Should Psychics Play a Role in Police Investigations?

This weekend I had the extreme pleasure of attending a writing workshop that featured a homicide detective from the Calgary Police Services.  Detective Sweet’s presentation was fascinating, graphic–turning my stomach more than once—and incredibly enlightening. I came away with so much more appreciation for what the men and women on the police force deal with every day in the name of public service. So first off, I want to say, ‘thank you’ to both the city police and the R.C.M.P.

Now, because my interests lie in the paranormal/mythological realm, I was fascinated to hear Detective Sweet talk about the volume of information that comes in from psychics. He was quick to point out that none of this information is usable because the source in non-scientific, but that it can be fascinating all the same. He went so far as to say there was one incident where the police actually considered investigating the psychic who’d contacted them for involvement in the crime because she had knowledge of the incident that only a few members of the police, the victim (deceased) and the perpetrator, had.

Interestingly enough, today in the Calgary Herald, there is an article that speaks to this issue.

Calgary psychics offer gifts to dubious police

 By Jason van Rassel, Calgary  Herald

The article talks about the fact that police are unable to use psychic evidence in court and are reluctant to listen to or follow up on psychic leads. It goes on to talk about Find Me, a U.S.-based volunteer group that uses psychics and former law-enforcement officers to help  solve homicides and missing-person cases. By the way, in checking out their website today, I see they are looking for donations, so if you are interested in such an organization, you might want to check them out.

Here’s the question…should pyschics play a role in police investigations? Should their information be admissable in court? Or, is it all a bunch of smoke and mirrors?

I’d love to hear from you!