When a Crooked Case Goes Down a Crooked Path....It's Pretty Much Over
I ask you all.....where are your voices on all the other cases of missing and murdered children and adults...all the other cases that have been abandoned by the justice system (Baby Lisa, JonBenet Ramsey, Haleigh Cummings, etc.) or closed by railroading someone that no one cares about, leaving the real killer on the street? I will tell you.....some of the time you finally realized that you have to know when to fold 'em, when like so many other cases, the case you are following is never going to come to a proper conclusion; justice will never be served. And, the rest of the time, you simply are ignorant of the crooked means used to close a case...you believe, if you actually read the one paragraph in the paper written about a particular case, that the conviction of some easy patsy is justified or that the administrative closing of a case with a dead or unprosecutable suspect is proper...that evidence supports the police case. While the population ignores the travesty, I stand by, painfully watching the smoke and mirrors, knowing damned well the real culprit is walking free.
So what is to be done? What am I doing about these outrageous injustices? At a certain point, raising one's voice does little to change the situation. I know, I have been speaking out for two decades against this kind of thing...but mainstream media does not support such talk....and so it is pretty easy to get away with closing a case wrongly without worrying about any backlash. I have fought this and failed...badly.
When a crooked case goes down a crooked path, there is little that can be done to set that particular case straight again. There is only one way to make a real difference in a world where politics, media, and egos can flush a case straight down the toilet....only one really good way to prevent it from turning to shit; making sure it never goes down the crooked path.
Preventing a case from going down a crooked path requires putting all one's efforts into the First 48. A cold case is usually cold for a reason; someone blew it from the beginning and unless there is an easy DNA match lying about, no cold case team or criminal profiler is going to come in and turn the case around. I have long stopped doing cold case work because it is a massive waste of time. My focus now is training detectives to profile and analyze their cases properly right from the start...on their own or with the help of profilers. If the case is handled correctly right at the beginning of the investigation, politics won't end up being such a factor in closing the case as it can be closed in a reasonable time period with the right suspect and enough evidence to get a conviction. Not every case - because sometimes the evidence just isn't there - but certainly more cases could have a better trajectory if these cases were handled a bit better
I am now fully focusing on profiling training for detectives. This year, a well-seasoned police chief and I will be putting together the training program we feel will make the biggest difference in solving homicide cases. This blog will be dedicated toward the education of detectives, profilers, and future detectives and profilers. The content will be about solving cases, the tools needed for analysis, the specific methods that make or break a case.
We each must choose the path we feel to be the one which will allow us to have the most impact. As of now, I choose to focus on police training....to keep the path from becoming crooked.
Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
August 19, 2014
15 comments:
That is where you will have the biggest impact.
Teaching what you know.
Police need to know how to do this. To see past the bullshit.
I agree with you.
Pat, I think that is wonderful and certainly well needed! We are seeing more and more cases like the ones you mentioned in which all in the cases mentioned the parents are suspected. Massive & massive amounts of money on searches etc. are being spent. The public demands a missing person is properly searched for & a child "no budget needed." But, the hard part is at some point it has to end, thinking of Kyron Horman in particular.
One problem with DNA in these cases are the DNA is suppose to be there for a parent, caregiver, etc. So collecting to show lack of DNA of an outsider may help to make the case (no outsider). I really think they did this in Baby Lisa's case in particular. I believe in the beginning it looked like these parents were on verge of cracking, but...
One thing, I have wanted to see for years is a law or discouragement "NO fundraising for a missing person, until the family is ruled out." Don't know how that would be policed so to speak & sounds meaner then hell, but we have seen it. Also, there are the few stranger abductions that it is a comfort or lifesaver to get through, however these cases are so few & far between. I know I have seen the odd case where it is set up to go to the police dept. for searches (H Dunn). Maybe police could initiate "if you want to donate" when the victim is first missing? I wish there was a way to have have an entity of some sort take care of "true" victims, but I can understand the challenges of sometimes not being able to clear someone for whatever reason. I also do remember press reports of Ron Cummings paying for a purchase from a collection jar at the counter or going into a restaurant expecting a free meal by saying "don't you know who I am?"
People say "crime is not increasing", just we are more aware or the like. To me that is not so much of the issue as what can we learn from it & how to combat it?
