Why was Goncalo Amaral so critical of the PJ?

[gilet]

Thanks to Liz Taylor of Toronto for this quote from an interview given by Goncalo Amaral in 2008.

Question: Following the report of the disappearance, a police squad arrived at the scene. What went wrong?

Goncalo Amaral: I do not intend to blame any colleague, although the photo report left much to be desired, by not collecting any person in those photos, when there were a lot of people in the house that night, it would have been important to have that. There were also weaknesses in taking fingerprints. It was normal, we were a small police station without specialised personnel in an investigation of this nature.

So no names mentioned but the photographer was incompetent and the fingerprint experts were weak.

Was Amaral trying to shuffle blame for the lousy investigation from his own shoulders to those who were in his team?

Looks that way to me.

And how appalling that this was the kind of policing which the Portuguese managed to muster in the case of a missing little girl.  No wonder they failed to find any real clue as to what actually happened that night when the case was dogged from the beginning by such appalling incompetence.

[Chinagirl]

It seems extraordinary that any police force, anywhere in the developed world today, is incompetent at the lifting of fingerprints.  How long has this technique been known?  Hundred years or more?

[Dog The Bounty Hunter]

This is Portugal after all we are talking about and not a country like the USA or Britain which have years of specialisms in these techniques and still get it wrong sometimes.   

[Carana]

There are several veiled criticisms of the PJ.


Book
POLICE REINFORCEMENTS

A team from the Central Crime Fighting Directorate (DCCB) arrives from Lisbon, accompanied by their director. I wasn't informed of this decision, but I agree with it. The reinforcements are welcomed, because we must get on very quickly. The experience of these police officers in the field of abductions and the taking of hostages is a plus for the investigation and the ways they operate are largely superior to ours. In addition, their experts are the most qualified of the police judiciaire. From now on, two deputy national directors, assisted by the coordinator of the Portimão Department of Criminal Investigation, will direct the investigations. A few months later, chief inspector Tavares de Almeida was to share one of his convictions with me: if we had remained solely responsible for the investigation, we would have advanced more quickly.

In reality, I don't know. I don't think we can rewrite history with "if." At that time the directorate of the police judiciaire had decided on it, and we had favourably welcomed the arrival of that team. It was about doing our best with these new participants and taking advantage of their ways of working. The motivations behind that decision, whatever they are don't interest us in the slightest.



From his interview with Moita Flores:

MF – Things were different in my time. She would have been under such an attack that before she realized anything, she’d be in jail.

GA – Right, but in your time, in our old times, investigation was made with fuel. Now we all move on honey. Apart from that, this is a process that is uncomfortable for everyone. Nicely archived, nice and quiet, that’s how it looks better. Everyone was happy.

http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2008/10/mccanns-knew-that-i-was-going-to-catch.html


And from Sofia's open letter:

a) Professionally

-- As coordinator of criminal investigation for the PJ, my husband has always refused to sit comfortably behind his desk, from 9 to 5, which is usual for his rank.

Instead of that, he spent the day (and sometimes the night) on the ground with the investigators, coordinating "on the spot" searches, surveillance, seizures and other duties. What a disgrace! But if this was just about being exposed to the elements, things wouldn't be serious, because as madam Kate knows, the weather here is not bad. The problem is his commitment to the cause which has cost him promotion in his career. I will explain, because this case is contemporary to the search for your daughter. My husband was involved as senior coordinator, and between seizures of drugs, kidnappings and murders, he succeeded in producing a theory about drug trafficking by sea, which he defended before a jury in Lisbon, who congratulated him.

Full of hope, Gonçalo Amaral returned to the Algarve to await the result. It was with astonishment that he learned that he had been passed over by other colleagues (coordinators as it happens, to tell the truth), because he had not managed to get himself into "professonal training" settings. And yes, madam Kate, my husband spent his life working, in the midst of complex investigations. He was the man in Portugal who seized most drugs, but as he didn't have the time to parade himself in the corridors of the PJ's institution, he was not promoted. A disgrace, madam, a disgrace!

[faithlilly]

Thanks to Liz Taylor of Toronto for this quote from an interview given by Goncalo Amaral in 2008.

Question: Following the report of the disappearance, a police squad arrived at the scene. What went wrong?

Goncalo Amaral: I do not intend to blame any colleague, although the photo report left much to be desired, by not collecting any person in those photos, when there were a lot of people in the house that night, it would have been important to have that. There were also weaknesses in taking fingerprints. It was normal, we were a small police station without specialised personnel in an investigation of this nature.

So no names mentioned but the photographer was incompetent and the fingerprint experts were weak.

Was Amaral trying to shuffle blame for the lousy investigation from his own shoulders to those who were in his team?

Looks that way to me.

And how appalling that this was the kind of policing which the Portuguese managed to muster in the case of a missing little girl.  No wonder they failed to find any real clue as to what actually happened that night when the case was dogged from the beginning by such appalling incompetence.

