The Instapundit links to this first-hand account of the police efforts in the D.C. Sniper Case:
It’s getting to the point around here where people driving white vans have been pulled over multiple times, so much so that a reporter asked a question of Montgomery County’s Chief Moose: were officials going to institute a system so that vans wouldn’t be pulled over multiple times? As of a few days ago, he said “no,” they had no such system in place.
Profiles are tools to help cops predict the perpetrator’s next move. They aren’t pretexts for searches. As a 25-35 unmarried white male who owns two handguns (and might at some point in the future own a long gun), I don’t think that, because I may fit the very vague profile, I should be subject to searches, seizures, stops, or other kinds of questioning.
I tend to agree with him.
One point about Chief Moose, though. I normally do not find many reasons to praise police (I think the state of policework in this country is generally deplorable), but I must admit that there is something I really like aboiut Chief Moose. He seems competent, confident, compassionate, reolute, determined, focussed, and fair. He reminds me of an old 1st Sergeant- I can’t think of higher praise than that. At any rate, if you disagree with me, just try this- compare Moose to the freckle-faced half-wit from D.C. who ran the Chandra Levy investigation. In that light, Chief Moose seems almost Giulianesque.