Using a parent like in your example, it makes sense to train police so they or state don't spend $$$$$ if they learn. The FBI has the CARD team, that often move in with the family initially like happened with Somer Thompson's mom and in Kyron's case IIRC. In these type of cases, they are the front runner from the get go? I doubt CARDT was used in the Haleigh Cummings or Ayla Reynolds case. I can only speculate...
Just some thoughts Pat, that I have had for years. I certainly encourage you on your mission and think what you have to offer is not only needed, warranted & would save money, but most of all get results. Good luck!
Anon 12:27
It isn't only homicide cases in which parents are suspects; too often a variety of cases are closed with the wrong suspect. Sometimes a family member gets away with murder because it is pinned on some local loser. Other times an incarcerated rapist or serial killer gets crimes pinned on him because it is easy to believe, but it leaves another dangerous person on the loose. I remember one case in VA where this borderline retarded fellow got convicted for a murder and it took another detective on the same force (amazing guy) to find the real culprit which DNA confirmed. By that time, I think four more women had been murdered and, of course, the poor framed guy was on death row for quite a while. But, if it hadn't been for that one detective, the guy would have been executed, the real killer free to continue on, and the public would have been none the wiser. One other detrimental thing that happens is that the analysis of crime goes off kilter because the wrong guy is connected to the crime.
TrustmeIgetit,
I have struggled for years profiling cases to see the cases shut down wrongly because it was too late to change the course of the investigation without hurt egos, embarrassment and political suicide. So I know the first 48 is where it is out, to analyze the case correctly from the start and focus on the right suspects instead of going off on a tangent in the completely wrong direction. There is a serious lack of training in crime analysis and proper profiling and I hope I can make a difference focusing on that. What I have done over the years isn't a total waste, though, because I have learned a great deal about casework and what DOESN'T work, so now I can teach what does.
Firstly good luck Pat & I fully understand. Having followed this case since the start, good people like yourself and the wealth of collected & colated information on the internet.
>>The MET has brought to the table
2 x efits (no idea if they are the impression of one person of two people, or two people of one)or who gave such efits; and where & when then saw the 'efitted' person\s and the subsequent time afterwards they gave this information
>>Creche-dad - yep who, when & where he stepped up to the table, discounting of six years down that garden path of Tannerman! (depends on what you believe)
And still the Smith family flap in the breeze neither discounted or considered.... or what?!!
So, now with the MET in hot persuit of what, we don't know!
All that is left:
''There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.''
(sixpence was an old small silver colour british coin)
Good luck & god bless
Meadow x
Merci Pat for what you have done for this case.Et bonne chance!
Frencheuropean
Dear Pat,
Life is short and we have to realize with wisdom when our effort on something came to an end and move on :)
I absolutely agree with you, justice will never be served and this case will not have a clear conclusion.
I wish Lisbon trial about Gonçalo Amaral book - that expresses nothing more than what is in the police files - will end properly.
I want to believe that a collective of judges who will conclude this process - a truly elite responsible for the good of the community no matter who is in trial - will decide with justice leaving no room to be remembered as puppets in the hands of a English spin machine with its own life.
Madeleine case has become so mediatic that has overshadow all the other cases of missing and murdered children and adults.
I'm not sure if you agree but we no longer have the age to take into account the opinions of others, especially when they are full of deconstructive criticism.
I think your contribution to establishing the truth on Madeleine case was very important in America and in Europe. As a profiler your opinion built on police files and evidence was so strong that McCann's lawyers ordered Amazon to get you book out of the market.
Among all the books written about the case only two books were persecuted: " Maddie: A verdade da mentira" - written by Gonçalo Amaral - the inspector in charge of the case and "Profile of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann" written by you - a Criminal Profiler.
That does mean something don't you agree?
If people have not yet realized the importance of the contents of these two books I'm not going to waste my Latin ...
As I told you the beginning, life is too short and we need good judgment to apply our time and effort efficiently. A good dose of lucidity is certainly helpful to realize that there is nothing else to do on this subject: any additional effort is fruitless.
However all the time and effort devoted to this case done by you, Gonçalo Amaral and a few journalists might be considered an authentic public service - especially important if we consider that the investigation and the entire police paraphernalia has been paid by Portuguese and English taxpayers.
And there, my friend, lies the rub of the question ...
