PoliceOne.com column: What law enforcement can learn from the Caylee Anthony case

I have done numerous media interviews on the Caylee Anthony missing child case that is transpiring right here in Orlando, FL. I have strong feelings on how law enforcement agencies and experts need to be handling cases of this publicity laden magnitude. My latest "Weinblatt's Tips" column on law enforcement website www.PoliceOne.com came out yesterday (08/22/08) and reflects my multi-year call for law enforcement responiveness and partnership with the media. The article, "P1 Exclusive: What law enforcement can learn from the Caylee Anthony case," covers the need for law enforcement agencies and experts to interact with the media.

According to PoliceOne.com, the website, based in San Francisco, CA, has almost 700,000 unique visitors each month with more than 176,000 registered law enforcement members representing over 14,000 agencies.



The latest column is featured on the front of the website, as well as in the primary slot in today's PoliceOne.com email newsletter (which is emailed to 94,000 law enforcement professionals). It can be read by clicking the link: http://www.policeone.com/writers/columnists/Richard-Weinblatt/articles/1728471-P1-Exclusive-What-law-enforcement-can-learn-from-the-Caylee-Anthony-case/

The concepts in the column reflect my sentiments as documented even way back in a February 1992 media relations article I wrote for Law and Order: The Magazine for Police Management. As I mentioned in the latest PoliceOne.com column, the concepts I wrote about in 1992 are dated, but not outdated. The media storm swirling around law enforcement in the Caylee Anthony case are only going to become more frequent. It's time that we embrace this police-media partnership and fill up the airtime with accurate law enforcement generated information.

Weinblatt Police Training Videos: Driver Call Back Traffic Stops and Dealing with the Opposite Sex

Today I am blogging about two police training videos I created which were featured on the law enforcement website www.PoliceLink.com. I write regularly for PoliceLink. The videos are also up on my youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/richardweinblatt

I hosted, produced, directed, and edited, the videos with volunteer actor assistance from recent graduates from the Seminole Community College Police Academy that I manage here in Central Florida.

The February 18, 2008 video, "Dealing with the Opposite Sex," was based on my popular PoliceLink.com article "Ten Tips for Dealing with the Opposite Sex" published on November 26, 2007. I'm in the video as is Officer Nicole Gusaeff and Officer Daniel Barnard from our SCC Basic Law Enforcement Academy class #87. I even included some funny outtakes/bloopers at the end of the video. Nicole and Daniel were good sports and obviously had a lot of fun being featured in the video. I think the blooper part is more popular with folks than the serious section of the video.










The article can be read here: (http://www.policelink.com/training/articles/7528-ten-tips-for-dealing-with-the-opposite-sex)

This was a fun video and followed another, even more popular PoliceLink.com article (from October 10, 2007) that I wrote. The article was on a traffic stop concept not practiced by officers as much as driver's side or passenger side approach. My driver call back article can be read on PoliceLink.com here: http://www.policelink.com/training/articles/5883-safe-driver-call-backs

That first video, which I created on January 12, 2008, is based on my article. It starred me and my voluntary assistant, Officer Gabriel Garcia. Gabriel graduated from our SCC Basic Law Enforcement Academy class #90. He was a good sport and had fun acting in the video, although I did not incorporate an outtakes/bloopers section until the second video.

You can see the first video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dirc5wOFOgc

What surprises some people is the time it takes to shoot these videos. It takes three or four hours at least to set up the shots and do several takes. The multiple takes are needed to account for mistakes, as well as multiple camera angles. It then takes a couple hours to do the editing. I use iMovie HD 6 either on my Apple PowerMac G5 Quad Processor computer or my Apple MacBook Pro laptop to do the editing on my movies.

I've gotten tons of feedback from both current and aspiring law enforcement officers. Of course, as with any tactical training, you can get ten police instructors in a room and get ten different opinions on how to do things. With all my videos, I stress that they are only guides to general law enforcement situations. Specific legal and tactical guidance has to be sought from agency trainers and departmental policies.

Another type of video I've done has dealt with topical law enforcement issues of the day. Some examples of them were the Andrew Meyer University of Florida Taser incident, the Ohio police Taser situation, and the Paris Hilton lack of interest in being role model statement from her appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

I am thinking of doing either more of these police training videos and/or more police expert opinion on the topical law enforcement issue of the day videos (prior examples of these can also be seen on my youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/richardweinblatt). What do you think?

