Post by jmo on Apr 12, 2018 15:22:58 GMT -6
Has anyone researched what Vidocq ACTUALLY does?
Nineteen years ago three men had the idea of a regular lunch club for crime experts that would try to solve some of the United States' most baffling homicides.
Lunch – a small salad, followed by chicken and spaghettini topped with cheese and peppers – concludes with lemon tart. Most of the diners gathered around the half-dozen circular tables are finishing their coffee by the time Detective XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX approaches the lectern to go over the events of (unsolved case).
Vidocq Society meetings – billed on its website as 'Cuisine and Crime-Solving' – now take place in Philadelphia on the third Thursday of every month; members gather beneath the electric chandeliers of the wood-panelled Downtown Club to have lunch and, afterwards, to help find a solution to a cold-case homicide. With 82 full, and more than 100 associate, members – a mix of men and women who must be invited to join by a committee – the society is a voluntary brains trust of retired and working criminologists.
Members, who like to describe themselves as 'crime solution catalysts', pay an annual $100 subscription fee, and agree to attend at least one meeting a year, regardless of where in the world they live. Each meeting attracts about 60 members. Funded in part by a cut of a reported $1.3 million film development deal signed with Danny DeVito's Jersey Films in 1997, the society pays for travel and accommodation expenses – so that underfunded detectives from across America can present their most perplexing cases at the Downtown Club.
Despite the restrictions the society places on the crimes it will consider – only unsolved deaths more than two years old; the victims cannot have been engaged in criminal activity such as prostitution or drug-dealing; the case must be formally presented to them by the appropriate law enforcement agency.
A little presentation. About 1/2 hour. A little chit chat. A little question and answer session: Do you have the clothing? Were the drains at the house checked for evidence? Were the victims' hands bagged and scraped? Where is the murder weapon being kept now? Another 1/2 hour passes. The "diners" (YES! They're actually called DINERS!!) drift towards the exit.
"XXXXXXXXX estimates that, over the years, the society has considered more than 300 examples of cold-case homicide. But ask what proportion of those cases has been solved, and the answers are less clear-cut.
There is no formalised follow-up process for those invited to present a case. At the end of each month's meeting, some interested members of the society may exchange cards with visiting detectives, and chat further about possible leads. But there is no guarantee of help with building a case to go before a jury, much less a succesful prosecution. 'It's a very grey area,' says XXXXXX, who argues that the primary role of the organisation is to keep cold cases alive, and to provide free of charge the best information possible to under-resourced investigators. 'Our job at Vidocq is purely to help law enforcement solve their own cases with our information. So when you ask, how many cases did we solve? None. How many cases has law enforcement solved through our help? Quite a few."
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
Quote: 'I say we solve 80 per cent,' XXXXXXXX says, 'but solving them and proving them are horses of different colours.'
'We don't keep track,' XXXXXXXXX says. 'We feel that if we make a contribution, that's it. Quite often – I'd say, 30, 40, 50 per cent of the time – we'll find that we made a contribution that resulted in the arrest and conviction of the killer. We'll get a call from the investigator saying, "We got him – thanks for your help." But he gets the credit.'
Six weeks after his visit to Philadelphia, XXXXXXXXX is still no closer to catching whoever it was that killed XXX, XXXXX and XXXX XXXXXX with a bush axe 23 years ago. When I last speak to XXXXXXXXX, he and XXXXX are back at their desks in Columbus, immersed in current investigations, and haven't heard anything from the Vidocq Society since the meeting, though they remain optimistic.
OPTIMISTIC??? Because they had LUNCH??? OMG
What they have for lunch is more exciting than what they actually ACCOMPLISH. And, THIS is the bag we have all our marbles in??? Just shoot me now.
Just as a side note: Google Downtown Club Philadelphia. Just so you know where these fusties meet. Pretty sure you'll see Statler and Waldorf there.
Nineteen years ago three men had the idea of a regular lunch club for crime experts that would try to solve some of the United States' most baffling homicides.
Lunch – a small salad, followed by chicken and spaghettini topped with cheese and peppers – concludes with lemon tart. Most of the diners gathered around the half-dozen circular tables are finishing their coffee by the time Detective XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX approaches the lectern to go over the events of (unsolved case).
Vidocq Society meetings – billed on its website as 'Cuisine and Crime-Solving' – now take place in Philadelphia on the third Thursday of every month; members gather beneath the electric chandeliers of the wood-panelled Downtown Club to have lunch and, afterwards, to help find a solution to a cold-case homicide. With 82 full, and more than 100 associate, members – a mix of men and women who must be invited to join by a committee – the society is a voluntary brains trust of retired and working criminologists.
Members, who like to describe themselves as 'crime solution catalysts', pay an annual $100 subscription fee, and agree to attend at least one meeting a year, regardless of where in the world they live. Each meeting attracts about 60 members. Funded in part by a cut of a reported $1.3 million film development deal signed with Danny DeVito's Jersey Films in 1997, the society pays for travel and accommodation expenses – so that underfunded detectives from across America can present their most perplexing cases at the Downtown Club.
Despite the restrictions the society places on the crimes it will consider – only unsolved deaths more than two years old; the victims cannot have been engaged in criminal activity such as prostitution or drug-dealing; the case must be formally presented to them by the appropriate law enforcement agency.
A little presentation. About 1/2 hour. A little chit chat. A little question and answer session: Do you have the clothing? Were the drains at the house checked for evidence? Were the victims' hands bagged and scraped? Where is the murder weapon being kept now? Another 1/2 hour passes. The "diners" (YES! They're actually called DINERS!!) drift towards the exit.
"XXXXXXXXX estimates that, over the years, the society has considered more than 300 examples of cold-case homicide. But ask what proportion of those cases has been solved, and the answers are less clear-cut.
There is no formalised follow-up process for those invited to present a case. At the end of each month's meeting, some interested members of the society may exchange cards with visiting detectives, and chat further about possible leads. But there is no guarantee of help with building a case to go before a jury, much less a succesful prosecution. 'It's a very grey area,' says XXXXXX, who argues that the primary role of the organisation is to keep cold cases alive, and to provide free of charge the best information possible to under-resourced investigators. 'Our job at Vidocq is purely to help law enforcement solve their own cases with our information. So when you ask, how many cases did we solve? None. How many cases has law enforcement solved through our help? Quite a few."
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
Quote: 'I say we solve 80 per cent,' XXXXXXXX says, 'but solving them and proving them are horses of different colours.'
'We don't keep track,' XXXXXXXXX says. 'We feel that if we make a contribution, that's it. Quite often – I'd say, 30, 40, 50 per cent of the time – we'll find that we made a contribution that resulted in the arrest and conviction of the killer. We'll get a call from the investigator saying, "We got him – thanks for your help." But he gets the credit.'
Six weeks after his visit to Philadelphia, XXXXXXXXX is still no closer to catching whoever it was that killed XXX, XXXXX and XXXX XXXXXX with a bush axe 23 years ago. When I last speak to XXXXXXXXX, he and XXXXX are back at their desks in Columbus, immersed in current investigations, and haven't heard anything from the Vidocq Society since the meeting, though they remain optimistic.
OPTIMISTIC??? Because they had LUNCH??? OMG
What they have for lunch is more exciting than what they actually ACCOMPLISH. And, THIS is the bag we have all our marbles in??? Just shoot me now.
Just as a side note: Google Downtown Club Philadelphia. Just so you know where these fusties meet. Pretty sure you'll see Statler and Waldorf there.