Pat Brown - Why I love my fellow Madeleine McCann fighters for justice

Why I Love My Fellow Madeleine McCann Fighters For Justice

Montel and I discuss Possible McCann Involvement in the Crime

I have seen a lot of angry comments on Facebook, Twitter, and Message Boards concerning my last three posts laying out my reasons for why I think the Scotland Yard review is a whitewash, why I think Scotland Yard would be unlikely to spend millions and years on a probably unwinnable case for anything other than political purposes, and why I think all of us have little power in comparison to the McCanns and whatever politics lies behind this bizarre missing person's case. Some people are so angry they have come at me with ad hominem attacks or statements that they will never read a thing I write ever again. I think these volatile responses (and I am not talking about well-reasoned arguments to my analyses which I think are a good thing as it gives all of us more to think about and I, myself, learn a lot from opposing opinions) are an angry backlash that comes from fear - fear that I am right. And I get it. If I am right, it sucks.

For seven years, people interested in justice have studied every aspect of this case and spent way more time in analysis than Scotland Yard will ever put in. Some people have built and maintained websites and Facebook pages full of information about the case, sites I am thankful for and have used myself. I won't name them all here, but I appreciate each and every one of them, even those that might have issues with my take on things; they still spread the word.

So, why then my last three posts and my adamant belief in a whitewash? Why my strong belief that this case will never be prosecuted? Why my assertion that in spite of everyone's efforts, we have so little power to affect a good outcome? Why don't I just STFU?

All I can say is experience. I have seen the inside of police cases, the inside of politics in police cases, and the inside of media. I know what I know and I have always called things as I see them. People expect that of me and it would not be right for me to suddenly go silent and hide what I think is true because the truth (at least what I believe is the truth) is not that palatable. I share my experience and analyses of the situation because many people have no idea how police investigations work and how media really works; they make assumptions from outside of these worlds. I have been in them and this is why I bring you my take. I have seen a lot of stuff and while I may be wrong about my belief as to how this case will turn out, what I say I base on inside knowledge of how these things have worked in the past.

My other reason for not staying silent about what I think is going to be a stomach-turning outcome of the Scotland Yard review is to help folks keep a more rational head about what might be coming down the pike, to recognize that the McCanns being arrested is something that should be a happy surprise, not an expectation, a major triumph that would come from actually having enough evidence to proceed to prosecution and having a political turnabout that would allow this to happen. What I fear for all those who have put so much time and energy into following this case and championing justice is that they are going to be crushed if this case is closed with a patsy abductor or a Scotland Yard "expert" conclusion that the Maddie was abducted by an unknown predator and her body too well hidden or disposed of to ever be found. Personally, I would rather be on the cautious side and not get my hopes up too high when the odds are against a pleasing ending.

I know the experience of being blindsided by the illegitimate closing of cases I have worked on with police. It isn't just one time that I turned in my profile and thought the case would eventually move forward properly to prosecution or at least a proper investigation, all to have nothing good happen at all. I have had detectives tell me that my profile was awesome (with each determination supported by convincing evidence) and that they now believed in my conclusions on the case. I would leave, spirits soaring; I knew justice would now take its proper course. And then nothing would happen and the case shelved or the agency would go public with America's Most Wanted or the local press and continue down the same erroneous road they were on before I worked with them. Why? Because it was too late to get a solid prosecution (a legitimate reason why they can't do anything with the case and why I gave up working cold cases) or they are embarrassed they had been after the wrong person for so long (and aren't going to admit it) or the new focus is a problem politically. I have learned the hard way that justice is often not what all parties are working for. Politics, egos, and incompetence play a big part in what actually happens with in a portion of police cases. We don't realize this because a good portion of cases are easy to solve and prosecute because the suspect is obvious; the police just need to do a solid job protecting the scene, evidence, and rights. The difficult cases are fewer and most don't get that much media attention. The odd ones that make headlines are special cases and often are a nightmare for police departments and are "put to rest" in whatever way works best. Reality bites and it is actually far worse than many of you think it is. There are certainly ethical and highly skilled detectives out there; I have worked with some that I think are absolutely the best (I am working with some now to forward police training in criminal profiling) and these guys solve cases and sometimes very difficult ones. But then there are the other detectives and other cases; not all goes perfectly. Real life is not Hollywood.

Regardless of how the McCann case turns out and regardless of how some folks feel about me, I still appreciate the hard work and heart all of you have put into keeping the truth about this case in the public eye. Even if I feel that none of us really have the power to change the course of this "investigation," I do think we all have the power to show others and the future generations that people care and that there are human beings out there who believe in truth and justice and will put themselves on the line to stand up for it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

I think I've just lost the will to live.  

AskTheDogsSandra wrote:I think I've just lost the will to live.  

