I was interjecting levity and I sincerely apologise if I offended you with my attempt. I remain curious as to what LE tactics you think are appropriate in this situation.
First of all, the searching of the white vans is pretty silly to begin with. Think about it, the sniper(s) follow the news and know that everybody is focused on white vans. You think they would be sitting in a roadblock for hours on I-95 in a white van with the incriminating evidence stashed under the back seat somewhere? If they are driving in a white van at all, it is going to be as clean as a whistle.
What we have here is a panicked knee-jerk reaction on the part of law enforcement. Yanking people out of vans at gunpoint and throwing them to the ground is not going to accomplish anything (except trample on our constitutional rights). Now I said earlier and I'll say again that I respect police officers. But in this case, they are wrong. I understand that every cop involved is very angry about all these people getting shot and wants badly to get these snipers. After all, these policemen are sworn to defend the public and I'm sure they are taking these snipings personally. But this is the wrong way to go about it.
What tactics are appropriate in this situation? First of all, the police should be doing stakeouts at every restaurant, gas station and shopping mall possible along I-95. For the best chance of apprehending these snipers is to either catch them in the act or be on the scene within a minute of two of the attack. What annoys me is that whenever one of these snipings occur, you see hundred of police officers converging upon the scene where they proceed to mill about for hours. What are they all doing there?
It only takes a dozen or so officers to secure the site of the shooting and look for evidence, etc. The rest of the officers should be on the chase. If a description of a vehicle comes over the radio, then they should stop all vehicles that fit that description, be it a white van, a red Camaro or a yellow Volkswagon. If the vehicle pulls over, they should approach the car carefully just as they do any other traffic stop and check it out. They should NOT be drawing their guns at this point and telling the occupant to get face down in the dirt. However, if the vehicle tries to evade them or fires at them, then all bets are off and they should bring the vehicle to a stop BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY.
I think right now the best thing we can do is issue police officers night vision goggles and start putting them in the woods behind all these likely places of attack. It appears that the sniper may be positioning himself in a wooded area and then quickly moving through the woods to a vehicle nearby in another parking lot. I think we have a reasonable chance of catching the sniper in the act if we do this. And if there aren't enough officers to cover these areas, let's call out the National Guard.