Dick Wolf had been pitching a series focusing on the FBI to NBC for ages hoping to spin it off from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). However, NBC did not go through with the idea, so CBS quickly snapped up Wolf's idea and it became his first series not to air on NBC.
ViCAP stands for Violent Criminal Apprehension Program and is an ever-growing and extensive database of unsolved serial murders across the country. The inspiration for the program came from a Los Angeles Police Department homicide investigator named Pierce Brooks, during the 1970s, was hunting through major city newspapers at the public library for articles on murders similar to the ones he was investigating. He thought, "What if this information was contained in a search-able system?" He pitched his idea to the Department of Justice, and in the summer of 1985, Brooks became ViCAP's first program manager. The program only works if members of the law enforcement community care enough to input the data into system.
At least four actors in the pilot (Jeremy Sisto, Connie Nielsen, Dallas Roberts, and Alana de la Garza) appeared in previous Dick Wolf shows. Jeremy Sisto played a detective on Law & Order (1990). Connie Nielsen appeared as a detective on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). Dallas Roberts played a criminal that crossed over Chicago P.D. (2014) and Law & Order (1990). Also, Alana de la Garza played an assistant district attorney on Law & Order.
Running Total of Actors from other Dick Wolf projects:
- Jeremy Sisto from Law & Order (1990)
- Connie Nielsen from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
- Dallas Roberts from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) via Chicago P.D. (2014)
- Alana De La Garza (Most Wanted (2019) which was expected till a last-minute re-jiggering) from Law & Order (1990)
- Tracy Spiridakos from Chicago P.D. (2014)