# Do police use psychics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 21, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-use-psychics/388830 "2007-01-21T12:15:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-use-psychics/388830/1 "2007-01-21T12:15:25Z")
I was going to post this in gq, but I’ll amend the question… Are taxpayers in 2006 actually paying fraud “psychics” or investing time in investigating their claims? I guess I want a factual answer, but it would be nice for some accountability for this bullshit in the end, if they are. I can see how this crap might happen 40 years ago, but is it still going on today? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-use-psychics/388830/2 "2007-01-21T17:08:29Z")
I certain that no police department actually pays psychics a single penny for their services; there’s better ways to spend a limited budget and the negative publicity would be too great. Psychics who work with the police are either volunteers or do it for the publicity. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-use-psychics/388830/3 "2007-01-21T23:46:29Z")
I seem to recall Penn & Teller stating on one of their Bullshit episodes that no psychic has ever successfully solved a case for a police department. Don’t recall them saying if they were HIRED or not. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-use-psychics/388830/4 "2007-01-22T00:05:16Z")
Googling “police hired psychic” yielded at least one example: > [@](#): > > After four hours of searching Oxford police and volunteers again came up empty-handed in their search for Charles Capel, a missing Alzheimer’s patient. > > …Authorities have conducted several searches since then, but this time Oxford police hired a psychic to help them focus on a specific area to search. [Cite](http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/10/24/oxford_alzheimers.html) And here’s a Straight Dope Mailbag answer from 2000: [If psychics are frauds, why do police keep asking them for help?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpsychiccop.html) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-use-psychics/388830/5 "2007-01-22T00:25:23Z")
Robert Ressler, pioneering profiler and author of [Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-5789048-8205262?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Ressler&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go) , defends the practice. I wouldn’t call his argument persuasive, but some law enforcement professionals think it’s reasonable if you’re out of leads and desperate. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-use-psychics/388830/6 "2007-01-22T00:43:05Z")
Yes some police use psychics. For the same reason regular people use them - there are gullible people everywhere. If you want to know who believes in the supernatural, look around you. To hear the churches tell it, most people believe.