David J. Icove (born May 14, 1949) is a former

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

Criminal Profiler and FBI Academy Instructor in the elite

Behavioral Analysis Unit The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is a department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) that uses behavioral analysts to assist in criminal investigations. The mission of the NCAVC ...

. He was one of the FBI's first criminal profilers to specialize in the apprehension of serial arsonists and bombers. He is Fellow in the National Academy of Forensic Engineers and co-author along with Gerald A. Haynes of Kirk's Fire Investigation, the leading textbook in the field of

fire investigation Fire investigation, sometimes referred to as origin and cause investigation, is the analysis of fire-related incidents. After firefighters extinguish a fire, an investigation is launched to determine the origin and cause of the fire or explosion ...

Early life and education

David Icove was born May 14, 1949 in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

and raised in

Shaker Heights, Ohio Shaker Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the city population was 29,439. Shaker Heights is an inner-ring streetcar suburb of Cleveland, abutting the eastern edge of the city's limits. In July 1911, a ...

. He graduated in 1967 from Shaker Heights High School and went to college at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

and the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

Career

A leading authority in forensic engineering examinations of fires and explosions, he is co-author of '' Kirk's Fire Investigation'', ''Combating Arson-for-Profit'', and ''Forensic Fire Scene Reconstruction'', three of the leading expert treatises in the field. Paul Leland Kirk (1902–1970), the author of the original text ''Fire Investigation'' that was the basis for ''Kirk's Fire Investigation''. Hired in 1984 by the

National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) is a specialist FBI department. The NCAVC's role is to coordinate investigative and operational support functions, criminological research, and training in order to provide assistan ...

, he developed for the FBI the first modern-day motive classification system for arson. He also developed at the FBI an

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

research project known as PROFILE
PDF
a rule-based expert system programmed to detect and link serial violent crimes using data parsed from real-time news stories, the

Violent Criminal Apprehension Program The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) is a unit of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation responsible for the analysis of serial violent and sexual crimes, based in the Critical Incident Response Group's (CIRG) National C ...

, and other FBI databases. Representing the FBI, he testified three times before key U.S. Congressional Committees seeking guidance on key legislative initiatives. In 1993, he transferred to the U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority Police to eventually become the Assistant Chief of Police for Criminal Investigations. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, he represented TVA full-time as a Task Force Agent on the FBI's

Joint Terrorism Task Force In the United States, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) are locally-based multi-agency partnerships between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism and terrorism-related crimes, led by the ...

, until his retirement in 2005. In May 2015, he joined a Board of Directors to form the Murder Accountability Project (MAP), a nonprofit organization that detects and disseminates information about homicides, especially unsolved killings and serial murders committed in the United States. MAP's Board consists of a group of retired detectives, investigative journalists, homicide scholars, and a forensic psychiatrist, who strive to use

to identify and link clusters of homicides based upon a combination of victim/offender relationships, manner of death, and geographic location. As of 2019, David Icove is the

UL (safety organization) The UL enterprise is a global safety science company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, composed of three organizations, UL Research Institutes, UL Standards & Engagement and UL Solutions. Established in 1894, the UL enterprise was founded as ...

Professor of Practice at The University of Tennessee in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, where he directs their

Fire Protection Engineering Fire protection engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to protect people, property, and their environments from the harmful and destructive effects of fire and smoke. It encompasses engineering which focuses on fire ...

Graduate Program.

Professional associations

* Registered Professional Engineer * Board Certified Diplomate and Fellow, National Academy of Forensic Engineer

* Fellow,

Society of Fire Protection Engineers The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) is a professional society for fire protection engineering established in 1950 and incorporated as an independent organization in 1971. It is the professional society representing those practicing the ...

* Senior and Life Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers * Member,

National Society of Professional Engineers The National Society of Professional Engineers (abbreviate as NSPE) is a professional association representing licensed professional engineers in the United States. NSPE is the recognized voice and advocate of licensed Professional Engineers repr ...

* Member, National Fire Protection Association * Member and Certified Fire Investigator,

International Association of Arson Investigators The International Association of Arson Investigators (abbreviated IAAI) is a professional association of individuals who conduct fire investigations. The IAAI provides resources for training, research, and technology for fire investigators around th ...

Awards

* Shaker Heights High School Alumni Hall of Fame, Class of 1967 * Charles Edward Ferris Award – University of Tennessee * National Arson Prevention Award – Insurance Committee for Arson Control

Personal

Dr. Icove currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, with his wife Sharon.

References

External links

Personal Home PageUTK Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Icove, David 1949 births Living people University of Maryland, College Park alumni University of Tennessee alumni Federal Bureau of Investigation agents People from Shaker Heights, Ohio