Posted on 11/10/2009 11:45:20 AM PST by jpl
WASHINGTON - The man at the center of the investigation for the sniper shootings says he won't be at John Allen Muhammad's execution Tuesday night.
"I don't think I will be personally interested. I have seen a lot of death and destruction and I don't think I am interested anymore," former Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose tells Channel 5.
Moose was the face of law enforcement during those three terrifying weeks in October 2002.
Muhammad is scheduled to be executed at 9 p.m. for the killing of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station. Meyers is one of 10 people across Maryland, Virginia and the District killed by Muhammad and fellow sniper Lee Boyd Malvo.
Now retired and living in North Carolina, Moose, 53, says the experience changed him.
"I think the whole experience has shown me and changed me in the sense that I will always be forthright and open with information. I think that is the big lesson for me and one that I wish I would have known when I was 14-years-old. I would have lived my life differently."
But Moose is proud of how he and the police handled the 23-day standoff.
"Three weeks is a short amount of time I think for the kind of fear and death that we were facing. Would I have preferred that it would have been taken care of in one day, certainly, but at the same hand I feel like the three weeks was overly long that it was overly extensive investigation I don't fault us in that sense," Moose tells Channel 5.
Moose does have one regret -- the perception that he disliked the media.
"I appreciate and understand the role of the media, the necessity of law enforcement and the media work together. So this whole thing that I was angry with the media or didn't like the media or didn't understand the media, not that it matters, but I guess if there was something to clear up I would like to clear up the fact that I am smart enough to know the two need to work together," says Moose.
Moose who retired after writing a book, "Three Weeks in October," says he misses the men and women he served with, but is happy with his decision to retire.
“Most PD’s and military retire at a young age after a full career.”
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It is unfortunate that those of us who pay our own way are not able to take advantage of that luxury.
Sorry to hear that. I was kinda hoping he'd join Mohammad for cocktails.
“It is unfortunate that those of us who pay our own way are not able to take advantage of that luxury.”
Most of us don’t spend our careers putting our lives on the line every single day for 20 or more years, either .. or in the case of the military, lengthy periods away from family. I have no problem with those who take on high-risk/modest income careers retiring early.
A soldier’s family and a policeman’s family know each and every day that their loved on is on duty that s/he may not come home and that two uniformed officers may appear at their front door bearing very bad news. That’s more than ‘paying their own way,” and warrants an early retirement.
SOME, but far from all police officers and military personnel merit early retirement, but a period of more than half of one’s adult life is utterly ridiculous.
I remember my wife and I saying in unison, “It’s not a white panel truck!” The witnesses never said it was. IDIOTS! (They still trot out that idiot profiler on MSNBC. He was a joke back then!)
Did the truck driver who caught him ever get his reward?
Those saying Fort Hood is the first terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11 (OK, I heard Hannity say it today) get real! DC Sniper was totally an Islamic extremist kill spree. There was also that kid who flew a plane into a building in Tampa and the LAX attack in 2002. These were on Bush/Cheney’s watch, so you won’t hear that on hacktalk radio.
Spend 26 years of your life in the military or law enforcement for the government, get yourself attacked several times by criminals or illegal aliens and permanently disabled because of the injuries or shot over in Iraq or Afghanistan and then you won’t have to cry about someone else’s retirement after 25+ years of service.
If you want to work in prisons for 28 years you can have the same “luxury” that I have.
Not “crying”, just being rational about extending this ridiculous benefit to ALL military and police. An across the board program of 30+ years of paid retirement is insanity.
The vast majority of police and military do not:
“get yourself attacked several times by criminals or illegal aliens and permanently disabled because of the injuries or shot over in Iraq or Afghanistan.”
Additionally, there are other compensation mechanisms available for those that are “permanently disabled”.
I live in the WDC area. Chief Moose is a racist hack. He is responsible for the deaths in that he said after it was reported that two black men were speeding away from a shooting in a big car with the lights off that two white men in a white van were the culprits. He is a racist, incompetent and a fool. What a complete moron.
“If you want to work in prisons for 28 years you can have the same “luxury” that I have.”
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You should be paid better, (much better), to work in prisons so that you could fund your own retirement like the rest of us, as opposed to a ridiculously early retirement with lifetime funding on the backs of taxpayers.
“If you want to work in prisons for 28 years you can have the same “luxury” that I have.”
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“You should be paid better, (much better), to work in prisons so that you could fund your own retirement like the rest of us, as opposed to a ridiculously early retirement with lifetime funding on the backs of taxpayers.”
Their early retirement is based on life expectancy after the date of their early retirement. The government gives prison workers early retirement due to the fact that most do not live 30+ years after retirement. Do some research on it and you will find that the life expectancy for these retirees is closer to five years.
Now put yourself in a prison at 50-57 years of age, unarmed and in the position of fighting for you life against 20 to 30 year old convicts intent on killing you.
I speak from personal experience.
Good posts.... you are correct on these early retirements on the taxpayers dime by LEO and others. A mega-scam. Being a logger or fisherman is more dangerous
Looking for that white van on the Beltway..... The fact is that Moose was an impediment to the investigation and showed himself in the aftermath to be a self-centered jerk.
I don’t oppose what you’re saying, but I am retired now and everything is based upon what was offered while I was working.
I can't speak to the PD retirement, but most military "retirees" work after leaving the service. I retired after 28 years and certainly couldn’t live on my retirement check. Besides, it is more of a retainer…I can be recalled.
As far as the luxury goes, I can give you a list of military recruiters in your local area.
Oh...have a nice Veteran’s Day.
No need for the snide condescension and transparent, implied anti-Veterans slam.
I’m paying for this ridiculous extended, open-ended premature “retirement” benefit, and have a right to complain.
You favor the wired-in Socialism of this insane policy apparently.
You have every right to complain from a position of complete ignorance. I have every right to correct you.
You're welcome.
“You have every right to complain from a position of complete ignorance.”
Wrong.
I have several family members who are ex-military of various ranks and service periods. I have discussed this, and alternative military renumeration programs with them extensively. To varying degrees, they largely agree with me. One of the points I made up-thread, was an advocacy for significantly increased pay for in-service miltary and police, particulary and markedly for those truly in harm’s way. In this way, they might finance their OWN retirement nest egg, ala the private sector. This as opposed to a ridiculous, open-ended, “retirement”.
“I have every right to correct you.”
You have every right to try. So far, you have “corrected” nothing.
Oh, well if you have already armed chaired this, then who am I to question your conclusion?
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