The Netherlands joined the police podcast game. A lot of ink has been spilled on the recent trend of podcasts for and about the police, with folks like CJR’s Sarah Weinman suggesting that they’re mainly intended as a propaganda tool. The Guardian doesn’t seem to have the same misgivings about Politie Podcast, a series of 70-minute podcasts from Politie Nederland, the country’s national police force.

According to the department (their website is — of course — in Dutch, but Chrome’s translate function is pretty decent), the three-episode podcast was created in hopes of solving a long-cold case in Naarden. “In the morning of Friday, August 9, 1991, the body of a man was found along the A1 motorway near Naarden, near a tree nursery,” the police say. “The identity of the man has always remained unknown. A photo could not be distributed because the body was already in a state of decomposition,” they say, but a recent reconstruction resulted in the “photo” above.

Since its October release, the podcast has drawn thousands of listeners, the Guardian reports, and generated 15 leads. According to host Martin de Wit, a former journalist and current spokesperson for Politie Nederland’s cold case department, the tips generated by the show are “very useful information – and my colleagues are working on it now. The victim was 60 or 70 years old at the time. We want to find out who he was and who did this to him.” Like the Politie Nederland website, the podcast is also in Dutch, and can be subscribed to here. — EB

Just Mercy, the star-studded movie about defense attorney Bryan Stevenson’s fight to exonerate death row inmate Walter McMillian, was quietly released right around Christmas. But if it’s not at a theater near you yet, fret not: The 2019 drop appears (per Variety) to be a way to slide into Oscars contention, with a wide theatrical release planned for January 17. (Guess the Golden Globes can suck it!)

As usual, Slate has dropped one of its handy “Fact Versus Fiction” reports on the film, consulting as they did the primary texts on the case: Stevenson’s memoir, which is also called Just Mercy, and Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town, a 1995 book on the matter by journalist Pete Earley. If you’re on the fence about taking in the movie, the Slate piece (and either/both of the books) might help make your decision. If you’re looking for more, here’s a 60 Minutes interview from 1992 with McMillian, which Slate notes was “the middle segment in an episode that also featured Woody Allen defending himself against molestation charges.” — EB

Hello, former Patreon supporters! As we transition from Patreon to this platform, we’ll be sending the podcast show notes you typically receive on Tuesdays via this publication from now on. Here’s the scoop for this week:

The Blotter Presents 127: Show Notes!

• Surviving R. Kelly

• Episode 080 on SRK Part 1

• Elaine Weiss reads from The Woman's Hour:

• Blood: A Memoir

• Sarah’s review of The Reckoning for Primetimer

• The Showtune Countdown

We all know that Harvey Weinstein’s New York criminal trial has commenced. As of this writing, its second day has started with a reprimand for Weinstein, who was allegedly using his cell phone in court despite judicial commands otherwise, NBC News reports.

As our business here is how tales of true crime are told and sold, however, it’s this report from The Cut that might be of most interest: according to reporter Irin Carmon, Weinstein publicist Juda Engelmayer has circulated a 57-page PowerPoint presentation entitled “The Proper Narrative for Addressing the Harvey Weinstein Case” to members of the media. Engelmayer reportedly claimed that the doc had been assembled by “a research team prior to me” and was also presented in at least one meeting with “stakeholders of various sorts.”

Carmon reports that the doc includes “oppo research about Weinstein’s accusers, including text messages and photographs, with the goal of vindicating him in the press,” including claims that “there is ‘no objective support’ for any of the women’s claims because there were no witnesses and ‘no physical injuries — even scratches.’” It’s unclear how many other journalists have also been sent this doc, but some say that it’s been widely distributed to reporters on the case, clearly in an effort to control the narrative around the trial. You can read a rundown of the document here. — EB

Wednesday, on Best Evidence: It’s The Blotter Presents Episode 127 with Mark Blankenship!

What is this thing? This should help.

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