I think too many partied too hard on the Titanic.... 

However long we have to wait, or however well hidden, the truth will always find it's way out......eventually.

A few of Pat's responses where she has elaborated further......

Pat Brown said...
Hmm, glad I made that clearer, Gill, but I don't see where I have made any about-face thinking on this case. I have never had faith in this review. My only hope was that Portugal would tell Scotland Yard where to go and fight for the evidence. Then, even if there was no prosecution, at least the belief that the case had been shelved because the McCanns were innocent might be cleared up and Goncalo would get support from his own country. He has been hung out to dry and I hate to see him end his fight as the fall guy for Portuguese/British politics.


Pat Brown said...
Well, Anonymous at 2:15, I will also have too respectfully disagree with truthfulness damaging a cause. One of the biggest problems I have seen with whitewashing investigations in the past is an OVERLY positive attitude by the public that a police agency will do their job properly. This excessive belief in authorities honoring the citizens and always being competent, allows departments to lie and manipulate with impunity because so few will stand up and call them out on their dirty tricks. If they had to defend their work by proving to the public that it was on the up-and-up, we might have far better results. In truth, police departments are rarely held accountable for their actions and their is no oversight in most places that keep police agencies from malfeasance. 

What people fear, especially families, is that if they speak against a police department or demand honesty and openness, they will piss off the police and they will stop working on the case. In reality, the opposite is true. An overly supportive attitude on part of family and community actually encourages the police to not work on cases and just do what is politically expedient.



As for me, I am one of the few professionals who has spent years exposing the McCanns on my blogs and in my book (risking lawsuit and getting Carter-Rucked) and on TV, and going to PDL to further investigate and bring back information, all resulting in a serious loss of income. I hardly think that I have failed to contribute to the knowledge out there. The reason I am now focused on the police is because there has been three years of what I consider a likely phony investigation and if I do not address this, then yet another commentator has been silenced, this time by those wanting justice in the McCann case, not from the media people or Carter-Ruck. I should think you would be happy at least one person would stick their neck out to point out the concerning behaviors of Scotland Yard.

Sadly, I think what is happening here is that people have spent so much of their lives with this case, they will not be able to handle a possibly bad conclusion. If Scotland Yard makes its pronouncement of the parents being innocent and an abductor responsible for the disappearance of Maddie, the case is dead, dead, dead...as dead as Madeleine. All the Facebooking and blogging will have no affect because now YOU, not just me, will be accused of saying Scotland Yard is a crooked police department, that YOU, not just me think you know more than the top police detectives in the world, and that YOU, not me can't admit you are wrong. The blogs and Facebook pages will go on for years with "conspiracy theorists" ragging on and on, and no books will be written on the subject (at least not ones about the McCanns doing in Maddie) because the official police conclusions is abduction and no publisher is going to go up against that.

What will I do when Scotland Yard speaks? Be thrilled I was wrong or accept that I was right and move on with other projects. Sometimes you have to work where you can work best; my most important project now is training police detectives to profile properly (do good crime analysis) so that cases don't go south. I would even teach at Scotland Yard and at other police agencies that I have seen railroad cases because with each new detective hired, there is hope for better work.


Pat Brown said...
Anonymous 3:13

I am not sure I agree that this review has anything to do with online anything. Anyone who has been in the media glare for a while learns this one truth: online forums and FB and Twitter rarely have much affect on major media (barring some big racist slur or pornographic photo). I know this from a number of haters who thought they could take me down by writing crap about me on Twitter, FB, and on blogs (some even made blogs with my name in the URL). Guess what? In spite of what they think, no affect at all on the major media or publishers. What it all comes down to is money. I made money for the networks. The reason I don't do so much TV work anymore is because I left HLN of my own free will and all the networks have gone to using Skype (which I refuse to do) or make commentators drive themselves in (and pay for gas and parking) if they want to be on. In other words, the networks are in financial trouble and are cutting back on spending. 

As to the McCanns, when they were arguidos, I was allowed to speak about their possible guilt. Once they returned to England and started using Carter-Ruck and then wrote the book, the media machine had decided the new story was the poor McCanns, suffering parents of a kidnapped child; that became the moneymaking theme and that is why ALL major media supports them. When you weight the number of viewers of Oprah, The Today Show, etc., to those who might see a tweet or actually look into the case via FB or blogs, you are talking a huge lopsided fraction here. And that is what the McCanns know. They were worried about my book on Amazon because it was right under their book because that meant my book could get a substantial numbers of views. Once they got rid of the book from Amazon (although it is still at Smashwords and B&N because it sells minimally) they left me alone. In other words, even I am small fish when compared to major media. And they are right...if my many blogs and book and FB and Twitter were so powerful, you think I would have had a few interested media folks call me. Nope. Not a one on this case. Yet they call me constantly about mass murder because they think I will talk about some creepy psychopath. When I tell them I won't come on and give him glory but I will come on and talk about media encouraging copycat mass murder crimes, they hang up. Hehe....yeah, that is not going to make them money.

