Jack Crawford

RED DRAGON
"Crawford, fisher of men, was watching his cork move against the current."

Jack Crawford is the agent-in-charge at the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI, he visits Will Graham in his home and manipulates him into returning to the FBI to investigate the "Tooth Fairy" killings, and is happy with his successful manipulations: "Crawford was pleased. He kept the satisfaction out of his face with the same care he had used to choose the site of this conversation. He thought he had Graham. Let it cook."

Dr. Bloom describes him as having "an intelligence as cold as an X-ray table" and objects when Crawford suggests pushing the "Tooth Fairy" to suicide to close the case. Bloom also says he will only advise Crawford how to make the "Tooth Fairy" more angry with Will Graham if Will tells him directly that he agrees to that strategy, implying some degree distrust of Crawford.

When faced with a room full of police detectives who were worried that the FBI would take credit for their work, Crawford is able to mollify them with a quick speech: "Years ago there was a lot of rivalry about who got the collar. Each side, federal and local, held out on the other. It made a gap that crooks slipped through. That's not Bureau policy now, and it's not my policy. I don't give a damn who gets the collar." "If the man who did this is run over by a garbage truck, it would suit me just fine as long as it puts him off the street. I think you feel the same way"

He's happy to share equipment with the police, and offered to send a methane probe to Birmingham. And he is good at acknowledging when people do good work, such as when Jimmy Price found some latent fingerprints he says "Today, Jimmy my lad, nothing's too good for you".

He is very quick-thinking and highly skilled at organising people - when a note from the "Tooth Fairy" is found in Lecter's cell Crawford is able to get it examined and analysed by the Hair and Fiber section, the Latent Prints section, the Documents section, and the Scientific Analysis section in under an hour, and is able to make technical suggestions and offer advice to each section. At the same time he instructs Chilton how to fake a broken pipe and electrical short so that Lecter won't suspect his cell has been searched.

Ultimately all he cares about is getting the job done:
"Would it be better for the case to put Graham back on the street? Crawford couldn’t afford to let him burn himself out in here for nothing. But for something? Crawford’s excellent administrative instincts were not tempered by mercy. They told him to leave Graham alone."

He may have had a drinking problem: "Busywork's been a narcotic for me sometimes, especially after I quit the booze".

His office is spartan: "There was no window to look out of as he talked. He stood in front of the "Ten Most Wanted," Crawford's only wall decoration."

He is married and has a brother who has a cottage in Chesapeake Bay.

"Crawford eschewed most vegetables."


"HANNIBAL" (Four years before)
Jack Crawford is the agent-in-charge at the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI, his job is to stop serial killers and he will do whatever is necessary to stop them.