Flinchum, the campus police chief was the guy who led the hunt for William Morva, the escaped survivalist who killed security personnel. He became head of the campus police, in December 2005. Said to be very conscientious and unflappable, according to this report:

“Virginia Tech’s administration gave Flinchum the chief’s job in December after a nationwide search that produced 90 candidates. As chief, he is responsible for an 85-member department and the security on the 2,600-acre main campus and more than 26,000 students.

The department earned its third national accreditation and is one of only 35 university police departments nationally with that distinction.

Before his selection, Flinchum had served as Tech’s interim police chief since July 1. He led the Tech department’s response in August when a Montgomery County prisoner escaped from custody at a local hospital. County police said the prisoner killed a security guard during the escape attempt and then a county deputy sheriff on a hiking trail near the university campus.”

Odd – so this is supposed to be a cracker-jack team with a very competent chief. Not to be rude, but what do the lazy ones look like? A scary thought.

I do understand that hindsight can distort perception and make something that was very ambiguous at the time look like a dead cert. in retrospect, but I seriously doubt whether an objective person would look at this and not see massive failure.