Caylee Anthony Police Expert Analysis on News Interviews

You would have to be under a rock not to notice the large amount of coverage garnered by the Caylee Anthony missing child case. As someone with law enforcement and media interviewing experience, it came as no surprise that I've ended up doing quite a few interviews on the topic. Even more than before, this investigation has lead to an incredible number of people coming up to me seeking answers to their many questions.

As I told WESH2 News (the NBC affiliate) anchor/reporter Gail Paschall-Brown, I fear that this case will have a sad ending. In my experience, the longer a child is missing, the more grim the prospects become.

This is a tragic case for a number of reasons. This missing two-year-old, now turned three-year-old, may have already been located if law enforcement officials were able to get straight answers from the get go. Sadly, As a former police chief who has investigated homicides and missing persons cases as a sworn law enforcer, it does not surprise me that people will use deceptions and omissions when dealing with police investigators seeking to ascertain the well-being of their own family.

I have told many folks that the Orange County Sheriff's Office investigators here in Orlando, FL, handling this case, Sgt. John Allen and Cpl. Yuri Mellich (who just finished two years in OCSO homicide), are not new kids on the block. They know how to investigate these types of cases. They are experienced, diligent and highly trained.

As for the smell of old pizza and the smell of death in the Pontiac. As anyone who has smelled a dead body left for some time, there is no confusing the two. As I pointed out in a Central Florida News 13 in-studio interview I did on 7/24/08 with Anchor Ybeth Bruzual, even Cindy Anthony, the grandmother, stated that in one of the 911 calls she made.

In a video package of a 7/23/08 interview I did with top rated ABC affiliate WFTV Channel 9 Eyewitness News, her statements concerning the pizza and my contradictory statements refuting the chance of confusing the two distinct smells were played together. Experienced law enforcers especially would not be confused by the pizza presence. As I told WFTV reporter Eric Rasmussen, that is not a chance that the two could be interchanged.


If you add on top of that the positive hit indication of two cadaver dog teams, the direction becomes clearer. As I explained on the WOFL Fox 35 Morning News in two live on-set interviews with host Heidi Hatch on 7/23/08 and in a video package with WVEN Univision 26 Noticias (the Spanish language news) News Anchor/Producer Jimena Cortes on 7/24/08, these dogs are highly trained and have a keen sense of smell. They would not be confused by pizza. You could put a ham sandwich next to them and they would not be distracted.

As for their sense of smell, they can detect the smell of decomposition deep underground even with a concrete slab being present. I don't think the human and canine experts could get this wrong.

It does appear that the family is now cooperating a little more with the investigators. They have discussed the issue of the Anthony family shed burglary and gas can theft with them. I figured that it was worth looking at and I told WFTV Channel 9 in another interview on 7/29/08 that investigators would have to look at the gas can shed burglary and theft situation.


That is good that family is now talking with the OCSO investigators. They are the ones with the interviewing expertise. They are the ones with the big picture of all of the tips that have to be logged in and prioritized. Seemingly insignificant information might be relevant when coupled with other information known by investigators.

It takes a lot of experience and training to conduct these investigations and no one should undertake such an endeavor on their own. To do so risks the integrity of the investigation.

I have also been asked why investigators withhold information. As I told reporters and news directors, who understand this as they have covered crime stories for years, information is always held back especially in high profile cases. They do this to be able to test the veracity and credibility of those who might confess or come forward with information. People have been known to do so with false information.

Information is also held back in order to have more material to offer the news media at a later date in an effort to revive the story. As time passes, sometimes people become more comfortable coming forward. Media coverage later helps the investigators to get more tips.

All of this is being combined with the evidence that they have collected and submitted for analysis on several different forays. Such evidence includes the stain, hair, and dirt from the Pontiac's trunk, the shovel borrowed from the neighbor, and the clothes retrieved and cleaned by Cindy Anthony from the Pontiac and later taken by investigators from the Anthony home. As I explained to Central Florida News 13 reporter Stephanie Coueignoux on 8/6/08, the evidence has to be looked at and analyzed. The forensic evidence, combined with their interviews and document collections will help them to piece together what amounts to a giant jigsaw puzzle.

This saga is sure to continue for a little longer. However, unlike the Trenton Duckett missing little boy case, I think this one will be solved. Let's hope so that the Anthony family, friends and the community can get some answers and some closure. Something that I know that countless loved ones of other missing children across Florida and the nation are hoping for in their respective cases.

Below is my Fox 35 Morning News two live in-studio segments from 7/23/08. Other TV news interview clips are on youtube at www.youtube.com/user/richardweinblatt