The GNR and the PJ will know most of these burglars and are best placed to rule them out. SY are effectively very much out of their depth in the Algarve and are almost totally reliant on the Portuguese except for the odd Brit who chooses to speak to them.
Ultimately, this will hinder any effective investigation that SY may wish to pursue. Bottom line is the Portuguese do not want to be left looking like incompetent fools on their own patch so does anyone really believe that they would cooperate in any joint operation which could in any way provide this outcome?
Interesting question.
Despite national pride (that exists in every country), and screw-ups (which also happen in every country)... a real issue may be lack of resources (financial, human, training, the investment in changing the culture of an organisation, etc). I would find it human for them to feel that they did the best that they could under the circumstances. And I've no doubt many officers and volunteers did their very best.
However, surely the bosses could have found an excuse to remove the original team off the case far earlier onto other "important" cases elsewhere? Or did no one really have the time to supervise them?
Personally, I have more respect for authorities (or individuals) who can admit a screw-up and do what they can to make amends.
In the meantime, there is a serial child abuser who doesn't appear to have been investigated and a missing child.
These alleged abuses started in 2004. I'm not aware that there was any coordinator other than Amaral at the time, although I'd be happy to be corrected on that. If that's the case, what did Amaral actually do to investigate them? He was the coordinator from Faro for the Cipriano case in 2004 (not sure when he actually took up the coordinator function prior to that), until he was finally removed in October 2007 from the McCann case.
