Investigation’s Public Face Lets Emotions Show
Laura Parker, USA Today
Police chiefs, as a type, speak publicly in cadenced monotones to assure residents the investigation at hand is making headway and public safety is of highest concern. They usually say little else, and they never say what they are really thinking.
Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Charles Moose is not of type.
Moose is the public face of the 9-day-old investigation into the sniper who has killed seven people, wounded two others, and traumatized the suburbs surrounding Washington. He has displayed a full range of emotions that include sorrow, frustration, exhaustion and outrage.
On Monday, when the shooting of a schoolboy was linked to the sniper, Moose choked up in front of the growing forest of television cameras outside police headquarters in Rockville, Md. “Someone is so mean-spirited that they shot a child,” Moose said. “Now we’re stepping over the line.”
Wednesday morning, he unleashed fury at the news media for reporting leaked information that a tarot card had been found near where the sniper hid before firing on the boy. “We are approaching interference, and interference is unacceptable,” he snapped.
Moose also vented angrily about the slew of “talking heads” that have filled TV screens in recent days with “ranting and raving” about the sniper. That’s essentially daring the sniper to strike again, he said.
A few hours later, when he arrived at the next of his four daily news briefings, he was calm. “We’re going to forget that issue,” he said.
Moose, 49, has overseen the 1,000-member department since he was recruited from Portland, Ore., in 1999. He began his career as a patrolman in Portland in 1975 and capped off his work there by serving as police chief for six years.
Moose’s old colleagues in Portland recognize their former chief’s passions and determination as they watch him on national television.
“We can see he’s lost 50 pounds,” says Sarah Bott, spokeswoman for Portland Mayor Vera Katz. “But what you see is what you get. He’s telling people what he’s thinking. He’s not editing out his emotions, and that’s no surprise to any of us who know him.”
At the time Montgomery County officials recruited Moose -- who did not apply for the $ 125,000-a-year job -- the county police department had been plagued with complaints about racial profiling by patrol officers. County officials wanted Moose to find a solution acceptable to the U.S. Justice Department, which had been investigating the complaints for three years.
He came up with an experimental program that perhaps only a police department in an affluent county could afford: He gave every patrol officer a handheld computer with which to record the race, sex and age of every driver stopped. The data collected will be analyzed by a private consultant.
Moose presides over one of the most affluent and crime-free counties in the country. Last year, county police investigated 19 homicides. As he stepped into the limelight last week, after five county residents were shot down in 16 hours, he noted that the county’s murder rate rose 25% in less than a day.
Moose is known in the department, county officials say, as a “cop’s cop,” a leader who is strongly followed by his officers because he is their fiercest defender. He wears his uniform to work every day, not a suit, a reminder that he rose through the ranks.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney Douglas Gansler says that Moose, despite his passions, is a reserved man. “Most police departments are reticent about talking to the media, and he’s certainly like that as well,” Gansler says. “But he’s been different this time because he’s had to be. This is a case of one.”
On Thursday, in the rain, Moose was back in front of the microphones delivering the daily report to the media, even as the spotlight moved temporarily to Northern Virginia, scene of the seventh killing Wednesday night.
The number of briefings has been reduced to two a day. Moose was out of character, but in type: flat-toned, assuring, and brief.
“We are certainly continuing the investigation, and everyone is working as diligently as possible,” he said. “And we are committed to bringing the individual or individuals in this situation to justice.”