Who Killed Theresa?: 03/01/2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

SQ probe targets construction industry

I am shocked, SHOCKED SIR, at the suggestion that the construction industry in Quebec is tied to some kind of... what's that word... "Syndicate"?

SQ probe targets construction industry

Ten warrants issued to search for money-laundering

BY JAN RAVENSBERGEN, MONTREAL GAZETTE

MARCH 31, 2009 6:09 PM

MONTREAL – Teams from the Sûreté du Québec investigating money-laundering in the construction industry sprang search warrants Tuesday on about 10 businesses and homes, as part of a probe around the Montreal region, Constable Claude Denis said.

The raids were carried out in Montreal, Laval, Terrebonne, Boisbriand, Legardeur, Repentigny and Three Rivers.

Denis refused to provide the exact number of raids, or say how many officers participated.

Sgt. Marc Butz, another SQ spokesperson, said at 5:30 p.m. that he was not aware of any arrests.

Both SQ officials refused to say whether the raids were tied in with earlier allegations of possible money-laundering schemes in the province’s building industry involving the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and one or more officials in the province’s largest union central, the Quebec Federation of Labour, or QFL, which has more than 500,000 members.

Police arrived at an office of the Fonds de Solidarité, a QFL-sponsored investment fund with assets of $6.2 billion, during the morning “to investigate information on a company in the construction sector which has never been a partner of the Fonds,” the Fonds said in a press release.

“The Fonds is cooperating in full with the SQ,” it stated. “Neither the Fonds nor its employees are the focus of an investigation,” it added.

Michel Arsenault, board chairman of the Fonds and also president of the QFL, said that SQ investigators left with “a pile of documents.”

The SQ refused to confirm or deny that the raids are part of a previously reported probe into the activities of Jocelyn Dupuis, who for 11 years had been general manager of the 70,000-member QFL-Construction wing of the labour federation.

Dupuis left last November following a free-spending era of luxurious lunches and $4,750-a-week expense accounts.

In early March, leaked documents surfaced to reveal that Dupuis had been reimbursed for $125,000 of expenses claimed during a six-month period beginning in late 2007, including $200 bottles of wine and $24,294 for food and drink over two months at Cavalli, a posh restaurant in the city’s downtown district.

Dupuis also walked away with a $140,195 departure allowance.

“Many documents (related to spending during the Dupuis era) have disappeared,” Richard Goyette, who succeeded Dupuis, said March 11.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Rossmo to deliver lecture on criminal investigative failures

Rossmo to deliver lecture on criminal investigative failures

World renowned criminologist Kim Rossmo will lecture on criminal investigative failures at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, in the Alkek Library Teaching Theater on the Texas State University campus.

The event is free of charge and open to the public.

The lecture is based on Rossmo’s new book and will cover such topics as problems underlying unsolved investigations and wrongful convictions, tunnel vision and cognitive biases, groupthink and organizational traps, and probability errors in forensic science and criminal profiling.

Rossmo is a research professor in the Texas State Department of Criminal Justice and director of the department’s Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation. His research has focused on the criminal investigative function and the geography of crime. He is currently studying the geographic and geological features associated with criminal border crossings and the spatial patterns of insurgency bombings.

A former detective inspector for the Vancouver Police Department, Rossmo served as a police officer for more than 20 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a master’s and doctorate from Simon Fraser University. He is credited with developing the science of geographic profiling used in criminal investigations.

For information, contact the Texas State Department of Criminal Justice at (512) 245-2174.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Cold Cases - A New One On Me

Information may lead to arrest in '80 murder

BY KEITH UPCHURCH : The Herald-Sun
Mar 21, 2009

DURHAM -- New information has surfaced that could lead to an arrest in the murder of a 13-year-old Durham girl who was brutally beaten and stabbed nearly three decades ago.

No one has yet been charged, but Maj. Paul Martin of the Durham County Sheriff's Office said on Friday that he is hoping new leads may result in an arrest in the 1980 death of Darlene Tilley, whose body was found near railroad tracks off Old Oxford Highway.

The girl disappeared on Sept. 14, 1980, and was last seen walking on a service road north of Durham near Interstate 85 about 5:30 p.m. Her body was found on Nov. 15, 1980.

"She had been brutally murdered,' Martin said on Friday. She suffered head wounds and stab wounds to her chest, back and abdomen, according to reports then.

