The former Maryland police chief made famous for leading the chase of snipers in the Washington, D.C., area may be joining the Honolulu police force.

Charles Moose, a former police chief in Montgomery County, Md., and Portland, Ore., has signed up for the Ho-nolulu Police Department's Training Academy, said Maj. Susan Ballard.

But Moose, who now lives in West O'ahu, may be having second thoughts about the Honolulu job, Ballard said. Training would start May 1.

"He's been going back and forth on his decision," Ballard said.

Moose, 52, became known as the main law enforcement spokesman during the investigation of the two men accused of 10 murders in a shooting spree in the Washington area in 2002.

John Allen Muhammad and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo have been convicted in Virginia. Malvo faces life in prison, and Muhammad was given a death sentence.

Moose's wife, Sandy Herman Moose, said her husband intends to become a patrol officer again.

"You know him, when he was riding in a patrol car as a street cop, he loved it," she told the Oregonian newspaper. "We both thrive on excitement and change."

Moose resigned as Montgomery County police chief in 2003 amid criticism from county ethics officials that he was cashing in on his job by writing a book about the 2002 serial sniper case that made him a national celebrity.

He was recently promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Hawai'i Air National Guard, Sandy Herman Moose said.

Moose also made news in 2003 when he threatened to sue the Ihilani resort at Ko Olina over an alleged incident of racial discrimination. He settled for an undisclosed amount.

Over the last three years, Moose has crossed the country on book-signing tours, and he is a popular speaker.

Sandy Moose said she isn't sure what job her husband would accept after completing courses at the police academy.

"The people at the bottom don't get to choose," she said.