Criminal Minds (TV Series)

Poison (2006)

Thomas Gibson: Aaron Hotchner

Quotes 

• Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : [news of the LSD poisoning has been leaked to the media]  They didn't name the restaurant.

  Detective Hanover : Wh-what is it?

  Jason Gideon : Call the local hospital. Make sure they know what's coming. Excuse me.

  Aaron Hotchner : Where do your 911 calls get routed?

  Detective Hanover : Uh, there's a county phone bank. They contact first responders, the fire department.

  Aaron Hotchner : Alert them, too. They're gonna need additional personnel. And any other backup you've got, auxiliary cops, you're gonna have to call them.

  Detective Hanover : But why?

  Aaron Hotchner : Because we're gonna have a heck of a time calming people down, when we really don't need the confusion to interfere with our investigation.

  Uniform Cop : You want me to start making those calls?

  Detective Hanover : No, no, no! No. Hey, everybody, please, shut up for a minute!

  [the squad room goes silent] 

  Detective Hanover : Tell me what this is all about.

  [telephones around the room begin ringing off the hook] 

  Jason Gideon : Panic.

• Jennifer "JJ" Jareau : Of all the departments, why'd you choose the BAU?

  Aaron Hotchner : You know, I had prosecuted dozens of murder cases, and by the time they reached my desk, it always felt like it was too late. I wanted to, um... stop them before they got to my desk.

• Jason Gideon : We know there are four types of poisoners who target multiple victims.

  Aaron Hotchner : There's the true believer, the political terrorist/religious cult.

  Derek Morgan : There's the extortionist, product tamperer who holds a business hostage in exchange for money.

  Elle Greenaway : Or the prankster, usually a younger offender who doesn't mean any harm and it's basically just a big practical joke.

  Aaron Hotchner : And the avenger. Someone with a personal vendetta who choses poison as their weapon.

  Jason Gideon : So we need to find out as quickly as possible which type he is, 'cause with the exception of the prankster, all these types commonly test their poison on a small scale before carrying out a larger attack.

  Derek Morgan : Well, let's hope this was just a prank.

• Aaron Hotchner : We believe whoever poisoned these people was motivated by revenge.

  Derek Morgan : The randomness of the victimology, average people in an average-sized town, all points to a local resident.

  Elle Greenaway : We know that people who poison for the purpose of revenge primarily act alone.

  Aaron Hotchner : However, he may have manipulated someone close to him to assist him. The unsub usually disposes of these accomplices when they are of no further use to him.

  Elle Greenaway : The unsub is likely a cautious, deliberate, and highly functioning male between the ages of 35 and 50.

  Aaron Hotchner : He chose LSD for a reason. LSD is about altering perception. We think that this unsub is striking out because he feels that's he's been inaccurately perceived by the community, or a subset of it.

  Derek Morgan : He feels that these attacks will affect and alter a reality that he is caught in, that he perceives to be unjust.

  Aaron Hotchner : He's so self-centered, he believes his victims will know the reason for the attack and who did it.

  Dr. Spencer Reid : This individual was savvy enough to use Rohypnol to obstruct our investigation, erasing the memories of the victims of how they were poisoned.

  Detective Hanover : Hold on. If this guy believes that his victims know who he is, why is he covering his tracks?

  Jason Gideon : Because these victims aren't his primary targets.

  Aaron Hotchner : We... we know from precedent that this kind of offender, the avenger, tests his weapon first. This attack was a test run.

  Detective Hanover : A test run for what?

  Aaron Hotchner : We don't know yet. What we do know is this is not the first time he's aired his grievances. While it's not likely that he has a criminal record, it is possible that he has filed criminal charges, or pursued a civil action against his perceived adversaries. And now, to measure the results of his test, he's watching.

  Jason Gideon : And he wants to see the results of his test. Once he has them, all those years of pent-up rage will be unleashed in the form of a larger attack. Profile indicates a lot of people could die.