Posted on 11/08/2002 2:08:54 AM PST by rambo316
All I know is what I have heard from the cops and the media. And the parameters are simple - the cops had reason to enter the tag into the database multiple times, for whatever reason. Do a query, and run down the top 200-500 plates by total entries. The investigation then goes from a needle in a haystack to a manageable list - that is exactly how they got started in catching the Center City (Phila.)/Fort Collins rapist - they entered in just about anyone who was in both Philly and subsequently Fort Collins and vicinity during the two timeframes (I could possibly have been considered, as I fit that intital geographic parameter), and then winnowed down that list to about 200 suspects - and the eventual perp was on that list. That is why they create a database in the first place, but apparently the FBI was too busy looking up ten-year-old gun purchase records and harassing law-abiding citizens to bother using the tools at hand.
With all due respect, I don't believe it does anything of the sort. The cops were already maintaining the database. The records for the tag were in there. This was not a problem with GATHERING information, it was a problem with USING information - and it happened at many levels, not just with the database but also with the preconceptions of the investigators.
"No, that's not unusual," she said. "You have to understand we don't have the same computer system" that police in Maryland have. She said she had tried to run the tag the night of the shooting, but "the computer was down." This didn't make complete sense to me.
Even if the sniper database system was down for a day, query it the next. This investigation straddled weeks.
With only the tag number, she said, "We don't have probable cause" to arrest the owner. The tags could have been stolen; maybe someone else was driving the car that night. "The U.S. attorney won't issue a warrant for the arrest of the owner just based on a tag ID," she said. "We need an individual and someone to identify them, and you didn't see him."
Cripes, the cops were randomly pulling over white vans and searching them. Forget the tag, a resemblence to the suspect vehicle was sufficient. Also, the FBI was going to lawful owners of .223s and asking to test them. Probable cause had been tossed out the window for the sniper investigation.
She raised other problems. "Even if we find out the owner of the car," she said, "we're going to have to go up there and talk to him and get him to tell us who was driving the car that night, and then find them." If the assailant was Hispanic, she said, that would further hamper the case because the 4th District has only two Spanish-speaking detectives.
Turns out these perps were English speakers.
In the end, she summed up, an arrest would be difficult.On Tuesday, a man was shot and killed at Roosevelt High School in Northwest Washington. Police suspect the same Salvadoran gang, the Vatos Locos, that Lozado had told me might be responsible for my Sunday night shootings. Lozado said he would expedite the analysis of my shell casings -- but as of Friday morning, no detective had yet been assigned to my case.
Manpower was no issue on the sniper case.
The only bigotry I have seen here is the history of bigotry of Chief Moose. No one has said anything derogatory about him because of his race. The statements have been made because of his bigotry toward whites - it seems he has a long history of it.
But of course, maybe I am forgetting the rule ' Black people can't be bigots - only white people'. I have heard that statment many times - well that's not true either.
But once again, let's throw out the word 'bigot' and it will intimidate and silence the truth - sorry it doesn't work. It is just laughable at this point in time. I do hope everyone will point out that fact everytime it is used - then maybe we can get around to speaking the truth in this society and start to fix some of the real problems we have - like a botched criminal investigation that allowed innocent people to be killed!
Now that is just too easy - the old 'let's call them racist or bigot that will win the argument - we have gotten past that - we now recognize those statement for what they are - lack of facts or reasons.
I don't care if the man is black, white, or pea-green with purple spots - apparently he was the talking head and I doubt anyone forced him out there to take that job. Just a guess on my part. But he was also the chief of police and people were being murdered. If he had evidence that pointed otherwise, I don't care how many FBI, ATF, or whatever other alphabet organization said otherwise, he should have said something. PEOPLE WERE BEING KILLED!! I don't care who made what mistake - mistakes were made and he shares as much of the blame as anyone else and, myself, what is so disgusting is that he is apparently accepting all the accolades rather than admitting he was part of an investigation that allowed other innocents to be killed. Screaming 'bigot' at the people who are pointing that out will not change the facts - now in the past it might have silenced them - but not anymore - just won't work.
From what I read he is being condemned for being a anti-white. It seems there is plenty of documentation to prove that. This would naturally lead a thinking person to question just how much of the 'non-investigation' of what would seem to be credible leads and we now know were credible were not followed because of his hatred of whites. If he was just a pawn of the FBI, it seems he was a very willing pawn.
Well, I don't know the poster and I am not a Republican - so I can say I could never agree with anyone who still uses the old 'bigot', 'racist' threats. That kind of rhetoric has contributed mightily to the problems we have today. We need to be able to speak the truth about anyone no matter what their color. In the past the fear of being called a racist has given a pass to many, many incompetent and dangerous people.
As I said, I don't know the poster - I don't recall any past posts - just responding to the old, tired charge of 'racism' that has been used in the past to silence speech. Just not my cup of tea. I could n ever agree with anyone on that tactic.
The sheeple baah their approval.
Document your assertion that Chief Moose has a "hatred of whites." I want specific statements made by Chief Moose and links to those statements.
Actually, this is part of a much broader problem - once the FBI gets involved, common sense and standard investigative procedure seem to get tossed out the window. Fix the FBI and underlying attitudes, and you address a lot of these issues.
Do you live in the NY-VA I 95 area? One of the major continuing newstories for the past few years in these states has been the accusation of police profiling of drivers based on color.
I do, I work a few blocks away from I-95, and I agree that there is a siginficant profiling problem. Profiling is wrong and stupid in most cases, because, above and beyond any Constitutional issues, it is a significant waste of law enforcement resources - cops should stick to probable cause.
Are you saying that there already exists one database that documents every police stop in all of these states? Or even one per state?
I think they created a database specifically for this investigation, and entered all contact data they had.
If that is true there should not have been the frustration of many police jurisdictions who had to refute the charges of stops based on race. The data would have been accessible.
It's hard to surmise the internal reactions, as cops tend to stick together.
I was using the statements of people who lived in the city and state where he was previously. Now in that I took their word, I cannot document - but I will take their word until I am proven wrong. That is really all we can every do - read what we can and make judgements - unless we actually see it ourselves. Perhaps I should have used the old tried and true 'alledged' hatred of whites. Does that make it any better. Evidently, this man does have a history (alledgedly so) of some racial slant in his previous job. Is that more to your liking. If you accept that those people's postings are true, then it would lead to thinking that perhaps Chief Moose was not as interested in catching a black person. Think about it, if you had a white person in the job who had an 'alleged' history of racial slant and that person seemed to deny the possibility of a white person doing the crime (even though witnesses said differently) and it was proven the killers were white - wouldn't you wonder? Any thinking person would.
I will confess to being a little agitated at the time of posting, but the use of 'racism' and 'bigotry' anytime 'someone of color' or OTW are criticized is wearing thin. It has allowed and sometimes caused so many negative things in this country. This country has some very serious problems that need addressing, but if we cannot discuss them honestly and openly, nothing will change. I personally have never met a 'person of color' who was such a shrinking violet that a little criticism caused them irreparable harm, have you?
Thank goodness it is changing, but there was a time being a racist was the worse thing a person could be. You could be any low form of humanity - but being a racist was worse. That is changing, but evidently it is not gone completely.
Is that supposed to make me feel better?
I will confess that the charges of 'racism' and 'bigotry' do get my blood boiling. They are thrown out there for every situation and are so destruction and deceiving.
Since I didn't see the deleted, I can't comment. There are, however, many posts on here that are offensive to me (calling someone is racist is very offensive to me). But somehow that is OK.
And yes, mocking a man because of the color of his skin is bigoted. Sorry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.