<P> A modus operandi (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally . It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as mode of operating . </P> <P> The term is often used in police work when discussing crime and addressing the methods employed by criminals . It is also used in criminal profiling, where it can help in finding clues to the offender's psychology . It largely consists of examining the actions used by the individuals to execute the crime, prevent its detection and facilitate escape . A suspect's modus operandi can assist in their identification, apprehension, or repression, and can also be used to determine links between crimes . </P> <P> In business, modus operandi is used to describe a firm's preferred means of executing business and interacting with other firms . </P> <P> The plural is modi operandi . The word operandi is a gerund in the genitive case, "of operating"; gerunds can never be pluralised in Latin, as opposed to gerundives . When a noun with an attribute in the genitive is pluralised, only the head noun normally changes, just as in English with "of": "a fact of life, two facts of life". </P>

A criminal's modus operandi is the details of