If profiling is given TOO much creedence you never will hear of such cases because they are not caught....

Take a more plausible scenario, where a criminal knows that if he commits his crimes all within a 2 mile radius of his house that the profile will include him.... so he makes sure his crimes are done in an area of town he never frequents otherwise.

In my brief reading today on this unpleasant topic I saw claims like 'serial killers ALWAYS have a 'signature' in all their crimes'... that seems like a dangerous generalization that could be self defeating when it comes to investigation....

I would say that criminal profiling is a potentially useful tool that- like all tools- can be misused, or relied on too much- I wouldnt call it a science... just a tool.