ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The police union here has formed a special committee to investigate Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose's handling of look-out information during the Beltway sniper manhunt, union officials told WorldNetDaily.

Officials complain that Moose, who led the multi-agency sniper investigation, withheld critical information about the sniper suspects from investigators and patrol officers, thereby jeopardizing their safety.

Chief Charles Moose

In their recently inked labor contract, the county agreed to include a safety provision that obligates Moose to share information with his officers in such dangerous cases. Moose vehemently opposed the measure, officials say, arguing that it implied he had done something wrong.

But the 1,050-member Montgomery County Fraternal Order of Police isn't stopping there.

"We want to determine when management first knew the ID of the suspects and the vehicle" during the three-week manhunt, said FOP President Walter Bader.

The 10-member committee last month began soliciting testimony from detectives who worked on the sniper case, he says. It plans to report its findings publicly in May.

"This is a serious thing," Bader said, defending the union's plans to go public with details about the controversial investigation.

"Imagine over in Iraq commanding officers withholding information from soldiers that could mean the difference between life and death," he said in a WorldNetDaily interview. "Police officers are in a war every day."

John Lee Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo

Police department sources warn that the panel's report could trigger negligence lawsuits by families of some of the sniper victims, if it concludes Moose delayed the capture of sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo by holding back information about them, such as their physical descriptions.

Phone calls and e-mails to Moose's office and lawyer were not returned.

Sources say at least three detectives on the case have already come forward with information that reveals Moose had a solid ID of the suspects earlier than he claims. He says Muhammad and Malvo weren't suspects until Oct. 23, the day before they were caught.

They shot their last victim, bus driver Conrad Johnson, in Maryland on Oct. 22.

But as WorldNetDaily first revealed, Moose dispatched a team of five undercover agents to stake-out Muhammad's ex-wife's house on Oct. 22, and swore them to secrecy.

"There's no doubt Moose knew [they were the suspects] either the day the bus driver was shot or the day before," said a Montgomery County police officer.

Yet, up until late in the evening of Oct. 23, Moose and the sniper task force had investigators and patrol officers looking for a white suspect in a white vehicle.

"They should have known they were black from Day One, if they had listened to witnesses here and in D.C.," the officer said.

A witness to the first shooting at a Michaels crafts store in Maryland, which took place Oct. 2, described the suspects as two short-haired black males driving a dark, beat-up vehicle, as WND first reported.

Moose has parlayed his fame from the high-profile sniper case into book and movie contracts. Despite a county ethics panel ruling against the deals, his lawyer says he plans to go ahead with at least the book.

Previous stories:

Cops tried to make witness doubt initial ID

Pizza guy ID's snipers on Day 1, yet cops ignore info

Secret sniper stake-out puts lie to Moose claim

Cops: Chief Moose withheld look-out on sniper suspects

Beltway sniper likely foreign

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