What would happen if turns officially public that governments have been covering up a big scam using public money to be succeed?
That, my friend, would be a subject for another book.
Finally dear Pat, it was a pleasure to meet you and I want to know that I think you gave a valuable contribution for the case.
Life goes on as always and there is life beyond Madeleine McCann case.
I wish you success in all your future projects.
God Bless you and your family.
Regards from a sunny Lisbon.
Alexandra
Pat.
Prevention is better than cure, and you expertise and experience will be more productive - teaching, profiling, setting up investigation systems with Law enforcement.
Unfortunately I am of a cynical mind-set now ..after this case.
I have come to realise that it does not matter what you teach people if they are not allowed to enforce it - this case has demonstrated how logical investigation steps can be thwarted by their superiors...and if they don't tow the line...move them off the case and get someone that will......and theirs plenty of social climbers out there.
Pat ...just a suggestion ....a Lady with you experiences in life and a soul like yours that really try's to help people are rare qualities.
Get into politics you could be a real force for change.
What you have done for Madeleine is truly special ...you and Joana Morais are incredible people.
thank you ..its great to know that their are people who will fight for the underdog if they have truth on their side.
Mojo
I wonder how you'll teach detectives the "Aufhebung" in the dialectically delicate situation overwhelmed by emergency. On one side searching for an alive child and on the other investigating parents in the perspective of a dead child. It's a very tough task if family is obviously devastated by the loss of the child whatever the reason for that : at the hands of predators or of death.
I thank all of you for your kind words!
My blogs on the case have always had a specific focus; early on, to point out the oddities of this missing person case, then a profile on the case once I had Kate's book to verify the McCann's stance, then my own investigation in PDL to solidify what I believe happened to Maddie and where she was likely buried. Then, I wanted to support Gonçalo and try to get a book out by the two of us to cover all the facets of the case; the detective work, the profile, and the political issues. This book was ignored by the publishers. Finally, when Scotland Yard started ramping up its "investigation" I wanted to show people that this was all a sham and a media manipulation (hence, the "Bollux Media" reports).
But, then, there was the search and Summer's book and this led me to conclude we were going to see a wrap-up sometime this year, a final "closing" of the case in a way that will satisfy the majority of the uneducated public.
My final blogs pointed out my believe that this case was going to be put to bed with the McCanns walking free. Since then what I have seen in blogs is desperate belief that Scotland Yard is planning some big coup and a lot of anger a frustration being meted out to those who see the final nails being pounded into Maddie's coffin. Since there is likely to be no forward movement and the train is just derailing off the tracks, there remains little to comment on except the damage. I have already commented on the damage I believe this case has done to missing person's cases worldwide and especially to missing children's cases (in helping parents get away with crimes against their own), and, so, there is nothing more for me to comment on professionally.
That there are those who wish to keep the story of Madeleine McCann alive on the net for years to come is fine with me, but I feel there is no more I can contribute in the discussion of this case. I will move on to discussing the analysis of police cases in general, although, certainly, the McCann case may be referred to on occasion as it is important for police detectives to understand how things work in the real world, in their own department and in other police departments.
Hugs to all,
Pat
Anne,
I will be discussing that issue in one of my next two blogs. It is a VERY important deductive decision, not only in missing children's cases but other cases as well.
Mojo,
I haven't the proper personality for politics. I don't manipulate, play games, suck up to people, or compromise my ethics....politics requires all of this. No, I believe, as I always have, my skills lie in crime analysis and teaching the science of profiling to detectives. It is what I have always been about but it has been difficult to find a way to implement profiling in police departments. I have spent a decade and a half learning what works and what doesn't and I am now in a good position to make progress.
It's been quite a while since I had the opportunity to meet you here in Spartanburg SC. You very graciously offered to look at our son & his friends and co-workers homicide. You spent at least 50 hours looking at the case files, preparing and submitting your professional Profile. Unfortunately, you met with much resistance while here and became even more frustrated when AMW covered the homicide with the information supplied to them by the department.I believe you were treated with disrespect that you did not deserve. You became upset with us for not 'standing our ground to force a change'. Unfortunately, then we became backed into a corner, with no way out. We found ourself struggling to have a good working relationship with respective law enforcement adding even more stress for all concerned. Including yourself, it caused you to stop doing pro-bono work, changed the ways you handled media interviews etc. I know in the long run it hurt you also. I wish we could change the way things happened for alot of us.
