Left.
It's very obvious to me, after just watching the police briefing with Chief Moose and his colleagues, that the police have no actual desire to catch the sniper.
They attempted to release two composite pictures today of a 'Chevrolet Astrovan' (Chevrolet Astro). Remember, the Astro has had the same body style for creeping up on seventeen years, and is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) fleet vehicles in America of all time.
So anyway, they hold up the first picture of a van. The police major says, "This is a Chevrolet Astro." I look at the picture, a short wheelbase Chevrolet Express, and laugh for a few reasons - they never made Expresses with wheel bases that short, they have photoshopped a ladder rack on top, and they got the fackin' name of the vehicle wrong. You think they could do a bit of actual research before saying anything to anybody.
So, the next picture they hold up is a Ford Econoline (re-named the E-series in 2000). The police major says "This... is a Ford Econovan." A bit curious that the picture shows a black one, also. I could have done a better job with Google Images. For example:
It's also a bit curious to me that the public jumps to the conclusions that the van is an Astro so quickly. Every cargo van currently made (for sale in the US) is made by some American company, and they all have extremely distinct styling. White just happens to be the most popular colour, also.
The GMC Safari, for example, is the EXACT SAME vehicle as the Chevrolet Astro. The GMC Savanna and Chevrolet Express are very similar. The Dodge Ram Van is also very similar. In fact, the
least similar to these vehicles is the Ford Econoline/E-Series, which the department
SHOWED!
These vans are big in fleets, too, and if it is registered in Virginia to a fleet, it's going to have an extremely confusing license plate number like F2-483S2, and we all know people under stress are apparently too stupid to read. Chief Moose was too stupid to know what day it was.
So, unless they get some hard evidence, they
are not going to find this man based purely on their own incompetence. Too bad, too, because the killings aren't exactly going to stop, methinks.
