Benjamin M. Baughman

After 15 years serving as an officer for the Raleigh Police Department (RPD), Dr. Benjamin Baughman retired early to complete his research and earn his Ph.D. in Investigative Psychology under the formidable supervision of Dr. David V. Canter and Dr. Donna Youngs.  Throughout his career in law enforcement, he served in several capacities such as a Crime Analyst, Hostage Negotiator, Detective, and a Sergeant over the Raleigh Intelligence Center (RIC). Shortly after retiring from the RPD and submitting his Ph.D. thesis, Dr. Baughman joined the North Carolina Justice Academy (NCJA) as an instructor. 

Dr. Baughman drew on his experience as an officer and formal education to write peer reviewed curriculum and train practitioners in advanced investigative techniques, leadership, and tactical practices at the NCJA.  Some topic areas included: improving decision-making skills, investigating sexual deviant behavior related crimes, hostage negotiations, de-escalation techniques, and leadership courses. Moreover, he has provided graduate and undergraduate level lectures in Applied Intelligence and the application of Investigative Psychology throughout the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) for over a decade.

Dr. Baughman was the Director of the Criminal Justice and Homeland Security Studies at Cazenovia College prior to joining Gannon University as the Director and Associate Professor of the Applied Intelligence program.  Before Cazenovia, Ben taught in the Tom Ridge Intelligence Studies program at Mercyhurst University (2017-2020). There he led Mercyhurst’s Amazon Team NEXT [New & Experimental Thinking] and provided regular intelligence products to CEOs at Amazon. Additionally, the team was flown to Seattle, WA to present their findings at Amazon’s headquarters on numerous occasions.  

Dr. Baughman is a social behavioral scientist with over twenty years of experience applying real world methods to inform high-impact tactical and strategic decisions. Ben emphasizes applying Investigative Psychology methods such as geographical and criminal profiling, advanced crime analysis skills, multidimensional scaling methods, law enforcement techniques, and mathematical modeling to the investigative cycle. Furthermore, Dr. Baughman draws on his law enforcement experience and formal education to regularly contribute to scholarly discussions regarding current events on a PBS show called Ivory Tower.