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Before heading to the Big Apple in May of 1993, Chris Hansen was an investigative reporter for WXYZ and WDIV.
After that, he landed a job with Dateline NBC.
Hansen, who grew up in Metro Detroit and graduated from Michigan State University, made a big name for himself doing the popular NBC segments, "To Catch a Predator," a show that lured adult sexual predators to a home, where they were then arrested by local law enforcement. Many praised him for ferreting out the untoward adults. Some criticized the show, saying it was entrapment.
Hansen left NBC in 2013 and went off to try some ventures on his own. This year, he landed a job hosting and reporting for the show, Crime Watch Daily, which is produced by Warner Brothers/Telepictures/Tribune Co. It airs five days a week in 208 markets including Detroit on Channel 20 at 4 p.m. The show also airs segments of "Hansen v. Predator.'
Additionally, Hansen has a show, "Killer Instinct With Chris Hansen" on the network Investigation Discovery. It documents homicide investigations.
Hansen lives in New York.
His two sons are in the TV business. Connor Hansen, 22, is a TV reporter in Traverse City on Channel 7 &4, and his other son, Chase Hansen, 25, works as an assistant cameraman and associate producer for Hansen's crime shows.
Deadline Detroit caught up with Hansen in San Diego this week at an International Association of Chiefs of Police conference.