So, I sadly doubt that onlline anything encouraged the review. I have no answer to why it was done. Maybe to take down Goncalo (the timing is interesting.....three years of dawdling and when Amaral's case goes to court, suddenly their is action - maybe they were just waiting for the right time to close the case and crush Goncalo). Maybe there is some other reason...like exonerating the McCanns for some future happenings. I don't know but I do know it probably isn't because a few (and I mean few by thousands but still a few) people tweet about them in an unfriendly way (I only think Tony Bennett got trounced was not so much the online stuff but the on the ground campaign in their neighborhood).

As to a child deserving justice, sure, but the real issue is much bigger. I think many people have gotten caught up in some emotional relationship to a child they never met (kids are murdered all over the world in high numbers everyday) and a dislike of Kate and Gerry (again, lots of crappy parents out there, many far worse than those two). The REALLY big issue is missing children's investigations, how they are handled and funded. This case has done massive permanent damage to all missing children's cases because ONE child gets all the money and attention. We should be working on equity, proper handling of all missing children's cases, accountability for police departments, better police training, etc.

May 26, 2014 at 3:52 PM

Pat Brown said...
Anon 3:13 oont:

I am not saying it isn't great that these forums are online: they helped me greatly with research and meeting people; the groups helped me meet Toney and Goncalo and my trip to Portugal is still a highlight in my career for all the wonderful people I met, stayed with, and assisted with research and investigation. So, applause to all the groups for hanging in and sharing info. We certainly can try to do something and should try to do something. I have fought against bad odds and I have had some success and some defeat. I think people should keep on but just keep a level head and realize what we are up against in this case is far larger, in my opinion, then we know.
May 26, 2014 at 3:52 PM

Pat Brown said...
Anon 3:17

Books may be written but they will be self-published or put out by quirky small publishers (probably conspiracy and alien themed books) because if Scotland Yard says the McCanns are innocent, any hint of their involvement with be libelous even if no proof exists of an abductor. Publishers are not going back a writer against Scotland Yard; they wouldn't even take a chance on Goncalo and me, a detective and a profiler BEFORE Scotland Yard started the review. What publishers like are solved cases and no lawsuits....so, yes, there will be books that can tell the story of the long-suffering McCanns and you and I will appear in the book as villains. Yeah, THAT will get published by a big house, so you are right...books will be written...just not truthful ones.
May 26, 2014 at 3:57 PM

Pat Brown said...
Anon 3:34

From what I have seen both the McCanns appear to have Narcissistic Personality Disorders, with Gerry, perhaps, leaning more toward the psychopathic end of the scale.

The McCanns's behavior is not new; many criminals stand by their innocence right to the electric chair. It is not that they believe they are, like they have some sort of delusion developing from telling the lies so often they now believe them - this isn't really something that happens). But, what does happen, is that the person take on a role and plays that role. The longer they play the role, the better they are at the role. And they can play the fantasy role, forever, even getting enjoyment from the feelings the fantasy gives them.

For example, if the fantasy is that Maddie is alive, then pretending she is can be a lovely way of keeping the memory of the child and vivid like when people say they feel the spirit of a passed loved one in the room, watching over them. It is a fantasy, but a lovely one.

There is much to be gained by playing a fantasy role. Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter after his release from prison played the role of a civil rights hero, a black man who was wrongly imprisoned by the white establishment. He got to tour the country giving speeches to college students. I am sure as a full-blown psychopath, he enjoyed being the next Martin Luther King. He died recently, still a hero in his own fantasy and in other people's unfortunate misunderstanding of the facts of the triple homicide case and Carter's personality.
May 26, 2014 at 4:05 PM

Pat Brown said...
I hope it is not a coincidence that for three years little has happened with the Scotland Yard review but then it revved up with the start of Goncalo Amaral's trial. It is my fear the review by Scotland Yard will conclude just in time for a decision to be handed down in Amaral's case, which means, I believe he will be hung out to dry, Scotland Yard backing the McCanns' claim of innocence and "proving" Goncalo fabricated a false scenario which prevented finding Madeleine (after all they had to petition to finally get help from the UK) and ruined their reputations. I think if Scotland Yard doesn't bring down the McCanns, then Goncalo is going to be a scapegoat for this whole political mess.

I feel really horrible for Goncalo. This case has truly weighed heavy on him and he has done all he can to continue to fight the battle (one most people would have walked away from) and one can see how destructive this road has been to his spirit and health. Along with justice and finally having the truth come out, I wish to be wrong about Scotland Yard so that Goncalo can get vindication and finally be able to relax and enjoy his life, a true hero.


