NCJ Number
198854
Journal
Sheriff Volume: 55 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2003 Pages: 14-15,76
Date Published
January 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes the implementation of sheriffs' offices' emergency preparedness plans in Virginia and Maryland as well as the interagency cooperation associated with the search for and investigation and apprehension of sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo over the course of their 3 weeks of terrorizing the citizens in counties in Maryland and Virginia.
Abstract
Although a massive joint law enforcement task force that included approximately a thousand Federal officers and local agencies was assembled to focus on the sniper case, in many situations, county sheriffs' personnel had the responsibility of ensuring the daily safety of the adults and children in their jurisdictions. As fear spread among the citizens of counties where sniper attacks had occurred or might be expected to occur, sheriffs' offices, already pressed to the limit of personnel and resources, were responsible for trying to protect the children in many suburban and rural schools. This article describes the emergency response of the sheriff's office of Frederick County, MD, which responded to the sighting of the suspects' vehicle at a rest area in the county and achieved the arrests without incident; the responses of the sheriffs' office in Spotsylvania County, VA, where two sniper murders occurred; the response of the Hanover County (Virginia) Sheriffs' Office to the sniper attack in that county; and the efforts of the Montgomery County Police (Maryland), in whose jurisdiction the sniper attacks began.