Questions: Chief Moose on the sniper shootings

New Crisis, The, Nov/Dec 2002 by Harris, Hamil

The October sniper shootings that devastated Montgomery County, Md., then spread throughout the Washington, D. C., metropolitan area left 10 people dead and at least five wounded. Charles A. Moose, the chief of police in Montgomery County, became the face of the task force hunting the perpetrators. Prior to the attacks, Moose was largely anonymous. In 1999, he was recruited from Portland, Ore., to the Washington suburb to quell racial tensions between police and the community. Once the shootings began, Moose addressed the press daily, his image beamed across the country and around the world. He appeared reassuring in his khaki police uniform, but was unable to offer any substantive information to comfort the public that had begun curtailing errands and crouching at fuel pumps. After the suspects were apprehended Oct. 24 and the sniper shootings ceased, the community embraced the chief, a 27-year veteran of law enforcement. A reporter had to wade through a growing mound of letters, flowers and gift baskets to talk to Moose, 49, who is a major in the Air National Guard.

What was going through your mind when the first spree of shootings occurred?

From the shooting Wednesday night and when it started up again

Thursday morning, we ended up with five people dead. That was a 25 percent increase in our average [annual] homicide rate for the county. We had a lot of indicators that it was the same person or the same people doing it. But we didn't have very much evidence, didn't have very much in the way of good witnesses. It was becoming a major problem for the police department.

It was the tips that cracked the case [from both the public and the suspects themselves]. We got a lot of information [the task force hotline consisted of more than 100 phone lines and received more than 60,000 calls] that helped in different stages of the investigation. As we sit here today we are both aware the puzzle is still being put together. Police departments are looking at old cases and things are still coming in. We can't give the public or the media every bit of information we have in an investigation, but finding that balance has proved to be very helpful.

As the face of the task force, did you feel any extra sense of responsibility in that critical position because of your race?

I know that as a local police chief with all of the questions about turning it over to the federal authorities there certainly was some pressure to try to represent local law enforcement and show this could be managed and the federal authorities [FBI and ATF] could be very helpful. I don't know if it ever boiled down to race, but I certainly know that race is a part of the thought process in America. The pressure for me was the fact that they continued to kill people. Working in law enforcement, why did you pursue a Ph.D. in urban studies/criminology?

Having the opportunity to get education is important. As a role model I looked at Dr. Lee Brown, the former drug czar [who headed several city police departments] and current mayor of Houston. I always admired that he had a doctorate in criminology, and it seemed to help him to be more thoughtful and exacting in his leadership. As an African American, I felt that by taking advantage of the opportunity to get education along with job experience I would never be in a position where someone could say, "you are not qualified."

When the suspects were apprehended were you surprised they were Black?

I hope we all take this as a teaching moment for America, because we were trying to encourage people not to stereotype, to keep an open mind, to let the evidence lead us where it would. But the tendency was to listen to the talking heads. Profiling has not proved very helpful, even though it has been practiced, whether it's racial profiling or other types of profiling.

One of the letters on your table reads: "Dear Chief Moose, Thank you for catching the sniper. I was worried something would happen to my friends." How does that make you feel?

There are really two major emotions. One, I certainly wish we could have closed this case sooner. Most people can now move on, but for the victims' families their lives have been changed forever. There's a void. I am [also] afraid of the domino effect. When you talk to someone and they say their four- or five-year-old was really, really scared you hope that over time that they forget about it. But what if some kid is scared for several years? [And then what] if there is some young person who doesn't get a soccer scholarship or a football scholarship because their games were cancelled? I hope scouts and coaches will understand that Maryland kids may have missed a chance to showcase themselves because of this and will give them the benefit of the doubt.

With all the attention that's been focused in your direction, you always say it's not about me.

I'll just say that my experience shows me that Americans have a short attention span. There'll be another event and all you [media] folks will be at that event. You'll be just as enthralled with that story and I won't miss you guys.