Has anyone noticed that every time that the camera is on Chief Moose, he is always squinting his eyes. It is almost as if he has the sun glaring in his face. Normally, I would discount this as nothing unusual, but upon observing the people around him in the background, they are never squinting. So, does this mean that this is Chief Moose's normal facial expression? If so, he always looks mean, like he is on the toilet defecating or something. I know that he has a very serious undertaking right now with the sniper situation and all, and I pray to God that they catch this assailant(s)soon, but I just thought that his facial expressions were somewhat interesting.

In this thread, I discussed him. I wasn't sure who he was but I saw him on TV today.

[quote]Originally posted by SmoothRon:
he always looks mean, like he is on the toilet defecating or something...I know that he has a very serious undertaking right now with the sniper situation and all,

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I'm sure he is worried more about the sniper than the fact that YOU think that he is too serious. HE IS SERIOUS - he should be...If he wasn't serious then people would be complaining about THAT! - - Ok - let me take some deep breaths and calm down.

With all due respect Copman (and I've been reluctant to post this on the other thread since the shootings began) I have been extremely disappointed in the way Chief Moose has handled this tenuous situation in his numerous "press conferences"....what is the purpose of having these press conferences and fielding questions if he adamantly refuses to release any information for fear that the killer is watching?....he is obviously under a great deal of stress and I have no doubt that no one wants to catch this lunatic more than he does, but his STRONG criticism of the media's involvement in this "case" (in particular, the fact that they publicized the police finding of the tarot card) and Moose's adamant refusal to answer even the most basic of questions on the grounds of "divulging confidential information" is confounding to me to say the least.

In particular, when I compare the way Chief Moose has dealt with the media and the public to the way that the law enforcement authorities in SoCal handled the recent tragedies (and near tragedies) related to the two teenage girls who were kidnapped and escaped death by a matter of minutes along with the young girl who was taken from right outside her house and tragically murdered within 24 hours (the one where her 6 year old friend described the assailant) the lack of similarities are startling....In both cases in SoCal the involvement of the media and the public's assistance was VITAL to finding the killer and ultimately saving the lives of those two teenage girls....I understand that the Chief is dealing with a VERY tenuous situation and there is NO DOUBT that there are hundreds of well qualified law enforcement personnel working round the clock on finding this heinous killer but he has all but said he doesn't want the media to release ANY information to the community -- without frightening the public at large, wouldn't it make sense to at least release the BASIC facts about the murderer (hell, it took him over a week to acknowledge they were looking for a white van and release a "photo" of the vehicle)?....after all, this approach has clearly been a major benefit in solving other brutal murders and kidnappings within a very brief period of time and if he would ask for the assistance of the community instead of acting like he and his "team" are above reproach then perhaps using the eyes and ears of several million people instead of a couple hundred would find this killer (or killers) sooner.

I know we all have the same objective in mind -- I just happen to think that Chief Moose is not using all the tools at his disposal to their fullest advantage and can learn from the tactics that the authorities used "successfully" in California within the past several months.

[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

I agree with copman on this one. i think hes doing a damn good job in a very diffcult circumstances. i like the emotion he shows, and when he was discussing the terrible thing when the kid got shot he had tears in his eyes. I have a lot of respect for him

Gamecock - you do have some valid arguements. I don't agree with all of them but they are well thought out. My main problem with the post I originally commented on was that the poster complained about the officer's facial expressions ( his squinty eyes) etc.- not the substance of his interviews, or any facts of the case. Not to be self righteous but that just seems irrelevant & shallow in my opinion.---- Also officers serving as public-relations officers have a tough job balancing the public's right to know , the media's right to speak & trying to solve the case. Yep- I know that is what he gets paid for but its still a "Damn tuff job" - glad that is not mine!

After viewing the second "press conference" held by Fairfax County police chief Tom Manger on CNN (following the shooting death of another woman at 9:20ET Monday night) he is being as forthright and open as possible to the press and the public....I know this is not the time to be criticizing our law enforcement officials but the way Chief Manger has handled this situation in the span of a few hours and the leadership he conveys is 180 degrees opposite of the way Charles Moose has been handling it in Montgomery County.

In particular, within 3 hours of the shooting Chief Manger has confirmed they are looking for a cream colored Chevy Astro van with a silver ladder rack on top and the left tail light out (it took Moose over a week to release any info on the vehicle even though his "office" knew it all along)....Manger has been as open as possible with regard to information received from witnesses WITHOUT divulging anything that would jeopardize the case....after all, at this stage until the killer is found (and it won't be long before he strikes again in all likelihood) someone's "position" or degree of "power" should have no bearing on the case -- each and every member of the community may be the person who ultimately finds him -- he's not living in a cave and he is driving around a community of 4+ Million people on a daily basis (also don't forget there is a $500,000 reward for his ass that is growing daily -- not that the manhunt wouldn't be just as strong if there was no reward but it certainly doesn't hurt)....this is a concept that Chief Manger (who reminds me of the Sheriff in Orange County who displayed impeccable leadership in finding the man who kidnapped and murdered that little girl a couple of months ago within less than two days) has clearly grasped and unfortunately others (including Chief Moose) have not.

Like the old adage says it shouldn't matter who gets the credit as long as the job gets done.

[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Don't forget though that Chief Manger of Fairfax County has now has a week to see how things have progressed. I don't fault Moose, because I think this kind of situation was probably the last thing that he, as a suburban police chief, was thinking about, even in the wake of 9/11.

What is scary about this situation to me is that these attacks and murders are happening in a ring around the nation's CAPITAL. Shouldn't the sharpest police forces be in place near the seat of our federal government? We never caught the anthrax mailer, and now we have yet to catch a sniper who is cutting down Americans as we go about our lives--and within 50 miles of the White House, the Capitol, etc. I mean, if one person can wreak this kind of havoc, what about another terrorist cell, Al Qaida, anti-government fanatics like Timothy McVeigh, or someone else?

I hope they catch the creep or creeps behind this. Virginia has the death penalty and wouldn't hesitate to use it....