Beth Bentley has been missing for 134 weeks now. That's 938 days... That's a lot of days.
Every week I wonder what I'll find to write about this case. I think I've missed one, maybe two, weeks. In 2½ years. I wish I had missed every week. I didn't know Beth, but I wish she had walked back into Woodstock after a couple of days, maybe a week, with a "Hi, everybody. I'm back."
As I have written frequently, the Woodstock (Ill.) Police Department has always classified Beth's disappearance as a Missing Person case. Could you find five people in Woodstock who think that's what it is? Four? Three? Two?
And now the Woodstock Police Department doesn't even mention Beth's open Missing Person case in its monthly report to the City Manager, which goes to the City Council in electronic form. Do they even read, carefully, the Police Department's report? Have they noticed what's missing? Do they care?
How many of the City Council members or the Mayor realize that the Police Department has quietly dropped mention of Beth in the monthly report? Nothing appeared in the September 2012 Report. Nothing appeared in the October 2012 Report.
For over a year the P.D. published virtually the same paragraph in the monthly report. A word changed every once in a while; not often. They might as well have written "We'll let you know if she shows up."
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7 comments:
So then whats the point of mentioning it every month in the report.
And since we don't have a body and can't see she was murdered, what else do you call it besides a missing persons report.
And if you change the classification would it change how it is investigated. I don't think so.
Heck, I can say for a fact it would not change it.
Wake up.
So, what you are saying is, a missing person case and a murder are investigated the same way?
You're kidding. Right?
I'm saying that what you call it matters little. You investigate a case based on what evidence is available to look at. It does not matter what you call it. If the investigator calls it a murder instead of a missing person the steps you follow to find out what happened to the person are the same.
Your lack of knowledge on how investigations work is showing.
An instructor from New York said it best early in my training. A murder investigation is no different than a burglary investigation. The steps are the same, just the news coverage is different.
Well, first of all, I don't have any knowledge of how investigations work (or are supposed to work). I haven't received tens of thousands of dollars worth of State and Federal training and have not been to any of the big-name schools that offer courses.
Tell me; why does a Department invest tens of thousands, keep an officer in Detectives for a relatively short period, then rotate him back to the street to give another employee a "chance" at Detectives.
Is a former detective a better street officer? Maybe, but one with little or no time to produce a further return on the training dollars.
After the first of the year, it will be time to identify factors that may have led to Beth's disappearance.
Why does a department rotate? Different places do it for different reasons. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I could argue both sides of the fence on that one.
but on this case why have you asked? Same guy is still in Dicks.
In other words, Gus, "real" police work involves sitting in your office waiting until someone "hands" you the suspect.
If that doesn't occur then nothing happens.
When all the leads are done and you have not been able to stir up more, then yes, all you can do is wait. There are other crimes that also need to be investigated so you move on.
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