ﯯ뻻 Misplaced trust led to Madeleine's betrayal ﯯ뻻

ﯯ뻻  Jan Moir - The Telegraph 8.05.2007 ﯯ뻻

"Gerry and Kate McCann had every reason to trust [...] that the
Portuguese police would do everything to help bring her back to
safety. Yet with the best will in the world, it is becoming obvious
that this has not happened. Even if one factors in cultural
differences and the inexplicable burden of the Portuguese secrecy of
justice law, which prohibits even the parents of the missing being
given details of evidence collected, it is clear that the police
operation has been flawed and flat-footed from the start.
[...] At a belated and chaotic press conference on Monday, the police
were, if anything, belligerent instead of supportive, with an
uncomfortable whisper of southern Mediterranean machismo sweeping
through their statements and body language. "We are not magicians,"
said Olegario Sousa, the officer leading the investigation. No,
senhor, but perhaps you are clowns instead."

ﯯ뻻  Gazeta Digital - Online News Digest ﯯ뻻

ﯯ뻻  Editorial ﯯ뻻

A few thoughts about some British journalists, child abduction experts
and idiots

Part of the British media is giving an image of the Portuguese police
- and of the Portuguese people - as a lost Neanderthal tribe that
survived the Ice Age and is still living in a remote corner of Europe,
with its primitive traditions and culture.
Some British journalists, reporting from Algarve, behave as if they
were following a National Geographic expedition to study the not-so-
long-ago-cannibal tribes in the deep jungles of New-Guinea.
Of course, they do it with the usual British refinement, putting a
word here, a word there, an apparently simple question in the middle
and, at the end, touching phrases like "Madeleine parents went to the
Church to pray for her daughter and maybe, also for those trying to
find her."
Of course. With so much incompetence from the Portuguese police, only
God and a miracle can take the investigation to a good end.
[...]
That basic thing is the fact that Portuguese Law doesn't allow police
to release details of an ongoing investigation. They can do it, in two
exceptional circumstances.
First, in case there is a situation of risk or danger to the public
and the society. It can be done when an armed criminal is on the run,
after killing somebody, and may be a danger to the public and kill
again. So, in this case, Portuguese police gives a public warning
about that criminal, a physical description, if they have it, and so
on.
Second circumstance, when the release of those details is considered
essential to help save or protect the life of somebody that is in
danger. It happens when old people, with health problems like
Alzheimer, vanish from its home, for example, and the police send
their photos to newspapers, ask for information about the missing
person.
[...]
If the abductor is an organized crime professional or a sexual
pervert, he is on the run, trying to leave to country or hiding and
waiting for a better opportunity to escape.
[...]
But he is not afraid of showing his face, or being seen by other
people. Because he has been watching the news, carefully and he
believes, as most probable, that police has no clue or tip about who
he is, what colour is hair, how tall, if he is skinny or fat, long
hair or bald.
But if he watches his face on a TV screen, either a photo of him, or a
sketch that is so close that allows people to recognize him, he will
act immediately.
He will do the first thing every criminal does, when he discovers
police is on his trail, knows his identity, his name, his face, his
last address: he will try to get rid of all evidence that can connect
him to the crime.
And the only - it seems, as I don't know any detail of the ongoing
investigation - and strongest evidence of the crime he committed, is
having the little Madeleine with him. He could do it on two different
ways. One, leaving the child, alive and well, near some place where
somebody could find her quickly. The other option is frightening.
[...]
And I hope that, next time, British journalists, before coming to
Portugal to report, try to do some fact-finding, using the Net. We,
Portuguese, are no more living in caverns, or dressing with animal
skins and hunting with arrows to have our daily meals.
Next time, call some British expatriates living here and ask them
those basic things that took you so long to discover. Call the editor
of "The Resident", an English language newspaper from Algarve.(There
are five other English language publications in Portugal, names and
contacts here: http://lisbon.angloinfo.com/information/19/emedia.asp)
Talk with some Portuguese journalists. We can speak, and we use
computers (typewriters are a thing of the past..). Most of us have a
good command of English, French and Spanish (I, myself, can even speak
a little bit of Cantonese...)

Paulo Reis
Journalist (Professional Card nº 734)
pjcv.reis@gmail.com
URL: http://gazetadigital.blogspot.com/

PS - Forget to mention: our country is also a member of the European
Union...
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