You never have to thank me for my thoughts, although sometimes I may have to apologize for them. :-)
As for sloppy policework -- well, it wasn't a bad choice of words. I know people in LE, and, as good as American LE is in general, they're only human, and they screw up. And they most often screw up by being lazy or sloppy. It happens. They know it, and do their best to stamp it out, but its a persistent part of the human condition in general, and it'll always be there. I could be right in my belief this is a runaway and they downgraded it; I could be right that it was a runaway and wrong about the downgrading part, very easily indeed. If I was a betting man, I'd say the odds are even on sloppy versus very smart and controlled.
Wait, I *am* a betting man. "The odds are even". :-)
There's a funny comment on Google about Utah LE. One poster says, "They've got pretty good police around here - we've had everything from Ted Bundy to the Unabomber to Mark Hofmann's bombs."
Reply by Dennis: "Oh yeah, and they didn't catch the Unabomber in Utah, and they let Bundy escape." LOL
SLCPD initially gave their own investigators worthless information for their searches: The English-driving, tan golf-style hat vs a white baseball cap. A small black pistol vs a knife.
And they came up with ex-con Ricci as a possible suspect, a man who was 6 foot 1 inches tall, although the only witness, Mary Katherine, said the perp was about 5 foot 8.
So, yes, Kip Lange, I do think "sloppy" is an inappropriate word. Your "very smart and controlled" may be a more accurate description of what went on.
One then asks, "Why?" And WHO orchestrated it?