I agree Nick,but a three bed terraced house should be able to be searched for a body by two officers and a dog within half an hour or so I would have thought.Not many places in a house like that where a body could be secreted.The loft being the most obvious place.
Far be it from me to defend the methods of modern day policing son but conducting such searches isn't quite straightforward.
It is very difficult to pace police action when young people go missing in such circumstances as the nature of the investigation must take account of the existing trauma that most families will be experiencing at the time.
There is also the need to have members of the family and other people close to the investigation maintain an open mind and confidence that the police are not over focussing on any particular person within that group – there’s no need to get people’s back up before it’s absolutely necessary in other words.
Even so, within the confines of a terrace house a victim may be secreted under the floor, behind stud-wall panelling, inside boxes in the depths of a loft or indeed within the loft of any adjoining properties.
So, before conducting an extensive search – which involves disrupting the entire physical standing of the property, investigators must adopt a measured approach – more so when the (usually) distraught members of the family continue to be present thus presenting more difficulties for police officers at the scene than one would imagine.
A particular point to consider is the mistake the police are now making – not only in this case – in allowing the media to drive the content of the information cycle. There are too many officers eager to get their faces on television (for whatever reason) thereby allowing such speculation to develop at the hands of a less than capable media more interested in publishing the most lurid headlines than anything else.
PLO’s (Press Liaison Officers) are there for a purpose and any successful investigation depends on the sensible and strategic release of information, not a knee-jerk response to pressure from the popular press and the desire within the police command structure to show the public a willing back to whip in the name of accountable policing.
In my view the police will soon be disappearing up their own arses in the name of accountability rather than policing in a robust professional manner.
When all the discussion is done, a child lies dead, several people have been arrested in connection with this, no person has been yet charged as the investigation is at a very early stage and, should any person subsequently appear in court charged with any offence in connection with young Tia’s death, it will be a matter for that court to decide on the guilt or innocence of any accused person - based on the evidence gathered by those who investigated the incident.
The properly constituted court of law is the deciding body in such matters – on foot of properly adduced evidence - not the court of public opinion driven by speculation.