"During 2005, I talked about the murder on a local radio station and as a result we were contacted by a person who gave us some new information," Martin said Friday. "A person who was in a position of authority in Darlene's community sexually molested a 13-year-old girl who was a friend of Darlene Tilley. This sexual molestation was never reported to the Sheriff's Office.'

Martin she it's likely that the person "used his position of authority to either sexually assault or make sexual overtures to other young girls who were friends or acquaintances of Darlene" in the Gorman community of East Durham. "These girls would have been in the 12- to 15-year-old age range during 1980.'

Martin said on Friday that more information has surfaced since that 2005 interview.

He's now hoping that these potential victims might help the Sheriff's Office make an arrest in the slaying.

"If you were a victim of this individual or you know someone who was a victim, please call me at 560-0884,' Martin said. "Your call will be treated confidentially.'

Anyone with information also can call Lt. Stan Harris at 560-0881 or Investigator Tom Mellown at 560-0857.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Death of actress Natasha Richardson

Liam Neeson puts next career steps on hold
What's he going to do? Become an advocate for Quebec skiing accident victims?
FOR GOD'S SAKE, MAN, ACT!!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Half-Baked: Civilian Oversight for Chapel Hill Police

At it's Monday, March 9th meeting Chapel Hill Town Council agreed to request legislative authority to disclose police personnel information to the public, the first step on the road to establishing a civilian oversight panel for Chapel Hill Police.

Civilian review boards for law enforcement are not necessarily a bad idea - Durham, Greensboro and Wilmington have them; and I have certainly lobbied for them for police in Quebec. But I do question the motives of those seeking civilian review of the CHPD. A Herald-Sun editorial makes the point:

"A properly run civilian review board can unearth cronyism, institutional bias, longstanding policies and practices that harm citizens or employees that may never be corrected without outside examination. That can bolster public confidence. But a board run amok can unfairly target and taint people, be consumed with personal or political agendas and tie government in knots. Either way, it may strike fear into the hearts of the governing class."

Apparently, the current outcry for citizen oversight spurs from two incidents of protest - one at an Army recruitment center and the other at a local Burger King - in which area seniors accused police of rash conduct.

Local civil rights attorney, Al McSurley lays the blame squarely at the police department:

"That arrest was just totally bogus," said McSurely. "These young guys they hire, these rookies, have no sense of the history of Chapel Hill."

Sure, law enforcement should always have a firm grasp on the cultural temperature of a community, but I don't believe young officers should be beholden to Chapel Hill's proud history of civil disobedience; their job is to enforce the law.

It is also discomforting to think that the public should have access to personnel files. I don't relish the idea of any officer second guessing themselves in a crisis situation because they are preoccupied with the thought of citizen repercussions. Why is the release of personnel files even necessary? Can't their be oversight without this disclosure? For me, I actually like the model now employed by the Surete du Quebec: you submit your complaint to the police ethics board which is housed in the Ministry of Public Security - the same agency that oversees the police, the board investigates in conjunction with Internal Affairs, within 30 days you get your response. Yes, in the 1990s there was public outcry for civilian oversight of the SQ, but face it, that was never gonna happen. So this is the next best thing.

At the March 9th meeting Councilman Matt Czaskowski asked the question largely missing from the 45 minutes of discussion on this matter:

"What is the basis of need?"

I would hope it extends beyond the 4 citizens who showed up to petition for the reform.

Start the Presses

Criminal Investigative Failures has sold out and is now in its second printing!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Saga of Rocket Richard

As many of you know I am a HUGE Montreal Canadiens fan. I have many fond memories of attending Forum games. I received Jean Beliveau's autograph on many occasions. He was always a gentleman; he didn't pander to his fans, but if you asked politely he was always sure to sign his name.

My sister Theresa too, loved the Habs. She attended many games with my father, it was always a treat to sit in the VIP box that my dad's company leased. Theresa insisted on collecting hockey cards at a time when no girl ever dreamed of doing such a thing.

As you also know, this is the Canadiens 100 season and things are progressing in a most embarrassing fashion. The team has fired its coach. With less than a month in the season they are barely clinging to a playoff spot. It's not the way many of us would have it, given the team finished first in their conference a year ago.

Well it's a rainy day here in North Carolina and I have some spare time on my hands. I was going through my dad's old records and found a 78 I thought I should drag up to inspire the beloved Bleu Blanc Rouge: the 1955 "classic", Saga of Rocket Richard by Bob Hill and his Canadian Country Boys.

