I wish I were clairvoyant like this, but otherwise, may I never come under investigation from those people.
This is off on a little bit of a tangent, but there is an interesting point to be made, I think.
I was on a jury once. Not a murder case, mind you, but the principle is the same. There was a detective from the local law enforcement agency that investigated the case, and he testified on the stand about the case and his investigation.
Now the defense attorney was a sharp guy, and he found (and seized on) every tiny little discrepancy or crack in this guy's testimony, which made this all the more glaring. The detective was a complete buffoon. I mean, calling this guy "Barney Fife" or "Officer Barbrady" would be paying him a compliment.
We sat in the jury room deliberating and were making jokes like "Man, if I ever murder anybody, I hope this guy is the one investigating me" and so on.
The point is just to say... detectives come in all grades of competence, just like anybody else. For every Sherlock Holmes there is a guy like the one I encountered. I'm not sure if a normal distribution applies, but I wouldn't be surprised. And I'm definitely not surprised when I see (apparently) silly statements come from law enforcement agencies. TV and movies glamorous the more "Sherlock Holmes'ian" type detectives, and maybe we subconsciously tend to assume that most detectives are like that as a result. But it's definitely not always the case.
This is off on a little bit of a tangent, but there is an interesting point to be made, I think.
I was on a jury once. Not a murder case, mind you, but the principle is the same. There was a detective from the local law enforcement agency that investigated the case, and he testified on the stand about the case and his investigation.
Now the defense attorney was a sharp guy, and he found (and seized on) every tiny little discrepancy or crack in this guy's testimony, which made this all the more glaring. The detective was a complete buffoon. I mean, calling this guy "Barney Fife" or "Officer Barbrady" would be paying him a compliment.
We sat in the jury room deliberating and were making jokes like "Man, if I ever murder anybody, I hope this guy is the one investigating me" and so on.
The point is just to say... detectives come in all grades of competence, just like anybody else. For every Sherlock Holmes there is a guy like the one I encountered. I'm not sure if a normal distribution applies, but I wouldn't be surprised. And I'm definitely not surprised when I see (apparently) silly statements come from law enforcement agencies. TV and movies glamorous the more "Sherlock Holmes'ian" type detectives, and maybe we subconsciously tend to assume that most detectives are like that as a result. But it's definitely not always the case.