CPS Alumnus Michael Bourke, Ph.D. (2000) Provides Training for Police Hostage Negotiators

On January 21, 2010 Center for Psychological Studies alumnus Michael Bourke, Ph.D. (2000) gave an invited address on Child Sexual Offenses at Nova Southeastern University (NSU). Bourke is Chief Psychologist for the United States Marshall’s Service (USMS), serving as the head of the USMS Behavioral Analysis Unit. The unit, a component of the National Sex Offender Targeting Center, works in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), acting as an international intelligence and operations center supporting the identification, investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of noncompliant sex offenders.

Prior to joining the Marshall’s Service, Bourke worked as a clinical psychologist first for the Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) and Hypersexuality Management Program (HMP), and then for the Commitment and Treatment Program for Sexually Dangerous Persons (CTP) at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina. During his career Bourke has worked in several state and federal prisons as well as the Dallas Police Department’s Psychology Services Unit. In addition to giving invited addresses on the topics of Internet child exploitation and sex offender typology at national and international conferences, Bourke has been an invited instructor at the FBI Academy as well as several divisions of the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Secret Service, INTERPOL, and numerous other law enforcement and intelligence agencies. He is a consultant to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU-3), and is adjunct faculty at NSU and the U.S. Department of Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment (DACA).

Sexual offenses against children, specifically child exploitation, are on the increase. Bourke stated that law enforcement officials have been thrust into a demographic which was rare prior to 1994. Eighty two percent of the growth in child exploitation in America can be attributed to child pornography, 17% to sex transportation, and 1% to sexual abuse.

Bourke’s dynamic presentation focused on special issues and strategies in crisis (hostage) negotiations with sex offenders as well as methods used by law enforcement officials to combat child exploitation, focusing on the usefulness of psychology in treating perpetrators, victims, and as a preventive measure for those exposed to graphic child exploitation materials. The need to implement preventative measures for law enforcement officers exposed to horrifying material associated with sex offenders was also discussed.

Local Law Enforcement officials including hostage negotiators, as well as child abuse and sex crimes investigators from several area agencies, the FBI Miami Field Office, and students and faculty members from the Center for Psychological Studies attended Bourke’s presentation. The Center for Psychological Studies appreciates that Bourke took time from a very hectic schedule to visit NSU.