It tells the tale of the Rocket's greatness, his season-ending suspension for fighting in Boston, and the riot that ensued at the Forum (at which my father was in attendance). Ultimately it speaks to the toughness and pride of a club that would never give up. I can't find a recording online but here's the final verse:

"Now the crowd has lost face and the team is disgraced

for these tough headed actions have marred,

for casting shame on the harrowing name of Maurice The Rocket Richard.

For he will return and his legend will burn

in the annals of sports near and far,

there was never a name of such stature and fame as Maurice The Rocket Richard"

So let us hope it inspires our current Habs' roster, and brings them good-luck and victory in what seems to be a dark hour.

(FYI: the flip side is Canadiens Square Dance, an instrumental... oh you get the idea. If anyone wants me to make them a CD, just ask)

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Vancouver police admit they have a "gang war"

"As police, we've always been told by media experts to never say or admit that there is a gang war... Well, let's get serious. There is a gang war and it's brutal."

Noble and courageous words from Van. chief Jim Chu but for three facts:

1. Chu's the new police boss in Vancouver having taken over the reigns from Jamie Graham: what does he have to lose?

2. What's this? Graham became chief of Victoria police on January One, managing to side step allegations of police corruption? Holy Switcheroo!

3. Oh right, in fact the entire Vancouver law enforcement system is suffering from systemic ennui.

"Hmmm... should I really say this? Wait! Did I just say it, or did I just think it?"

Love it when they display the weapons cache, makes them look so butch.

Wow, seems like BC police are worse than Quebec's. Gee, we really need a diversionary solution here... Let's see... what to do...

GANG WAR!

Saturday, March 07, 2009

The Coward Of (Somerset) County

Classy how Richard Reynolds, at his sentencing for the murder of his wife Rhonda Wakefield-Reynolds, threatened the victim's family.

"Ring-a-ding-ding -- South Boston" and "Do svidaniya," mumbled Reynolds to family members as he was lead away from court.

Reynolds is 43 and is sentenced to 45 years in prison. Ya, good luck pulling the trigger on that hit, grandpa.

And please enjoy your 87th birthday at arms length from society.

Montreal lawyer found guilty of gangsterism

Is it just me or is the coverage of the conviction of Hells Angels lawyer Louis Pasquin in two of Canada's major newspapers vastly different?

I find the Globe and Mail's account of Judge Carol St-Cyr's sentence completely impenetrable.

While The Gazette's telling is to the point and clear headed.

This might have more to do with the journalistic talent of Paul Cherry, a seasoned reporter who has covered these matters for over a decade in Quebec.

Kim Rossmo / Chandra Levy

I've been ill, and thus somewhat preoccupied for a week, so no new posts. But thank you Anon, for pointing out two articles to me. The first concerns the arrest of Ingmar A. Guandique for the murder of Chandra Levy and Kim Rossmo's comment, "When you consider the relatively low violent crime rate in Rock Creek Park, Guandique stands out like a neon sign."

So why did it take eight years to discover a neon sign? Don't answer that question, we've been down this road before. It's a criminal investigative failure and the current generation of police investigators is not immune to error and bias. Despite advances in police technology, people continue to make the same mistakes that have been made for decades. Is there ever going to be a solution for this? Someone really has to get a handle on knowledge management and passing critical information on to the young-guard. Whatever police management is currently doing is clearly not working.

The second article I believe comes from a Texas local magazine. It is basically a restatement of how Rossmo came to become a chaired researcher at Texas State University. Points that stand out to me:

- Clearly Kim is price catch for any academic institution. A guy that can drum up huge funding opportunities by the amount of grants he generates.

- His focus is behavior and criminology, but at the heart Kim is a math guy. That's what makes his work in criminal profiling so attractive; unlike the "first wave" of profilers that came out of the FBI whose foundation was based in psychology, Kim has his feat on the ground with an application based on logic. Yes, offenders behave irrationally, but what we perceive as irrational is only because we haven't found the pattern yet, and the pattern is there in their daily habits, their life experiences, their relationships, etc...

