Fairfax County Police Watch: Change Is Vowed For Tense Department

The Washington Post

June 9, 1992, Tuesday, Final Edition

Chief Picked For Fairfax Police Force;

Change Is Vowed For Tense Department

BYLINE: Peter Baker, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECTION: METRO; PAGE B3

LENGTH: 547 words

Moments after being picked as chief-designate of the Fairfax County Police Department yesterday, Michael W. Young pledged to change the climate of a force that has been criticized recently by female and minority officers who say they are mistreated. "I can guarantee that's coming," he said of the promised atmosphere. "The role for leadership is to set the tone, the climate and the attitude in the professional sense."

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Young's appointment yesterday after a week in which long-simmering resentment in the department spilled into public view. Dozens of female, minority and some white male officers complained that promotions and desirable assignments were often decided by a "good-old-boy network" that did not welcome outsiders. In taking the $ 99,219-a-year job at such a tempestuous time, Young tried to strike a balance between competing factions in the 946-officer force.He said that he took the grievances seriously and promised to take whatever actions are needed to restore the police administration's credibility with rank-and-file officers. At the same time, he made sure to praise the department as fundamentally sound, did not promise a shakeup and cited the need to be fair to those already in high-ranking positions."I am of the firm conviction that our department is essentially in strong shape and our strength will re-emerge if given the right atmosphere," he told reporters.Young, 45, who retired last year as deputy chief, said he would have been surprised if such "deeply felt" sentiment had surfaced while he was still with the department.But he said that if so many officers believe there is a problem, there probably is one. He said he would be willing to consider transfering the promotion system to an independent agency.A native Virginian who graduated from Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, the University of Richmond and the FBI National Academy, Young joined the Fairfax force in 1971 after two years in the Army. He has headed virtually every major division, including vice and narcotics, special operations, criminal investigation and major crime.He left in April 1991 after his 18-year-old son, Eric, was seriously injured in an car accident. His son has since recovered. Young and his family live in Woodbridge.Young, who succeeds retiring Chief John E. Granfield June 27, has been welcomed from all corners, from top brass down to the dissident officers who brought their grievances to federal civil rights officials and Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas M. Davis III (R)."I have found absolutely no one who does not stand behind him or speak out for him," Officer John R. Burdette, president of the Police Association, said of Young. "He shunned the good-old-boy network that's alleged to be the core of the problem."But Burdette said that many officers resented Davis's involvement and what they saw as a "vocal minority" dictating who could be the next chief."The system was being undermined by the calling of a secret meeting by the chairman of the board," Burdette said of a meeting at Davis's house attended by as many as 40 officers unhappy with promotion practices and other issues. "That was unprecedented and I would hope it would never happen again."

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.