Those who fit into this instructional mode should then be encouraged to elicit participant involvement in any training experience and, most importantly, should be specifically asked to limit their presentations to what they actually and factually know about the occult through their personal investigative and/or research experiences.
Some law enforcers recommended education be provided by a panel of people with experience in the occult and occult crime. Such a panel would ideally consist of one or more of the following: law enforcers who had investigated occult-related cases; practicing and/or former occultists; victims; therapists; researchers with in-depth journalistic or academic experience on occult topics; and prosecutors who have successfully or unsuccessfully prosecuted an occult-related criminal case.
The extent to which training should be provided in the face of scarce law enforcement sources is a hotly debated subject. Many officers felt every law enforcement officer in urban departments should receive a brief educational overview; others felt all investigators should receive in-depth training; still others felt that because occult crimes should simply be treated as crimes not specifically tied to a belief system, no specialized training was necessary as long as officers knew investigative techniques. The results of this study indicate that enough concern about actual and perceived occult crime exists across the nation that each urban department and most rural departments should have at least one specially trained and educated person in their department. He or she may not need in-depth occult education, but at the very least, should be grounded in the subjects listed above, should be in touch with other law enforcers involved in occult criminal investigation, and should be aware of other criminal justice and allied resources that could be called for further assistance.
2. Create a regional or statewide networking task force to discus a cooperative ways to handle alleged and actual cases of occult crime. Almost every law enforcer contacted in the course of this study suggested the need for a networking task force of some kind. Some felt membership should be exclusively law enforcement, making intelligence exchange its primary purpose.
Others supported multidisciplinary membership with criminal justice professionals, therapists, medical practitioners, and researchers exchanging ideas for cooperative strategies that can lead to successful educational and prosecution efforts. A substantial number of persons interviewed for this study felt such a task force would be an ideal forum for publicly debating the many issues surrounding the occult; that is, for dealing with the many controversies surrounding occult crime and, hopefully, reaching some solutions that would meet the needs and interests of all parties currently involved in the debates.
3. Approach occult Investigation with objectivity. Almost all law enforcers stated that investigators cannot approach a case with an "I believe the crime occurred and I will find a way to make it believable" attitude. Instead, most assert, officers must deal only with all the facts as they are presented and get past their emotions. Such objectivity requires the investigator to shed his or her own moral and spiritual assumptions about people and remember that his or her own life experiences are irrelevant to the investigation. Further, some officers were concerned about "over-sensitized" law enforcers who, after attending occult crime seminars, often lose their objectivity. Such officers have a tendency to begin seeing "a Satanist under every rock" and to interpret each new "weird" or inexplicable crime as possibly occult related. In some cases, officers have reopened old cases which they believe may have had occult ties to which they were not sensitive prior to training.
4. Develop an occult intelligence capacity. Many law enforcers stated the need for each department to begin developing occult intelligence, especially by cultivating sources within the occult community and among former occultists. Many law enforcers emphasized that intelligence gathered about community occult organizations should be used primarily as an educational tool.
That is, intelligence should be a vehicle for law enforcers to obtain objective information about occult groups operating in the community; intelligence should not be used to gather potentially incriminating information about occultists who are free to legally practice their spiritual beliefs and rituals.
5. Encourage the development of occult educational materials and presentations designed for other criminal justice professionals and therapists. Law enforcers felt they should encourage the development of and participate in the distribution of educational materials for therapists and criminal justice professionals, especially prosecutors, parole and probation officers, and jail and prison personnel. Officers were especially concerned that most persons approach a case without basic knowledge of the occult and successful prosecution strategies for such cases. Because some cases have been successfully prosecuted, officers point to the fact that the basic knowledge is available, but has yet to be tapped for training purposes.
6. Encourage the Implementation of a proactive public relations strategy designed to quell hysteria and rumors about occult activity and crime. Law enforcers voiced a need to help create a community