- He has been working on military applications for geographic profiling. I have spoken to Kim about this, essentially it has a lot to do with patterns of insurgency in Iraq (if you can predict how the enemy will behave based on time / space you have a better chance of commanding and controlling in Iraqi hotspots.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Mr. Dupuis Goes To Washington

This in from yesterday's Trois Rivieres daily, Le Nouvelliste: Quebec's minister of public security, Jacques Dupuis travelled to Washington last month to meet with representatives of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC are regarded as experts in the field of missing children investigations, particularly in the field of communications with family members after a disappearance.

The meeting was provoked by the parents of Cédrika Provencher. The young girl went missing from Trois Rivieres on July 31, 2007. Quebec Police were widely criticized for their mishandling of the case, and lack of a unified strategy to locate the young girl in the wake of her disappearance.

Read On:

Jacques Dupuis, ministre de la Sécurité publique

Les doléances des Provencher entendues

Marie-Eve Lafontaine
Le Nouvelliste

(Trois-Rivières) Sans remettre en question le travail des policiers de la province, le ministre de la Sécurité publique, Jacques Dupuis, estime que l'expertise des Américains dans les disparitions d'enfants pourrait permettre d'améliorer certaines méthodes d'enquête, tout comme la communication avec les familles.

Il a d'ailleurs visité, il y a environ deux semaines, le National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), un organisme spécialisé dans les disparitions d'enfants, basé à Washington. «Ils ont créé des moyens rapides pour publiciser la photo de l'enfant, sa description, etc. Ils ont aussi une façon rapide d'entrer en contact avec les familles pour les renseigner sur la progression de l'enquête de police. Ce sont des procédures qui sont établies. Alors moi, je reviens de Washington en me disant: ''Est-ce qu'on pourrait bénéficier de leur expertise et de leurs méthodes?'' Et ma réponse est oui. On devrait être en mesure de collaborer avec eux et d'obtenir d'eux de l'information suffisante pour être capable de peut-être mieux former nos policiers, d'améliorer nos méthodes d'enquête dans ce domaine-là», explique le ministre Dupuis.

Même si aucune décision formelle n'a encore été prise à la suite de cette visite, plusieurs scénarios sont envisagés. Des policiers pourraient ainsi se rendre au NCMEC pour bénéficier de son expertise. «Le centre d'enfants disparus est un organisme sans but lucratif qui accepterait - c'est ce que j'ai discuté avec eux - de donner gratuitement de l'information à des policiers qu'on pourrait envoyer là-bas. Je ne parle pas d'envoyer 6000 policiers, mais un certain nombre d'enquêteurs qui suivraient la formation là-bas, reviendraient ici et seraient capables eux-mêmes de donner la formation à des corps de police où il y a moins de ressources.»

Parmi les autres éventualités, des enseignants de l'École nationale de police du Québec pourraient aussi aller à Washington et, par la suite, transmettre ces notions supplémentaires aux aspirants policiers ainsi qu'aux enquêteurs qui suivent des cours de perfectionnement.

Cette visite à Washington n'est pas étrangère à une rencontre entre le ministre et les parents de Cédrika Provencher, il y a dix mois. Les parents de la fillette disparue depuis le 31 juillet 2007 avaient critiqué certains aspects de l'enquête policière dont le manque de stratégie et le fait que la thèse de l'enlèvement n'avait pas été retenue dans les premières heures de la disparition.

La vitesse de réaction est d'ailleurs l'un des leitmotivs du NCMEC. «Chaque fois qu'un signalement est fait, les policiers doivent d'abord réagir rapidement. Le secret d'une enquête de cette nature-là, c'est la vitesse avec laquelle l'enquête débute et les premiers renseignements que tu obtiens», note le ministre Dupuis.

Pour ce qui est de la vitesse de réaction des policiers en ce qui concerne la disparition de Cédrika Provencher, le ministère préfère ne pas s'avancer sur le sujet disant que l'enquête est toujours en cours. Pour lui d'ailleurs, cette réflexion sur les cas de disparitions d'enfants est loin de représenter un désaveu du travail des policiers québécois.

«Je ne critique pas le travail des policiers. Je ne dis pas que ce n'est pas bien fait. Ils travaillent très bien, mais c'est normal dans la vie de vouloir vérifier si on peut s'améliorer.»

Lors de sa rencontre avec les Provencher, le ministre a également constaté que les parents souhaitent souvent obtenir plus de renseignements de la part des policiers, notamment sur les démarches en cours. Un aspect important, convient le ministre. Mais il faut comprendre, mentionne-t-il, que les policiers doivent garder certaines informations confidentielles pour le bien de l'enquête. «Mais moi, j'encourage les policiers à au moins être en contact permanent avec les parents pour donner de l'information sur la progression de l'enquête.»

