The Multi-Agency Task Force
Why Are They Being Dicks?


The task force was set up to capture the unknown person that was stalking and murdering young women in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Much criticism has been raised by the public, and the victims' families, on the job done by this task force. In response, the angry task force held a press conference to defend themselves - however, in so doing, they gave themselves all of the credit rather than thank the people who are truly responsible for helping to catch Derrick Tood Lee. Read this article from the Baton Rouge Advocate for the whole story.

The serial killer task force is a joke! They gave a press conference the other day to defend themselves from all of the public criticism they've been getting. I missed the conference itself but heard all about it on 93.7 the next morning.

I'll be the first to admit that Richard Condon's voice usually makes me want to drive nails into my ears, but I've garnered a new respect for him. He was pissed off, and he stated some very valid points. I agree with all of it. The thing is, the task force is up in arms because everyone is criticizing them and they appear to believe they are above criticism.

While I've no doubts they worked hard and were dedicated to their mission the fact remains that:

  1. They were incompetent and negligent
  2. Their arrogance in trying to take all of the credit where they deserve nearly none is disturbing

No one from Zachary was at the press conference nor were the people responsible for catching Derrick Lee thanked, much less acknowledged. Everything I have read about Lee's capture states that the Zachary police recognized him from a sketch released from Breaux Bridge and, therefore, the attorney general's investigator had him swabbed. This swab sat on the task force's shelf for three weeks until the Zachary police called the task force and advised them once more that they should "hurry up" since this guy had a past record that made him a very viable subject. Only then did the task force test the DNA swab, and realized a match. All of a sudden, THEY had caught the serial killer. I don't think so.

Even worse than that is that the Zachary police told the task force about Lee last summer but he didn't "fit" the profile (he was black), so they ignored this tip. Three women (or more) might be alive today if the task force had looked more closely at this person who had a record of stalking, being a Peeping tom, and was a suspect in two other murder cases of young women!

Yet the task force believes they should be patted on the back.

The Zachary police wasn't the only agency to point to Lee as a possible suspect to the task force. With all of these different people pointing to this one man, WHY wasn't he looked at more closely?!

All of those agencies are taking pains to affirm that they aren't criticizing the task force. Perhaps they should be.

As a final insult, the task force spoke out against Lynn Marino for her bold condemnations of their ineptitude. This woman lost her daughter in the most horrible way, and other women and families might have been saved from suffering the same fate had they done a better job. Lynn Marino has every right to voice her displeasure at the way this case was handled and the task force should be ashamed for how they have behaved.

All in all, the facts prove that the task force could have done a better job. Furthermore, had they looked at the evidence given to them much sooner some of the women that were lost might be alive today. How they can expect that to be excusable is beyond me.

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