Fairfax County Police Watch: National Police Misconduct News Feed for Thursday, December 2, 2010:

Its time for a national conversation about the national police problem

The Fairfax County Police, where being a punk means a pay raise

Assault

Hutchinson KS asst police chief disciplined & investigated after grabbing man by the neck after the man was accused of harassing the cops daughter daughter http://is.gd/i7XBb

Montgomery AL police Crime Reduction Team subject of suit alleging excessive force when they beat man inside home http://is.gd/i7LFb

2 Russell County AL deputies resign while under investigation over allegations that they beat a handcuffed suspect http://is.gd/i6BVV

Domestic violence
Sellers SC police chief hires ex-Marion Co deputy despite his pending DV charges for hitting wife w/computer monitor http://is.gd/i7X70

Foley AL idiot cop suspended after arrested with his girlfriend on domestic violence charges http://is.gd/i7VDK

Civil Rights violations
New York NY narcotics cop w/troubled unit indicted on 48 counts on allegations he falsely arrested at least 5 people] http://is.gd/i7W7e

“I’m a cop because Walmart isn’t hiring” behavior
El Paso TX settles suit for $55k to couple left traumatized after cops raided home looking for son already in jail http://is.gd/i7Mvu

Phenix City AL idiot cop resigns after accused of watching 2 Russell County deputies beat a cuffed suspect http://is.gd/i75EH

Fraud
US FBI agent found guilty on 15 counts of wire fraud & 3 counts bankruptcy fraud in scheme to defraud bank http://is.gd/i7xUq

Narcotics
Carver County MN deputy sentenced to 6mo in jail for stealing methamphetamine from evidence http://is.gd/i7uaq

Murder
Bella Vista AR cop sentenced to 30days jail in deal for negligent homicide, faced manslaughter over fatal shooting http://is.gd/i6nra

Obstruction
Tupelo MS cop under investigation on allegations he removed his son from the scene of an accident he was involved in http://is.gd/i7iX9

Sexual assault
Provo UT cop pleads guilty to attempted sexual assault & obstruction, tried to coerce woman into sex after crash http://is.gd/i6n1A

Extortion
Corinth MS idiot cop to plead guilty for taking money from motorists during fake traffic stops http://is.gd/i6oXj

I told you so......police interanl affairs is there to protect the cops from you, not to protect you from the cops
New York NY police internal affairs division accused of reporting cops who file misconduct complaints for retaliation http://is.gd/i6nPY

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.