Media go do your job
There is some confusion regarding the letter I received from the Ministere de Securite Publique. Let me try and clarify things.
Below is a copy of the letter (you will probably need to copy and save it in order to view it properly):
The first half is pretty standard fair, they talk about how they've looked into the SQ, from their point of view investigators did their job and - given the limits of technology from the 70s - did all they could. The case is still open, it's never closed... bla-bla-bla, we've all heard this before. It's pretty disappointing and they never bother to address our real questions: what are officers doing now? Why haven't they followed up on leads and suspects?
This is pretty much the response I expected from the initial inquiry into the actions of the Surete du Quebec.
What is interesting is the second to last paragraph which addresses a cold-case unit, but therein lies the confusion. As a reporter pointed out to me (sorry my French is not that sharp) it states, "major crimes unit "has put in place..." rather then "is putting in place..." which begs the question: when did they do that?
Indeed, when I was speaking to M. Turcotte he could not give me a definite answer as to when this happened.
Furthering the confusion, I was contacted by email by an SQ officer last night who wrote, "that's great, but it remains to be seen..."
Then someone questioned whether the government mandated this or whether the SQ did it on their own initiative.
To all of this I say... WHATEVER.
We have it on paper that the major crimes unit 0f the Surete du Quebec has a cold-case squad. It matters little whether they use it to solve Theresa's case, nor am I concerned how they got to this place. If they use it to focus on unresolved crimes that is an achievement for everybody.
Now, do we want to know what they mean by a "special team to solve these types of crimes"? Absolutely. If it is the same old situation of investigators working part-time on old cases, then the government and the public have a different perspective of the nature of cold-case investigation. If this is in fact the reality of the situation then the Ministry will have gone out on a limb and embarrassed themselves by not being aware of the actions and strategies of their law enforcement.
So this is now in the hands of the media who should contact the Quebec government and the Surete du Quebec and ask them exactly what is the nature of their "special team to solve these types of crimes". Citizens have a right to know the nature of changes and improvements especially when the government claims bragging-rights for alleged achievements.
posted by John Allore @ 11/04/2006 08:38:00 AM
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