It seems the British media camped out in Portugal for the hunt for missing three year-old Madeleine McCann are getting impatient with the local police. British TV and press reports are increasingly critical of alleged Portuguese police blunders in the wake of the abduction. I have no idea whether the Algarve detectives have made mistakes but I do know that they have mishandled the media. Having covered major crime stories such as the Soham murders I have seen
at first hand the British crime reporting pack at work. It is a blood-thirsty ravenous beast that needs constant feeding by police press conferences, leaks and witness accounts. British police forces now understand this and immediately set up a structure to handle the journalists. Detectives are given the media liason role but are kept separate from the actual investigation so that it is simply impossible to make police spokespeople reveal more than they should. A careful strategy is always put in place to drip information out in a steady stream to keep the media happy and thus the public interested. It seems to me that the Portuguese police failed to realise the gravity of the McCann case. They also (understandably perhaps) did not prioritise a missing toddler over all their other work just because she happens to be cute, blonde and British. Their spokesman is obviously a humane, intelligent and eloquent officer. He will need to be all those things and more if this is not to turn in to very nasty media/police spat that can only do more harm to the poor family at the centre of this horrible case.
Sir,
You wrote that ” It seems to me that the Portugese police failed to realise the gravity of the McCann case.”
This is totally false and unthrue.
Two hours have passed since Madeleine parents left their children sleeping, went for dinner and came back for checking if everything was alright, at 22:00. when they realized she was missing, they search, with the help of friends, neighbours and staff of the club. First call in police station of Lagos was received at 22:50 – almost three hours after the last time McCann couple saw her. 10 minutes after that, first police patrol arrived.
Less than 10 minutes after their arrival, the two officers called Portuguese CID regional headquarter, in Portimão, and gave the alert. At the same time, local police (GNR) requested reinforcements from all precincts with available officers. Before sunset, there were several dog units, dozens GNR police officers (rural police, in charge o the area of Praia da Luz) and several teams of CID officers searching for Madeleine. At that time, several other dog units were called from Lisbon (300 km away) and left for Algarve, at the middle of the night. They arrived there in the early morning, to help in the search.
Polícia Judiciária (Our CID), SENT MORE 200 HUNDRED CID OFICCERS TO ALGARVE, within the 24 HOURS FOLLOWING MADELEINE DISAPEARENCE. Polícia JudIciária (our CID) HAS AROUND TWO THOUSAND INVESTIGATORS. It means that 10 PER CENT OF ALL NATIONAL PORTUGUESE CID INVESTIGATORS WERE INVOLVED IN THE SEARCH OF MADELEINE. And I’m not counting the hundreds of police from PSP (our city police) and GNR (our rural police), Maritime Police and SEF (Frontier’s and Customs Police)
So, please, don’t say that “hey [Portuguese police] also (understandably perhaps) did not prioritise a missing toddler over all their other work just because she happens to be cute, blonde and British”. It’s false. There was never, in this country a police operation of this dimension, not because of a child abducted (we have very, very few cases, unlike the UK). Not even because of a serial killer that murdered eigth persons, 20 years ago.
Regards,
Paulo Reis
Journalista (Press Card nº 734)
Email: pjcv.reis@gmail.com
Yahoo Messenger: pjcv_reis
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Gazeta Digital (http://gazetadigital.blogspot.com/)
I agree with Paolo. Relax and lay off the poor guys.