Would you recognise the face in this sketch? It is a copy of an artist’s impression used used by Portuguese police hunting the abductor of Madeleine McCann. It has been described as looking like “an egg with a side parting”. It has no eyes, nose or mouth, no distinguishing features at all.
How can police hope catch this evil person if they do not release any description locally, as well as globally, especially if the worst is feared, that she has been snatched by an international pedophile network. She was abducted a week ago today.
I do not see how a closed police culture can be successful in a desperate case like this where witnesses and forensic evidence are crucial. No photofits or e-fits have been published by the police on the grounds it is against Portuguese law to reveal any information about their inquiry.
There are also claims that Portugal’s Judicial Police, the equivalent of Britain’s CID, even held back from showing images of suspects to uniformed officers in the region, some police were not even allowed to see sketches of suspects until Monday – four days after Madeleine’s disappearance.
This report I wrote about the different approaches used by Ipswich police, who worked with the community, and their less communicative counterparts in Atlantic City, following the murders of a number of prostitutes, clearly demonstrates why a closed police culture does not work. Of course, there are exceptions, such as cases involving terrorism or national security. The fact that British police experts and Interpol are now helping must be a huge comfort to the McCanns, let’s hope their valuable experience is used to the full and Madeleine can be found. This is a truly heartbreaking story.
I don’t profess to be an expert in these matters, Ellee, but I sure that the British approach is not always right.
If there was a lead in the investigation (as the Portuguese police initially thought) it might well have been better to surprise the abductor in the hope the child would still be alive rather than frighten him into killing her by making a lot of noise to make him nervous. That lead has gone cold, it seems, but if it had led to a safe recovery of the girl, the police would have been heroes.
There is a nasty element in the British media coverage, suggesting that British experts are necessarily better. Comparing and contrasting crime records might suggest otherwise.
The sort of publicity you are talking about only seems to happen when blonde girls who particularly appeal to the daytime TV’s audience’s sentimentality are abducted. If this were a matter of police “technique” surely it would be used in all cases? When was the last time you saw splash coverage about a missing boy?
Tom, I would say the British police have some best practice experiences they can share with Portugal. I would be appalled if the media gave preferences to highlighting the abduction of blonde girls rather than brunettes, and indeed boys. Maybe more girls are abducted than boys, I don’t know the figures.
I think the thing that wrenches me about this tragic story is that the parents left the three infants ‘alone’ while they went out to dins nearby. That is utterly indefensible. Why on earth didn’t they get a resort minder in for them? I don’t mean to be unkind, but that to me is child neglect, added to which it is illegal in most jurisdictions.
Ian
Ellee, according to Home Office statistics available on line, about 55% of successful abductions by strangers are of girls. Abductions of boys (or less than cherubic girls) are simply of no media interest, regardless of whether publicity might or might not help the search.
Frankly, the tabloid TV frenzy over this poor child is pandering to a sick interest on the part of their audience. Publicity in Portugal might help, but that’s for the local police to decide. Publicity on Sky News – which is running the story continuously – is nothing more than exploitation of a distressed family.
Ian, you are being harsh. Every parent has been in a position where their child could have been snatched by a determined paedophile watching for a chance. Any parents in this position will blame themselves quite enough without help. Crime is the fault of the criminal, not the victim.
I saw that drawing on Sky last night, Ellee, and thought it was a joke. But I agree with TP here: criticisms of a police force doing its best are hardly helpful though I can of course understand the desperation of the family to “do something”. I do think the police there are overwhelmed by the aggressive 24-hour British media camped on their doorsteps and there is certainly an element of some of these news agencies “stirring it up”. The British police may have expertise in child abduction cases and of course it is right that they should help but they don’t, as far as I recall, have a wonderful record in getting abducted children back alive, do they? So I can’t see what they have to crow about. Incidentally, the family are right in saying that it is not a big story in other European countries. There has been no press coverage here. [But then, the British press did not cover the kidnapping of an Italian boy last year. ] I wrote to Sky last night and suggested that they put a blog code on the poster, rather as the BBC has done with regard to Alan Johnston.
With regard to the parents having left the children alone, it is always easy to be wise in retrospect. Sadly their half-hourly checks on the children probably gave the abductor a clue as to when he/she could do this dreadful deed. You have only to look at that poor mother to see the pain and unless it has happened to us, we cannot imagine what the family are going through. Let us hope they are not going to have the rest of their lives to regret the decision to leave the children in what they thought was a safe place. And even though I’m not religious, let us all pray for the safe return of the little girl.
PS: I meant a blog code on the email poster circulated by the family.
Ellee – I am afraid that Tom is right regarding the media focus on young girls – particularly pretty blonde white ones. Other children going missing do not get such attention, so it seems less about a helpful strategy than selling papers. I’ve heard from PRs working with the police who confirm the difficulties they have in getting attention for less media-genic missing children.
In the UK, the police have had to invest considerably in public relations support to manage the media frenzy and as with Ipswich, expert PR help is seconded in to help manage the media madness.
From my experience working with students in Portugal, public relations there is very different to here – with few people who would be experienced in handling the expectations of the British media.
Unfortunately – as was the case in Soham – it often takes a terrible crisis before the value of professional PR advice is employed.
I’m not advocating total open communications with the media – but being able to manage and make better use of appropriate publicity, protecting the parents, etc, is a vital tool that police can use to good effect.
Heather, I just imagine how I would feel if it was my child who had been snatched, I would want everyone who could help doing their best, that couldn’t happen unless they were properly informed. One could question whether this drives the abductor underground.
I agree with Tom’s view that crime is the fault of the criminal, not the victim.
Oh dear god….this is so horrible! If only there were some way to get all these monsters, string them up by their balls and then draw and quarter them in public afterwards.
tea
xo
It does appear that e-fits are being witheld for legal reasons, however, if the ‘egg’ is all that a witness remembered because they only saw the suspect fleetingly then it would be wrong to fill the details in as this could take the inquiry in entirely the wrong direction.
The ‘egg’ may not depict the abductor very well, but it certainly eliminates quite a large section of the populace.
For all my criticisms of the British police (and there are many) the performance of the Portugese makes me feel very fortunate to have the police service and cooperation from the media that we enjoy in the UK.
I would be going back to UK and researching their male friends. The ones that knew the family (especially close to Maddy) and probably disappeared after they went on their holiday.
I’d place money that its a family friend, that knew where they were going, and knew when they left for dinner that night, the child wasnt with them, thus leaving an opening.
My two cents
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Who gave the description for the drawing? The other 2 children?