Fairfax County Police Watch: Here are the 21 reports of police misconduct in the US tracked in the National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Tuesday, January 11, 2011:

Pleasantville NY police and Mount Pleasant NY police are being sued by the family of a Pace University student and football player who was shot to death by police in October in a questionable incident that is still under investigation and a cloud of controversy.

A California Highway Patrol officer has been arrested for the shooting death of her husband 2 years ago. She originally claimed it was done in self-defense but family and friends of her husband universally described him as being non-violent but that she had severe drinking issues. Police also found her account questionable and their investigation culminated in her eventual arrest on allegations it was an intentional act of homicide.

A West Bloomfield MI police detective has cost that town $1,800,000 in a wrongful imprisonment/wrongful prosecution lawsuit settlement made to a family who’s father was jailed for 80 days on false rape charges along with their mother who was also briefly jailed while their two autistic children were sent to separate foster homes. The suit against the police claimed the detective essentially forced a highly questionable confession from the family’s autistic son in a horrifying videotaped interrogation and that the initial allegation was dragged from their severely autistic daughter through highly questionable methods that were almost nothing more than a Ouija board. Their suit is still in progress against county prosecutors, children’s services, and the school district for their roles in this disturbing case. The video of the interrogation of the family’s son is available on the site linked above.

Two Fresno CA cops’ actions have resulted in a $75,000 settlement made to a homeless man who was shown on amateur video being beaten while arrested in a public park.

A Selma AL cop has been arrested on 2nd degree rape charges involving a person between the ages of 12 to 16-years-old that came about after an investigation by local and state police. Further details have not yet been released about the case.

A Louisville KY cop has been suspended without pay for 30 days as disciplinary action for violating policy when he caused a fatal accident while doing 80mph in a 45mph zone while on-duty. The officer and his lawyer are fighting the discipline saying it’s too harsh while the family says it’s not enough for causing the death of their loved one, especially since the police chief wanted to fire him.

Another Louisville KY cop is on paid leave while under investigation and facing criminal charges after he allegedly started swearing at a mentally challenged female customer inside a McDonalds then escalating a confrontation with a woman who came to her defense until he finally pulled a gun and told the women “what are you bitches going to do now?” Patrons called 911 at this point and the officer fled. The officer, of course, insists he has a different version of events to tell, but hasn’t shared them yet.

An RCMP staff sergeant has been charged with perjury over his testimony as a blood-splatter expert during a 2009 murder trial that occured shortly before he retired.

A Trenton NJ cop has been arrested for simple assault and kidnapping over an alleged domestic dispute he had with his girlfriend.

A Hinesburg VT cop has been arrested on domestic violence allegations involving an alleged incident at his home involving his girlfriend.

An Edmonton AB police constable has been charged with theft for allegedly stealing money while executing a search warrant.

A Parma OH cop received probation as part of a plea deal over charges for stealing several live flash-bang grenades while he was a member of the police department’s SWAT team.

The Nashville TN police department is now admitting that their statistics that have shown a steady and sharp decline in the number of forcible rapes in that city were artificially low due to mislabeled reports that were uncovered due to complaints from rape victims and an investigative report in the media that prompted an audit.

A Dougherty County GA deputy has been arrested on multiple charges for allegedly accessing and releasing information he gained from a jail database without permission.

A now-former Eddy County ND sheriff has been charged with the misapplication of entrusted property on allegations that he used government funds to purchase personal items for himself.

Three Dallas TX cops are being disciplined for failing to arrest men that were found with guns, one of which was stolen, and then falsifying reports to cover it up and lying to investigators looking into the allegations.

A now-former Parma OH police sergeant has pled guilty to record tampering and falsification charges for conspiring with a doctor to hide the fact that he was color blind during his hiring process. The officer in question had written articles for police newsletters including one entitled “Police Ethics is Not an Oxymoron.”

A Carmel IN cop has been suspended while under investigation on allegations he hit on women that he pulled over and even followed one home after a traffic stop.

A study of Texas school cops has revealed that there have been at least 1,000 elementary students, some as young as 6-years-old, who were arrested on misdemeanor charges for garden variety school disciplinary issues like acting out in class instead of being disciplined through the usual principal office visits, detentions, or what have you. The study also indicated that more arrests occurred in schools with large minority populations and where the number of officers has been increasing.

A Tucson AZ police lieutenant has been sentenced to probation and must pay about $17,000 in restitution for his fraudulent use of a police union credit account.

A Philadelphia PA cop has been arrested on multiple charges after an investigation into allegations that he was spotted drinking at a bar while on duty then driving away in his police cruiser.

A Sault Ste Marie MI cop has been sentenced to probation and must pay $1350 in fines and fees after pleading guilty to a .17 BAC DUI charge.

A Racine WI police investigator has been cited for DUI after he apparently crashed into a snow plow that was parked in a driveway while off-duty in his personal car.

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.