Fairfax County Police Watch: Fairfax County police rapped for lacking public, press candor

The Washington Times

July 30, 1991, Tuesday, Final Edition

Fairfax County police rapped for lacking public, press candor

BYLINE: Frank Wolfe; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

SECTION: Part B; METROPOLITAN; Pg. B1

LENGTH: 567 words

Fairfax County Supervisor Thomas M. Davis said yesterday that county police should improve procedures for getting information to the public and the news media."The police have a number of responsibilities, the most important of which is catching the bad guys," said Mr. Davis, Mason Republican. "But can we be more responsive? Yeah, we can do a better job."

Following published reports and complaints from reporters that information about some crimes has been withheld, Mr. Davis said he will suggest meetings be held among police, county supervisors and reporters to improve the flow of crime information. Mr. Mason's election opponent, County Board Chairman Audrey Moore, was more cautious."I think the goal should be to balance the public's right to know with the confidentiality needed to protect police investigations and the rights of victims," she said.The comments come at a time when Fairfax County police are being criticized for not initiating the release of several newsworthy incidents.The three incidents cited by the Fairfax Journal were:* The burning of the word "Jew" into the front yard of a West Springfield family last month. Police said the report on the incident was a destruction of property report. Police spokesman Warren Carmichael said yesterday his office doesn't normally look into such destruction reports because they are usually not of interest to the media.It is up to the commanders of the seven district stations, he said, to give his office further details. In addition, he said, police are concerned with protecting a family's privacy.An account of the lawn burning appeared in a local newspaper when B'nai B'rith officials and the family reported it to the paper. County police should probably have given the information to all news outlets after the public information office learned of it, Mr. Carmichael said.* County police did not report the kidnapping of a British Royal Air Force officer from a Tysons Corner parking lot last month. The officer was taken in the trunk of a car to Prince George's County, where he managed to get out using a tire iron.Several days later Fairfax police arrested two suspects. Mr. Carmichael said yesterday that county police did not report the incident because it was an FBI case."If it's not our case, it's not our place to give out information," said Col. John E. Granfield, chief of the 985-member county police department.* On July 12, a fight between Hispanic and black youths broke out near Jeb Stuart High School at Baileys Crossroads. Headquarters again learned of the incident from a local newspaper and called the Mason District station to get the necessary information.One of the youths involved was charged with attempted malicious wounding and six others were charged with disorderly conduct. Those charges showed up on a police computer in the public information office. But such minor charges are not normally considered newsworthy and a comprehensive station report on the incident was not given to the public information office, Mr. Carmichael said."We will continue to emphasize to our people in the field that they be sure to forward the reports to us or call us," he said.The police public information office receives daily activity reports on all major crimes, such as homicides and robberies.

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.