Hello my Freaky Darlings,

While working on Requiem in E Sharp I did quite a bit of research. I read books on South African serial killers and how the South African Police go about catching them. The books were mostly written by former police profiler Micki Pistorius, with titles like Catch me a killer or Profiling Serial Killers. I bothered my brother who is an ex cop and runs his own security company. I think he’s very relieved the book is finished, because it means I don’t bug him every five minutes with new questions about different types of weapons or the best way to kill somebody. I also bothered the cop who lives across the road who was nice enough to answer some of my questions.

I’m very lucky in that I have very good friends who know interesting things or who have other friends who know interesting things about crime and serial killers. One of these friends of a friend happens to be Professor Gerard Labuschagne who runs the Investigative Psychology Unit of the South African Police Service. He was kind enough to read Requiem and let me know what I had wrong. He also spent almost two hours with me, answering my questions and showing me what they do and I have to say he’s got an incredibly tough job, not one I would want to do.

So today I’m going to share some info about his unit.

The Investigative Psychology Unit was established in 1996. It was originally part of the National Special Investigative Unit and works with the whole of the South African Police Service. They have four permanent members on staff. The unit is called in on psychologically motivated crimes such as serial murders, spree killings, mass murder, serial rape, infant rape, paedophiles, stalkers, muti murder, sadistic murders, rape murders, murders with bizarre circumstances and family murders. The unit is involved from investigating the crime scene, profiling the killer, all the way to the court case.

So Gerard and his unit are kept rather busy doing a thankless job. I for one am very grateful to him and his unit. So the next time you’re reading a book about a cop and a serial killer, spare a thought for the real guys dong that job.

Have a thrilling day!