Vancouver police brass resisted the idea of a serial killer for as long as they could, a former detective testified.

Prof. Kim Rossmo, a world-renowned expert in geographic profiling and the first person to conclude that a single murderer was behind the disappearance of dozens of women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, told the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry Tuesday that Robert Pickton should have been caught much sooner than 2002.

“This is a dramatic example of criminal investigative failure,” Rossmo said. “You don’t have that many people killed, after it was brought to the police’s attention by the community, and not consider it a failure.”

Rossmo said his suggestion of a serial killer was met by a “temper tantrum” from Insp. Fred Biddlecombe during a working group meeting in 1998.

“He was upset and angry,” Rossmo recalled. “He didn’t think there was a serial killer, he didn’t like what we were doing. It was clear he didn’t want to deal with this issue. ... In effect, his reaction — given his position as officer in charge of missing people and sex crimes — basically killed the working group.”

Rossmo, who now works at Texas State University as director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation, said his former supervisor’s denial is a “common mistake” made by police agencies.

“It happens time and again. No police agency wants to have a serial-murder case,” he said. “It creates a lot of problems, political pressure, media interest and requires them to respond with a suitable level of resources when they’d rather be doing something else.”

Rossmo admitted that jurisdictional issues, Pickton’s stealth and the lack of bodies made the case a difficult one — but he maintains the evidence was there for the finding.

“Pickton was careless,” he said. “There were a lot of breaks that could have been exploited more fully with proper resources.”

The inquiry continues.