A horrible

murder has occurred and a suspect has been arrested.

The television

camera crews canvas the neighborhood looking for a neighbor who could

give the audience a clue into the alleged killer's background. Every person

that the reporter talks to offers the same type of sound bite: "He

was a good neighbor, quiet, very normal. I never expected anything like

this."

Fayetteville

resident Dr. Gregory Moffatt doesn't believe this and his new book, "Blind-Sided:

Homicide Where It Is Least Expected," debunks this myth.

Moffatt's book

addresses murder by people who appear normal and seem to have a history

of nonviolence, as well as the psychological issues involved in homicide

and how recent murders may have been prevented or interrupted. He uses

several cases such as the Columbine tragedy and the Mark Barton killings

and draws parallels, pointing out the warning signs that presented themselves

in all of the cases and what could have been done to stop them.

"It is

a form of risk assessment," Moffatt explains. "We are all at

risk. The question is by what percentage. No one warning sign proves anything,

but it could lead one to use more caution around that person."

Moffatt is

a psychologist and college professor who writes a monthly column for The

Citizen. His interest in this topic started in the early 1990s when he

was vice president of student life at Atlanta Christian College. A student

was being stalked and her perpetrator was somebody that Moffatt knew and

had felt was a risk.

He spent over

a year researching warning signs and "how he knew" and wrote

an article. The article was eventually passed on to the head of Corporate

Security at Delta, who was formerly the head of the FBI. The article lead

to Moffatt lecturing at the Academy on topics ranging from "violence

in the work place" to "violent behavior - a bio-psychosocial

approach."

Moffatt also

has given these lectures and many like them to community groups, churches

and Rotary clubs. The topic is interesting to a wide audience. There are

people who worry about their safety and wish to hear these lectures to

keep themselves and their families safe and there are also people who

have seen "The Silence of The Lambs" and similar shows and are

interested in profiling killers.

The book, his

first, is getting great reviews from writers who have covered similar

topics. Gavin DeBecker, author of "The Gift of Fear," writes

that "Moffatt confirms that like every creature on Earth, we can

receive warnings before violence. You may not agree with every word he

writes, but you will get a clear and compelling understanding of homicide

from a master observer of human behavior."

The process

of writing the book was fairly easy for Moffatt, as the research had all

been done earlier and he knew the topic well and had lectured on it so

much. He also has a second book in the works, delving into the deeper

issues of profiling.

Some forms

of violence are down at this time, but mass murders are more common. Moffatt

attributes this to the fact that people see themselves as victims and

do not take responsibility for their actions they model themselves after

other killers and, though he is certainly not advocating gun control,

weapon availability also plays a role.

The book lays

out ways to prevent these killings and ways to not be a victim. Moffatt

explains that a failure to attend to the warning signs leads to tragedies

like Columbine.

"The shooters

at Columbine showed many signs to a lot of people, who never put it all

together to get the full picture," Moffatt said. "When we see

them all laid out afterwards, we wonder how anyone could have missed it.

To prevent these things from happening in the future, we need to see the

signs and act early."

Moffatt discussed

his findings and how to prevent school shootings with state school Superintendent

Linda Schrenko before writing this book. He suggests a change in the culture

and having zero tolerance for threats. "If you don't allow people

to say things like, 'I'm going to kill you,' you don't have to differentiate

whether it is a serious threat or not."

As for pop

culture, Moffatt doesn't believe it causes people to do things but it

does "fertilize a culture of aggression." "Violence in

the media desensitizes children, presents ideas that young people might

not have otherwise, glamorizes those ideas and disconnects those ideas

from consequences."

Moffatt has

many interesting ideas and is very familiar with his material. His book

should be successful because of people's growing interest in keeping themselves

safe in today's increasingly violent society. When one turns on the news,

someone else has become a victim of a violent crime and that person could

be anyone of us if the circumstances were different.

"People

sometimes get a gut feeling about someone else. They feel uncomfortable

around them or they are afraid, but they do not know why," Moffatt

said. "This book will help let you know if those fears are justified."

It is written

for a general audience and does not use extensive technical terms or jargon.

The book was released in early October and has been doing very well.

"Blind-Sided:

Homicide Where It Is Least Expected" is available in some bookstores

now. It is published by Praeger Publishing and can be purchased on Amazon.com .

For information

on the book, visit www.greenwood.com or Moffatt's web site, www.mpconsultation.com .

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