Pat Brown said...
Anon 4:28

I still disagree about bloggers making the McCann name newsworthy. In a sense, bloggers helped run an underground network where people could share info. I certainly am part of this network. But, that we made the McCann name newsworthy? No. The McCanns did that. The news media does not care about us. It is a one way street. While MSM may tweet to us about the McCanns and FB us about the McCanns and write stories and programs for us to watch about the McCanns, they are not interested in information going the other direction. THEY are not reading our blogs, pages, and tweets; they really don't care. As I said before, if this were true, considering how vocal I have been in every way about this case, I should have gotten a bite from MSM. I have not. EVEN when my attorney, Ann Bremner and I put out a press release to hundreds of media outlets about my book's removal by Amazon and our Cease and Desist Letter to the McCanns, we got ZERO response! Talk about a major blow! I couldn't believe no one in the media was interested. But, as I keep saying, the message is not being carried by us....someone else is in control, and therefore, the reason for the review has nothing to do with us either.

Thank you Andrew77R for posting those comments  

Pat Brown: "...whatever politics lies behind this bizarre missing person's case..."

It's been politics, and lots of it, since Day One

Tony Bennett wrote:Pat Brown: "...whatever politics lies behind this bizarre missing person's case..."

It's been politics, and lots of it, since Day One

All of it has been politics, even before Day One. Poor Madeleine

Even Pat's getting it in the neck for saying what she believes

Dating back to October, this analysis of "Our Maddie" and the very public involvement of DC and SY is worth a re-read:

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/why_so_many_are_still_missing_our_maddie/14151#.U4QxjHKSySo

"The latest high-profile Metropolitan Police probe, with its vague theories and probably useless e-fits, looks less like a practical criminal investigation to find out what physically happened to Madeleine than a public-relations exercise, promoted by the BBC, to demonstrate that the British authorities and the public still care about Our Maddie."

And a couple of other articles that try to explain the Maddie phenomenon:

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/10518#.U4QxiHKSySo

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/3725#.U4Qxc3KSySo

AskTheDogsSandra wrote:I think I've just lost the will to live.  

They (McCanns) may be able to escape justice via the law but they will never be able to escape the justice of their karma. None of us can.

Have faith in karma, she never lets us down.

 

MrsC wrote:

AskTheDogsSandra wrote:I think I've just lost the will to live.  

They (McCanns) may be able to escape justice via the law but they will never be able to escape the justice of their karma. None of us can.

Have faith in karma, she never lets us down.

 

- or in Magna Carta - did she die in vain? ( after Tony Hancock's half hour, a parody  on Twelve just men...)  

IMV, Pat, in sticking to conventional method in this case profiling risks putting herself out there for a fall.
Kudos to her, she did say she will be delighted if proven wrong.
I feel Pat may need to think out of the square box since by all accounts this is an exceptional case that calls for extraordinary methods.

I like to think the MET are doing exactly that - employing unorthodox method to do with case's publicity but where investigative works are concerned not deviating from conventional procedures.

From media forensics the world knows the infamous couple were suspects up till the case was shelved. But the Review team (like panel of juries) is obliged to disregard forensics publicity about the case and be open mind to where the evidence falls.

Had the public been led to believe prematurely where the truth lies and who is/are under Police radar then when the pudding the MET are proving should turn out lacking in substance for purpose then they won't look incompetent. Assuming the focus is on the 'you and I know who and who' it would be counter productive to let that on prematurely knowing media zest to go into over drive is detrimental to potential trial.

Even on half glass full one can hope.....

SixMillionQuid wrote:Even Pat's getting it in the neck for saying what she believes

Yep, so much for the freedom of speech.

But they have been cleared and the group so despite the truth they will never be brought down now or ever as they have been cleared. Like it or not there's little point of forums like this anymore, just saying.

hustling0109 wrote:But they have been cleared and the group so despite the truth they will never be brought down now or ever as they have been cleared. Like it or not there's little point of forums like this anymore, just saying.

Cleared by who, and when? I hadn't realised this was the case. Can you please provide a link, etc.

Furthermore... I understand this is a site seeking justice for Madeleine. So, until the mystery is actually solved there logically remains a very real need for it and for others like it.  Personally, I just go with where the available evidence takes me... and it seems most people in these sorts of forums are similarly open minded and have, like me, soaked up a wide range of relevant facts. That most people in forums such as these have come to similar conclusions regarding certain individuals close to the case seems, to me, to be quite worthy of note.

People will I think be talking about this case for years to come. I doubt that those responsible will be brought to justice in their (or any of our) lifetimes but I am grateful for forums like this which try their best to get the true facts of the case out to a wider audience.

Hustling01/0109, you are of course entitled to your opinion that you don't feel we can achieve anything.