Le père de Cédrika Provencher s'est dit agréablement surpris lorsqu'il a appris que le ministre de la Sécurité publique, Jacques Dupuis, s'était rendu, dernièrement, au National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, pour s'informer des façons de faire des Américains dans les cas de disparitions d'enfants.

«Je suis bien content. Si ça peut aider dans d'autres dossiers, ça ne peut être que positif», note Martin Provencher. Ce dernier croit que les policiers devraient avoir des stratégies plus précises lorsque surviennent de tels dossiers et une plus grande rapidité d'intervention.

Le grand-père de Cédrika estime également que l'initiative du ministre ne peut qu'être positive si elle se traduit par une amélioration des méthodes d'enquête. «Ça serait un atout pour notre police, pour les enfants qui disparaissent et pour les familles d'enfants disparus», souligne Henri Provencher, qui travaille toujours à la mise en place d'une fondation.

Ils sont aussi heureux d'apprendre que le ministre a pris en compte leurs critiques en ce qui concerne le manque de communication avec les policiers. «Tu es victime et on ne te dit rien. Tu vis des moments difficiles, ça prend absolument des explications, un suivi. C'est primordial», souligne Martin Provencher. La communication est maintenant meilleure avec les policiers, précise-t-il. Toutefois, il n'y a malheureusement rien de nouveau dans l'enquête, selon lui.

Martin Provencher est de retour au travail depuis plusieurs semaines déjà. «Ça fait du bien de retrouver cet équilibre.» Il reprend une vie un peu plus normale, mais il n'oublie pas et il a toujours espoir de connaître la vérité. «Je n'accepterai jamais que l'enquête soit mise sur une tablette.»

Le ministre de la Sécurité publique, Jacques Dupuis, n'a toujours pas l'intention de créer une escouade spécialisée sur les disparitions d'enfants, une suggestion de Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, de l'Association des familles de personnes assassinées ou disparues du Québec (AFPAD).

Il estime que les policiers déjà sur le terrain peuvent réagir beaucoup plus rapidement qu'une escouade qui serait basée à un endroit précis comme Montréal ou Québec. «Si nos policiers sont formés au minimum pour ce genre d'enquête-là, j'ai 14 000 policiers au Québec qui peuvent réagir rapidement au lieu d'en avoir 10, 20 ou 30», note M. Dupuis.

Même raisonnement quant à la possibilité de confier toutes ces enquêtes à la Sûreté du Québec. «Si je confie à la Sûreté du Québec l'exclusivité des enquêtes sur les disparitions d'enfants, je réduis d'autant mon nombre de policiers sur le terrain, qui sont prêts à commencer une enquête dès qu'une disparition est signalée, peu importe l'endroit.»

Monday, March 02, 2009

Leonide Corbin: Pedophile

I regret putting his face on my blog, but if it helps someone, so be it:

Police look for more sex-assault victims

Updated: Mon Mar. 02 2009 2:49:50 PM
ctvmontreal.ca

Montreal police have released a photo of a 71-year-old alleged pedophile in the hopes that other alleged victims will come forward.

Leonide Corbin is accused of molesting three young girls between 1971 and 2008 in Montreal and Lachute.

Investigators with the sex-crimes squad said Monday they have reason to believe there are other victims, likely also young girls.

Corbin is 5'7" and 196 pounds with blue eyes and white, receding hair. He wears glasses and is heavyset.

He lived in Montreal from 1967 to 1999 before moving to Lachute, northwest of the city. While in Montreal he lived on Larose St. in Montreal North as well as 9th avenue in the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie district.

Possible victims or anyone with information are asked to call the Info-Crime hotline at 514-393-1133.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

The Double Initial Murders - Upstate New York

"You have to utilize the concept of time to your benefit"

Inspector Patrick Crough

A stunning piece of investigative journalism appears in the Sunday edition of the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper profiling the 35-year-old unsolved rapes and murders of Carmen Colon, Wanda Walkowicz, and Michelle Maenza who all went missing from the streets of Rochester, New York in the early 1970s.

You can view the interactive profile here.

This is as real and unsensational a piece of journalism as I have seen depicting what happens to a community, family, police when these types of crimes go unsolved (and I have seen a few).

Who Killed Theresa?