I know everything happens for a reason, and I feel as if I've been sitting at a table with a puzzle, and every once in a while a piece of the puzzle or a person who will become 'important in our lives and our life's journey, is dropped in front of me. You were one of those people Pat, and I want to tell you thank you for the part that you played in our lives. Somehow, the part you played by the work you did, WILL HELP SOLVE the crime, and hopefully help countless others along the way.
I commend you for standing your ground and doing what you believed to be 'the right choice for you'. Perhaps all of what you have encountered has helped you in making the life changes you are beginning to encounter.
Unfortunately when it comes to crime, mistakes can be made and some people just can't seem to 'navigate around those' and get back on the 'right track'. Or in your case, straighten up the crooked road and make things right again.
I hope that in my lifetime, I do begin to see Law Enforcement making more POSITIVE CHANGE. I realize it's not easy being law enforcement, nor is it being placed in victim's shoes. What we can do is try to work together collective to make POSITIVE CHANGE, by treating each other with respect and perhaps 'placing yourself in the other persons shoes'.
We wish you the best of luck in your new career and know you will make the difference to countless others, during the remainder of your lifetime. In the meantime, congratulations on being close to your family and being a grandma. Love of your family and friends is the single most important thing we need in our life, besides Trust and Faith. God Bless You Pat... Tom and Lorraine Lucas
Hi Pat
I'm sure the vast majority of us can understand your decision as the first 48 hours are the Golden Hours for collection of evidence in any case.
I'm not an expert but I suspect that
if an investigation can just get on with collecting as much evidence within those hours without interference or hinderance then that collected evidence could rightly be deemed objective.
You must have experienced many occasions when there has been a mix of collected evidence based upon hunches or suspicions by officers and hard objective stuff like DNA blood etc and the media pressure has forced Police Departments to act too quickly and put forward pre-conclusions that for PR and prides purposes cannot be gone back on for fear of looking incompetent or foolish.
This could have been the case in the Madeleine Investigation I think. The problem was in my humble opinion that it has never been proved beyond doubt that Madeleine was in 5a to either be taken or removed by anyone.
This is the objective evidence that is missing for my money.
No DNA of Madeleine's was ever dicovered in 5a. Some say that it wasn't discovered because the PJ were not looking for it. I think it should have been. You do not take it as read that everyone is telling the truth and you need objective evidence ( like Nuclear DNA ) to show beyond doubt that Madeleine was there during the holiday and all the days/nights that followed.
The dogs came in many weeks later and indicated to cadaver scent in 5a but yet again why do we assume that this was a result of a bodies direct contact with the cupboard or the tiles behind the sofa?
Could it have been from indirect contact from something that had been in contact with a body? The longer the contact with a body the stronger the scent and the stronger the scent transfer from that article I think.
The bedding and the childrens room in total should have been taken away and analysed ( like Malinka's sofa was ) yet it wasn't
and I'd like to know the explanation why it wasn't.
All I am attempting to show is the difference between objective collected evidence. No one is being accused of anything at that point - it is just placing and proving objectively that the person you are looking for was in the place that you are looking at.
No spin- no bull- no media/press release just facts to work on.
For myself there are many things that should have happened and I'm sure you could give me info on investigations you've seen and assisted that would make my eyes pop out.
This one is more special because it's worldwide and saleable and local crimes aren't. I agree wholeheartedly that all murders are equally important but obviusly the worldwide media don't think so.
The strange thing with the Madeleine tale is that for the media it is a story of a missing child who ( according to the media themselves) is alive not dead.
That's a bigggish story but not that big as many children go missing all over the world and the outpourings in the media are nothing like this one.
Maybe this is really a tale of the media rather than a tale of a
missing child and anguished parents?
Maybe this is the great flaw that was exploited to the n'th degree by the spinners? The ones who really put pressure on the cops and manipulate them too.
Anyway get stuck into those cops with the 48 hour lesson and tell them to drop any prejudices and let the evidence do the talking not them and the media.
Good luck.
New DCI from Met. Homicide and serious crime squad to take over the case on 22nd December. Handover ongoing and she will be in Portugal next week.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-cop-who-led-4753080
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