Opinion article by José Braz, former director of the Judiciary Police (PJ) of Lisbon*
The PJ direction decided to re-open, without warning the Public Ministry [Attorney General's Office], the investigation [review] to the Maddie Case.
It is very hard to understand the reason why 13 pending process, relating to missing Portuguese children, do not deserve equal treatment and effort.
Similarly we cannot also understand the appointment of a team from the North directorate for a case that took place in the Algarve [South Portugal].
Could that be because of their unparalleled effectiveness in the resolution of similar cases, in its area of competence? [Sarcasm, the Oporto PJ failed miserably in Rui Pedro's case, a case that has 14 years, a case that never received 10% of the resources of the Maddie Case]
Surely, it can't be for reasons of good management and of rational rentabilization of resources that have forced turning upside-down the existing rules in matters of the territorial jurisdiction!
What is true is that this expedient does not intend, in essence, to investigate anything but only to satisfy slavishly the intolerable pressures and external interests, anticipating and counteracting skilfully the media outcry that this case raises recurringly.
But do these directors even imagine the deleterious effects that their excesses cause in the professional pride and motivation of those which - give daily their best to the great institution that is the PJ - are, thereby, 'awarded' with certificates of inferiority.
..read more
in Correio da Manhã. May 8, 2012
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2012/05/maddie-case.html
