Subvention Committee
2019-Present
Member
Justice Institute of British Columbia, Tactical Criminal Analysis/Intelligence Analysis Program
2016-Present
Editorial Review Board Member
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society
2013-Present