Interesting that you can't hazzard a guess why Kate McCann and her friends recollection of her concern over the crying incident was so at odds but are able to wax lyrical regarding Amaral's motivation, cowardly according to you, for simply being truthful.

[gilet]

Thanks to Liz Taylor of Toronto for this quote from an interview given by Goncalo Amaral in 2008.

Question: Following the report of the disappearance, a police squad arrived at the scene. What went wrong?

Goncalo Amaral: I do not intend to blame any colleague, although the photo report left much to be desired, by not collecting any person in those photos, when there were a lot of people in the house that night, it would have been important to have that. There were also weaknesses in taking fingerprints. It was normal, we were a small police station without specialised personnel in an investigation of this nature.

So no names mentioned but the photographer was incompetent and the fingerprint experts were weak.

Was Amaral trying to shuffle blame for the lousy investigation from his own shoulders to those who were in his team?

Looks that way to me.

And how appalling that this was the kind of policing which the Portuguese managed to muster in the case of a missing little girl.  No wonder they failed to find any real clue as to what actually happened that night when the case was dogged from the beginning by such appalling incompetence.

Interesting that you can't hazzard a guess why Kate McCann and her friends recollection of her concern over the crying incident was so at odds but are able to wax lyrical regarding Amaral's motivation, cowardly according to you, for simply being truthful.

Can you not recognise the difference between questions and factual assertions about a subject and the notion of waxing lyrical?

I do not base my forum posting on guesswork as you goadingly demand of me. I base my forum posting on facts and evidence.  You seem to think guesswork is more important. I simply don't agree and think guesswork is foolish and pointless.

My conclusion that Amaral is shuffling blame is wholly evidenced by the direct quotation which I have provided. It is not guesswork but evidenced fact because that is what he is saying.  It looks that way to me because it simply is that way. Those like you who cannot see that are either deluding themselves or are simply not reading carefully enough. He is shuffling the blame to others.

The second point I make is well evidenced elsewhere. There are many expert witnesses to the almost criminally incompetent handling of the case by the PJ. There are even aspects of the case within the files which show a lack of diligence/competence on the part of the PJ.

It is interesting that in commenting on my post (with it directly above your own) you manage to attribute a word to me which is pure invention. I did not use the word cowardly as you state.  I simply accuse him of what is clear in that quotation of shuffling blame from his shoulders to others. I do not speculate as to his motivation. It is interesting that your speculation, your word for the action, NOT MINE, is cowardly. Sub-freudian slip perchance?

[faithlilly]

Can you not recognise the difference between questions and factual assertions about a subject and the notion of waxing lyrical?

I do not base my forum posting on guesswork as you goadingly demand of me. I base my forum posting on facts and evidence.  You seem to think guesswork is more important. I simply don't agree and think guesswork is foolish and pointless.

My conclusion that Amaral is shuffling blame is wholly evidenced by the direct quotation which I have provided. It is not guesswork but evidenced fact because that is what he is saying.  It looks that way to me because it simply is that way. Those like you who cannot see that are either deluding themselves or are simply not reading carefully enough. He is shuffling the blame to others.

The second point I make is well evidenced elsewhere. There are many expert witnesses to the almost criminally incompetent handling of the case by the PJ. There are even aspects of the case within the files which show a lack of diligence/competence on the part of the PJ.

It is interesting that in commenting on my post (with it directly above your own) you manage to attribute a word to me which is pure invention. I did not use the word cowardly as you state.  I simply accuse him of what is clear in that quotation of shuffling blame from his shoulders to others. I do not speculate as to his motivation. It is interesting that your speculation, your word for the action, NOT MINE, is cowardly. Sub-freudian slip perchance?

Please don't be coy gilet, that Amaral is being cowardly is implied in your post, I was merely giving voice to your implication.

For the sake of clarity can we establish whether you feel that Kate's 'shifting of blame' for her daughters's endangerment to the poor receptionist who noted that the children were being left alone in the apartments, deserves the same weight of disdain that you have reserved for Amaral ?

[gilet]

Please don't be coy gilet, that Amaral is being cowardly is implied in your post, I was merely giving voice to your implication.

For the sake of clarity can we establish whether you feel that Kate's 'shifting of blame' for her daughters's endangerment to the poor receptionist who noted that the children were being left alone in the apartments, deserves the same weight of disdain that you have reserved for Amaral ?

You lied about the content of my post. Fact.

There was no indication of his motivation in my post. Your introduction of the term "cowardly" was pure invention.

Provide the full quote from Kate about the situation as I did regarding Amaral and I will respond. Till then not.

It may be more appropriate to open a separate thread though because this thread is about Amaral and not Kate McCann.  We will see.

