Many have seen "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on CBS or "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" on NBC and have all witnessed the Hollywood stars walk into a crime scene and solve the case in a primetime slot.
But according to FBI special agent James Clemente, who spoke to Towson University students and staff Monday, it's not quite how it happens.
The Anthropological Society of Towson University and the department of anthropology, sociology, and criminal justice invited Clemente to speak at Linthicum Hall.
Clemente discussed his experience in criminal justice, how the tasks of certain criminal profiling jobs are carried out, and how many do not understand the type of labor involved in an FBI unit.
"I wanted to show people what we do and what the reality of it is," Clemente said. "I'm here because I think that the people learning are very fortunate and I want to see smart young adults go into the FBI. I'm retiring soon and I want to see the Bureau continue recruiting really good people."
Some students noticed the difference from the media's depiction of FBI agents to Clemente's message behind his presentation.
"I thought the speaker was really interesting and informative compared to what we see on the TV and how we expect certain things to be because that's not the case," Rachel O'Brien, freshman athletic training major, said. "The cases he mentioned showed you how you cannot judge a book by its cover as people say, and that people are very secretive."
Clemente, an agent in the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI has been in the justice service for over 20 years, 10 of those serving in the BAU, a unit of only 30 special agents in the United States.
He had never considered federal law enforcement so Clemente decided to go to law school and work in a law firm. He disliked the law firm and later interned at a prosecutor's office, loving every day at work, according to Clemente.
"I knew that's what I wanted to do. So I didn't have any problem getting up in the morning to work," he said. "I had this case that I worked with the FBI [during this time] and it's been about twenty plus years now and I haven't looked back."
During his presentation to nearly 250 students and staff, he gave scenarios and explanations from many of his previous cases he has worked on. Clemente specializes in sex offender cases, in which he explained different instances in this field, but also gave insight to undercover operations in a number of cases.
"Probably one of the most complicated cases would be when I worked undercover in the commodities exchange, selling crude oil futures," Clemente said. "The company I worked for didn't know, my boss didn't know, that I was an FBI agent."
Clemente explained that this case was very difficult in that he was doing two jobs at once. After completing the case it told him that he could do anything that was thrown at him, according to Clemente.
Also included in his presentation was insight on how the media portrays his field of work. He claims that most of what is seen on television is not accurate to the actual aspects of the FBI; however it is hard to blame them.
"The media may not get it right, but that's because they don't have 100 percent access," Clemente said. What I don't like is if they take little kernels of information that they have and weave a story out of it that they make up. I've seen that happen from time to time."
After hearing so many of his stories, some audience members questioned how he deals with each case from an emotional standpoint.
"You have to develop a total detachment," Clemente said. "Otherwise you focus on the emotion side of it and you lose sight of the details you need to work the case. You have to kind of laugh it off and otherwise you carry it on your shoulders and it'll make you sick."
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