Scottish police force doesn't say they *don't* use psychics

[Big Les]

This is pretty poor journalism.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...fe-cops-block-psychic-request-86908-20637808/

Somebody has used FOI enquiries to ask all of the Scottish police constabularies whether or not they've used psychics in investigations. All but one said no. Fife decided to use the exemption allowing them to refuse to answer, who knows why. But as the spokesman says, as far as he knows, they've never used them. Yet the headlines (Metro, Scotsman, probably others) are still along the lines that "Scottish police force uses psychics".

Just thought this was worth documenting, because you can bet pychics/their groupies will try and capitalise on this in future.

 

[Mojo]

http://www.skeptics.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=47

 

[lionking]

Let's hope that that bastion of all things good and rational, Scotland (hey I was there for four days after all) does not succumb to the use of forensic psychics, but I know our police forces have used them in the past for many famous kidnappings - even digging up basements of buildings based on "sightings".

But I can almost understand how it can happen. Experienced coppers know it's rubbish, but if you have distraught, superstitious parents of a missing kid demanding the assistance of a psychic......

 

[Big Les]

http://www.skeptics.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=47

I know it well, it's of great use when laying the smackdown to woos trotting out the old chestnut that police use psychics. The OP however seems to be a journo reinventing the same wheel, and the best they could manage was a bureaucratic "we're not saying" from Fife. Who then said that they didn't when pressed. Yet it's still sold as a "police use psychics" story. Pathetic.

 

[GoodGuysEatPie]

http://www.skeptics.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=47

That's a wonderful bit of work in the UK Skeptics thread.

Has anyone followed up on the Metropolitan Police response?

In response to the link in the OP: rubbish journalism.

~ggep~

 

[Mojo]

Has anyone followed up on the Metropolitan Police response?

What, you mean the one that says there was one case in which use of psychics played a major part, but some of the files are closed because it remains unsolved?

 

[Nursefoxfire]

http://www.skeptics.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=47

What a marvelous bit of work by Eddie!

One thing I noticed was the mention by several police forces that they had been contacted by psychics on "highly publicized cases [paraphrase mine]". This adds weight to the argument that alleged psychics only seem to come out of the woodwork when 1) there's a possibility that they can get some media recognition, and 2) there's probably publicized information that they can use as "filler" for their "readings". Oh, and 3) that they only hear about such cases the same way we lesser mortals hear of them, through the media.

 

[GoodGuysEatPie]

What, you mean the one that says there was one case in which use of psychics played a major part, but some of the files are closed because it remains unsolved?

Heh, I missed that bit of irony ;-) But I was thinking that since the thread was a couple years old that some follow up might have happened since then.

~ggep~

 

[BillC]

That's not the first time I've read through that list of responses on the UK skeptics' forum, and it still makes me giggle to do so.

I have readership access at the National Archives, I must remember to listen to that tape next time I am down there. This is a link to the Kew catalogue entry, by the way. A bit more investigation shows it is linked to the Kray Twins^WP: the murder was of Ginger Marks by the Krays' enforcer "Brown Bread" Freddie Foreman^WP, outside the Repton Boys Club in January 1965.

 

[brodski]

All but one said no. Fife decided to use the exemption allowing them to refuse to answer, who knows why.

probably because they couldn't be bothered to tick all of the FOI boxes and fill out all the paperwork for such a seemingly silly request, and didn't think about (or care about) the minor PR implications.

 

[Big Les]

Which in turn is probably why they authorised their spokesplod to say they hadn't actually used any when called for a quote, realising too late that they'd given themselves some mildly bad publicity (not to mention a few annoying phonecalls).

 

[Soapy Sam]

They didn't say they don't use cocaine either. Too. Whichever.

 

[Mojo]

Heh, I missed that bit of irony ;-) But I was thinking that since the thread was a couple years old that some follow up might have happened since then.

The case is over four decades old:

This case related to the disappearance of Thomas Alfred MARKS in 1965.

I suspect that further progress is unlikly.

 

[Rolfe]

This is pretty poor journalism.

.... dailyrecord....

Talk about stating the bleedin' obvious?

Rolfe.

 

[GoodGuysEatPie]

The case is over four decades old:


I suspect that further progress is unlikly.

Indeed. Good point.

~ggep~

 

[Reno]

For anyone who didn't know, The Daily Record actually employed Uri Geller as a columnist for a while. The worst paper with the lowest standards of journalism in the UK in my opinion. To this day, they still have a psychic Agony Aunt page - and treat it very seriously.