I don't recall all the details but I do recall that Moose made Inspector Clouseau and the Keystone Cops look competent with his fixation on an angry white guy in a white van.
In the end, wasn't it an alert trucker who saw a car matching the real perp's description at a rest stop and called in the state police to do the job Moose couldn't get done?
Yep, that was exactly it. The trucker was the real hero; he even blocked the exit so there was no easy chance for them to escape.
Chief Moose wasted time,
While the snipers stayed at large,
On P. C. Bullshit.