Fairfax County Police Watch: cop misconduct National Misconduct News Feed for Friday, November 19, 2010:

Cop stupidity cost to the taxpayers today $380,000...in one fuck'n day! Over $70,000,000 for the month of November (Figure does not include out of court settlements)

Murder
A DeKalb County GA deputy has been sentenced to 65 years in prison for murdering his wife then murdering a day laborer in an attempt to pin the murder on him. (Aggression/violence towards women)

A Brighton Alabama cop has been found guilty of murdering a 27-year-old computer engineer while he was off-duty. (Aggression/violence towards women)

A Plano TX narcotics cop claims that he was trying to use his gun-mounted light when he accidentally shot a suspect to death.

Sexual assault
A Spencer IA cop has pled no contest to a 4th degree sexual assault charge in an unspecified incident. He was sentenced to a fine and is cleared to return to work. (Aggression/violence towards women)

False arrest
Five Jackson MS cops are under investigation for after a store owner’s surveillance video appeared to support his claims that the cops harassed them then falsely arrested them for assaulting a cop after they had asked the cops why they were harassing and searching their customers. (Aggression/violence)

Asssault
A Cape Coral FL cop has resigned while his union was appealing his termination over a number of excessive force claims and two excessive force-related lawsuits. (Aggression/violence)

A Prince George’s County Maryland cop is under investigation after he apparently chased a man and instigated an altercation inside a courthouse because he overheard the man tell a friend on the phone that he was happy a cop who is facing corruption charges was going to remain in jail until his next hearing. (Aggression/violence)

A Plattsburgh NY cop has been arrested on assault and criminal mischief charges involving a domestic incident with his girlfriend. (Aggression/violence towards women)

Domestic violence
A Jacksonville FL cop is on unpaid leave after he was arrested and jailed for violating a domestic violence protection order. (Aggression/violence towards women)

A Grants NM cop has been charged with battery on a household member after a domestic dispute involving a fellow cop following a night out at the bar. (Aggression/violence towards women)

Threatening
A Greenwood IN cop is facing potential disciplinary action after he apparently pulled a gun on a man who confronted him about leaving his baby alone in a car while he was apparently drunk. (Aggression/violence)

Involuntary manslaughter
A Clovis NM cop is under investigation after allegedly causing a fatal accident when he ran a stop sign in his cruiser.

Fraud
An East Orange NJ cop has pled guilty to insurance fraud for setting fire to his own car in a bid to get insurance money because he was frustrated it was worth less than what he owed on it.

A Provo UT cop has been charged with theft & possession of controlled substances on allegations that he attempted to fraudulently obtain prescription drugs using information he gained while responding to a call at someone’s home. The cop sparked suspicion by returning to the home for “follow-ups” and the victim caught the cop in the act by setting up a surveillance camera.

Obstruction
A Moss Point MS cop has been fired for offering to rip up a woman’s traffic ticket in exchange for sex behind stadium. (Aggression/violence towards women)

A Phoenix AZ cop has accepted a plea deal that greatly reduced the number and severity of charges he faced for shaking down suspected drug dealers.

A Henry County VA deputy has received a suspended sentence and a fine for a perjury charge after lying to grand jury that was investigating misconduct at the jail.

A Dallas TX cop has been suspended for 15 days for failing to show up at a DUI trial where he was set to testify and then lying about the reason why.

Civil right violation/Assault
Laguna Beach CA and Orange County CA settled a lawsuit for $380,000 to an innocent man who was tasered in his own bedroom shortly after he was awakened by deputies who entered his home in a case of mistaken ID, confusing him as a suspect then falsely arresting him when they figured out he wasn’t their man.

Regular old idiot cop behavior
Mufaula OK cop sergeant has resigned before a termination hearing that was scheduled in response to an unspecified state investigation.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.