[faithlilly]

@ gilet

From Madeleine :

'It wasn’t until a year later, when I was combing through the Portuguese police files, that I discovered that the note requesting our block booking was written in a staff message book, which sat on a desk at the pool reception for most of the day. This book was by definition accessible to all staff and, albeit unintentionally, probably to guests and visitors, too. To my horror, I saw that, no doubt in all innocence and simply to explain why she was bending the rules a bit, the receptionist had added the reason for our request: we wanted to eat close to our apartments as we were leaving our young children alone there and checking on them intermittently.'

So in Kate's rather strange, responsibility free mind, it was not her and her feckless husband who put their children in danger but, and please note her absolutely hypocritical horror, the poor receptionist who made them vulnerable by the leaving of a note in the staff message book.

Priceless !!

[DCI]

WHY, was Amaral ever put on this case, in the first place?

He was from the drug squad, in Faro.
They know what he witnessed, being done to Leonor Cipriano.
They knew he was being made an Arguido, on the 4th May.

 8-)(--)

[gilet]

@ gilet

From Madeleine :

'It wasn’t until a year later, when I was combing through the Portuguese police files, that I discovered that the note requesting our block booking was written in a staff message book, which sat on a desk at the pool reception for most of the day. This book was by definition accessible to all staff and, albeit unintentionally, probably to guests and visitors, too. To my horror, I saw that, no doubt in all innocence and simply to explain why she was bending the rules a bit, the receptionist had added the reason for our request: we wanted to eat close to our apartments as we were leaving our young children alone there and checking on them intermittently.'

So in Kate's rather strange, responsibility free mind, it was not her and her feckless husband who put their children in danger but, and please note her absolutely hypocritical horror, the poor receptionist who made them vulnerable by the leaving of a note in the staff message book.

Priceless !!

Answered in a separate thread so as not to disrupt this thread about Amaral and PJ incomptence.

[DCI]

Thanks to Liz Taylor of Toronto for this quote from an interview given by Goncalo Amaral in 2008.

Question: Following the report of the disappearance, a police squad arrived at the scene. What went wrong?

Goncalo Amaral: I do not intend to blame any colleague, although the photo report left much to be desired, by not collecting any person in those photos, when there were a lot of people in the house that night, it would have been important to have that. There were also weaknesses in taking fingerprints. It was normal, we were a small police station without specialised personnel in an investigation of this nature.

So no names mentioned but the photographer was incompetent and the fingerprint experts were weak.

Was Amaral trying to shuffle blame for the lousy investigation from his own shoulders to those who were in his team?

Looks that way to me.

And how appalling that this was the kind of policing which the Portuguese managed to muster in the case of a missing little girl.  No wonder they failed to find any real clue as to what actually happened that night when the case was dogged from the beginning by such appalling incompetence.

Looks that way to me, too, Gilet.

It was also one of the incompetent fingerprint experts, that took the Scenic from outside a cafe. Then drove it to the garage.
And guess what?. There appears to be no statement, from him in the files.

[gilet]

Thanks to Liz Taylor of Toronto for this quote from an interview given by Goncalo Amaral in 2008.

Question: Following the report of the disappearance, a police squad arrived at the scene. What went wrong?

Goncalo Amaral: I do not intend to blame any colleague, although the photo report left much to be desired, by not collecting any person in those photos, when there were a lot of people in the house that night, it would have been important to have that. There were also weaknesses in taking fingerprints. It was normal, we were a small police station without specialised personnel in an investigation of this nature.

So no names mentioned but the photographer was incompetent and the fingerprint experts were weak.

Was Amaral trying to shuffle blame for the lousy investigation from his own shoulders to those who were in his team?

Looks that way to me.

And how appalling that this was the kind of policing which the Portuguese managed to muster in the case of a missing little girl.  No wonder they failed to find any real clue as to what actually happened that night when the case was dogged from the beginning by such appalling incompetence.

Looks that way to me, too, Gilet.

It was also one of the incompetent fingerprint experts, that took the Scenic from outside a cafe. Then drove it to the garage.

Ah yes. No thought whatsoever about the preservation of evidence. Just sit in the car in and drive it away.

And do I recall that under the remit of a PJ investigation there were large numbers of ancillary people (photographers/video makers, dog handlers and others) in the apartments and in that garage without protective clothing?

[DCI]

Ah yes. No thought whatsoever about the preservation of evidence. Just sit in the car in and drive it away.

Precisely! 

We also enclose mouth swabs and pattern samples taken from the clothes worn by the Portuguese fingerprint expert, Pedro Miguel Filipe Goncalo Vilhena, who drove the vehicle under examination, with a view to allowing for possible contamination screening.

14. Two mouth swabs from Pedro Miguel Filipe Goncalo Vilhena.
15. Pattern samples taken from the clothes worn by Pedro Miguel Filipe Goncalo Vilhena.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/JOHN_LOWE.htm

[DCI]

This is Portugal after all we are talking about and not a country like the USA or Britain which have years of specialisms in these techniques and still get it wrong sometimes.   

Exactly!

Then why refuse the help offered, from the start?

Dogs offered, Refused, for 3 months.
Interpol offers, Refused.