Moose Stalks Away

Remember Chief Charles Moose? He's the Maryland cop who was the public face of the DC sniper investigation. He quit today so he could write his book about the sniper case (actually, the book's already advertised on Amazon). The resignation ends a standoff with the Montgomery County Ethics Board, which was opposed to the chief's book.

You'd think that the sniper books (Moose's, The Washington Post's, etc.) would not only be out by now, but that they'd already be remaindered. In fact, there's a number of things worth learning about the sniper case. Among them: why investigators thought the threatened public should remain in maximal ignorance, and whether officials now believe this approach may have cost lives. Not to mention that business about a white van.

Comments

[Anonymous]

I still say it had to be a white guy.

[Lefty]

"violated "bedrock principles" of the county's code of ethical conduct, which forbids employees from exploiting the prestige of public office for personal gain."

Written by the same county fathers who retire and immediately go to work for one of their government contractors.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

The DC police had one or two witnesses who spotted a dark Caprice driving away from the DC shooting with its lights off. Somehow, either the DC cops or Moose's team fscked up and instead it was White Van Fever.

As for Moose, I've got a couple quotes and news about their racial discrimination lawsuit against Marriott Hotels here.

It includes a classic: "Hotel security asked to see his key, as is standard practice, and his reply was, 'Don't you know who I am? I'm Chief Moose!'" he said.

And, for you historians of the blogosphere, Jim Henley of highclearing.com coined the phrase "a pack, not a herd" in response to the public being kept in the dark.

Also, have those surveillance drones which were deployed to catch the sniper ever been recalled?

[tired cop]

Salary for Chief of Police: $80,000/yr

Cashing in on a book deal: $5,000,000.00

(Which would you pick?)

[Bill G]

With many of the facts now in, the local law enforcement people, so universally praised during the process, seem fairly incompetant in retrospect.

The secrecy, the misdirection, the seeming to dance to the shooters tune (as confused as it was). If Malvo had just been a psycho and not an idiot as well (leaving notes, calling the police repeatedly to provide them clues) he might still be out there shooting.

[omnibus bill]

"violated "bedrock principles" of the county's code of ethical conduct, which forbids employees from exploiting the prestige of public office for personal gain."

The irony of this statement is so overwhelming, I may vomit.

The speaker, Doug Duncan, is an authoritarian leftist who, last year, essentially tried to ban smoking in Montgomery County. He has currently tabled an initiative to ban all smoking in public places, a la Nurse Bloomberg. Neither measure has much chance of passing, but like the book controversy with Moose, it raises Duncan's profile statewide.

Surely, it's mere ironic coincidence, that Duncan is also presently using his County Executive position as a bully pulpit to deliver Paul Begala-style stump speeches here and there around Maryland, in preparation for the next gubernortorial campaign.

Duncan would consider this using the public office for private gain, I'm sure, but Duncan probably considers anything that keeps him in public office to be of benefit to the public...

[Douglas Fletcher]

I read somewhere recently that his salary is actually $160,000.

The only problem with Chief Moose in this episode as I see it is that he jumped the gun a little. The traditional etiquette about making money from public service is, you do the job, you quit, then you go out and make your pile. It seems like he was trying to have it both ways.

[Anonymous]

Moose's salary was about $160,000, the highest in the DC Metro area, and a revelation to those who read of it in the paper. Who knew it was that high? And $160K is high - higher than a Senator, Congressman or Cabinet member.
Moose was NEVER told not to write his book. He was simply told that he couldn't profit from it. Freedom of speech never entered into it. He wanted to treat the sniper episode as though he'd won the lottery -- i.e., look what came his way via his position -- rather than as something he could help other deal with by sharing what worked IN HIS JOB. He wanted to cash in, not to help others. And now he's gone -- good riddance.

[Jeffrey Ian Ross]

When Chief Charles Moose publishes his book, I hope he will dispassionately comment how during the sniper investigation, his force repeatedly "dropped the ball" and "failed to connect the dots." More importantly, in the interests of full disclosure and public education, there really should be some sort of public inquiry into "what went wrong." Unfortunately, few police departments want to be subject to this kind of scrutiny. I also highly doubt that Moose was really in control of the investigation. More likely, those working quietly behind the scenes, thought he would be more useful if he were primarily a spokesperson. The sniper investigation reveals a greater systemic problem with large modern day police forces, particularly those that have failed to adopt (or properly implement) managerial techniques like Compstat (which includes the simultaneous systematic analysis of crime data and increased of accountability of middle management).

[Reddy Lokesh]

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DATE: 01/27/2004 12:05:31
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