MD Sniper - Shut down roads after sniper left, WHY???

Me ^ | 10-22-2002 | Me

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

OK, I live dead center in the middle of Aspen Hill sniper central. 15 years ago I lived in those apartment buildings across the street from where the guy was shot today on the Ride-On bus. I now live in the house I built two miles from there, 1/2 mile from the post office where the lady was shot in the head while sitting on the bench out front. That is the shopping center where I shop (as well as 10,000 REALLY old people.. Leisure World ). Anyway, the point of all of that is to say that I know this area VERY well (grew up right up the street from the Mobil station where the taxi driver was shot too).

Now, to the road blocks. I couldn't go to work today (yet, it's 11:30am now) because, 15, or so, minutes after the sniper shot and killed the guy on the bus all of the roads leading away from Aspen Hill were blocked. I won't go into how far away the blocks were but they were pretty far (many miles) away. Since at 6:00am I can get to work, 18 miles away, in 25 minutes, what good does it do shutting down all roads in the area after the sniper has left the vicinity??? Or, since the sniper isn't a total idiot, what good do the road blocks do if he (or she) were to simply sit in a shopping center parking lot waiting in his/her car or shopping in the grocery store, until after the road blocks are taken down? It seems to me that putting up road blocks for 3, 4, or 6 hours after the shotting has occured is just plain stupid. Is this simply to show the public that the police/govt./our protectors, who in Maryland WON'T allow us to carry guns, are "doing something?" It's certainly screwing things up around here (as the sniper wants, I'm sure...

[lasereye]

What everybody should do is stop and block traffic. The shooter would be trapped, assuming he escapes by auto. In today's shooting and perhaps others, he may have escaped on foot, at least from the immediate area.

[Age of Reason]

Never say never.

Though if this were 1941, I'm sure my idea would work.

[Age of Reason]

What everybody should do is stop and block traffic.

I thought about that, but that would also block emergency vehicles and police--not a good idea, especially in cases of false alarms.

[Freeper 007]

http://maps.yahoo.com/

[Cu Roi]

I can collaborate on the trafic situation. We left about 8 got in around 10:15. Thought we'd be smart and go through Bethesda. Every road into DC was at a near-standstill. Old Georgetown, River, Massachusetts Ave., you name it. I was thoroughly disgrumbled by the time I got in.

Aspen Hill theory is a near-certainty in my book. All of the Mont. Co. shootings have been centralized in the area, which is far from the Beltway and I-270. Va shootings all near 95/495 hence also near hotels or he can take the Interstate one exit away and then take backroads home.

[r9etb]

Shut down roads after sniper left, WHY???

Offhand, I'd say because they can't shut down roads before he kills somebody.....

Seriously, it takes time for police to get to the roadblock locations. Some might be up and running within a minute, others will take longer. If they're as far out as you say they are, then 15 minutes isn't all that long a time. Probably the bad guy gets caught in the backup just like everybody else, and getting past the roadblocks is part of his thrill.

[Age of Reason]

If you truly are of a reasoning age, then you know that would never happen.

Well then, you can go ahead and have your photo taken by a concerned citizen.

Then you can explain to the police--and to your neighbors, why you were in too much of a hurry to care about your community and country.

[GnL]

And what if the shooter decides to play along and pull over with you (in his non-white vehicle), snapping photos for his scrapbook? I don't see how this accomplishes anything.

[Cu Roi]

Aspen Hill is pretty far out from the city, and at 6AM not much is going on out there. It took 15 minutes to get the roadblocks set up and by that point he could been home in time for cornflakes and the morning news.

[stuartcr]

How would you get everyone to even know that they are supposed to stop? What if someone heard a backfire? People don't want to stop now, even when a cop flags them down, why would these people do it if they didn't have to? Just look at the guy that started this thread! There was a lot less traffic in 1941, and people were different.

[stuartcr]

Wouldn't all that picture taking put an undo strain on the photo developers?

[dyed_in_the_wool]

OK I remember a CNN comentator when asked how he would be safe, he said he would take the bus everywhere. He commented how this would keep anyone safe from the sniper since it would not involve parking lots or gas stations.

I'm presuming he's going to get a bus at a bus stop? All alone?
Do they only interview idiots on CNN?

[longtermmemmory]

Ok perhaps I was unclear. If the "shooter" was at a tv watching this report, that means you have a finite set of times when this idiot was infront of a tv. This gives us a radius of travel time. If the shooting happened at X hour and the story was broadcast at X+1 hour, then the story means he had an outside travel time of 1 hour. The same would apply to the travel time if it was rebroadcast. It also means the culprit has access to cable TV.

[Steve_Seattle]

I'll be very surprised if the sniper is apprehended by means of a roadblock after a shooting. By the time police are informed of a shooting, 3-10 minutes have passed, giving the sniper plenty of time to get out of the immediate area via back roads. Or, as some have suggested, maybe the sniper just stays in the area and has a cup of coffee at Denny's until the roadblocks are lifted. The best hope we have is that someone who knows the shooter and has suspicions will come forward with a meaningful tip.

[longtermmemmory]

someplace with a tv?

[Steve_Seattle]

If I were the police, I would keep a record of all license plates within a certain radius of a shooting and see if there are any duplicate license plates from one shooting to the next. And I would NOT announce this to the public! I would also, as you suggest, check out all restaurants or bars in the vicinity of a shooting that might have television sets.

[longtermmemmory]

The detective work is becoming a math game. As the sample of bodies increases there will inevitable appear additional puzzle pieces to form an image. Unfortunatly, this requires a higher body count.

[i_dont_chat]

"photo developers"?????

Where have you been? We don't get our film developed anymore.

[politeia]

How do people know when to stop? This is an idea I posted last Friday on another sniper thread.

Whether they have gone underground or not, the entire nation needs to prepare for this type of attack since it has been so successful and the authorities have been foiled.

I think the only way to confront this attack is to prevent the killers from escaping and that will take using instant communication with all drivers in an area. I think we should reactivate the cold war era civil defense horn alarm systems that can be instantly sounded and drivers are alerted to tune to a civil defense radio frequency and listen for instructions. I believe these horns were sounded from fire stations throughout the city and could be heard everywhere. Drivers could be told to stop in place (like the air stop on 9-11). Police on motorcycles could then go after those who continue moving or investigate stopped vehicles.

I am afraid that police will not stop this using typical law enforcement tactics. It will take thinking outside the box and using citizens to defend our own communities.