Fairfax County Police Watch: idiots at work

Midland MI cop sentenced to 6-20yrs in no contest plea to charges for sexual assault of disabled crime victim [0] http://bit.ly/mjEKQU

Denver CO settles suit for $45k to firefighter choked by cop outside pizza shop for saying “way to protect & serve” [0] http://bit.ly/kYvPrk

Denver CO settles suit for $35k to man attacked by 2 cops on video while walking dogs for taking pic of traffic stop[0] http://bit.ly/kYvPrk

Barrow Co GA sheriff & Statham GA police subject of NAACP request for US DOJ pattern & practice brutality probe [0] http://bit.ly/jjkJk5

Worth Co MO sheriff charged w/violating the rights of 8 women by coercing them to expose selves & illegal searches [0] http://bit.ly/lR7hdx

Sanford FL cop suspended while investigation re-opened into incident on video when he threatened people in car w/gun [3] thesent.nl/kq4ENh

Oakland CA faces class action suit alleging mass arrest of 150 in police brutality protest last yr violated rights [0] http://bit.ly/izo2bn

10 Utah police officers from various agencies have certifications taken or suspended for various acts of misconduct [0] http://bit.ly/imn7lE (Note: with these kinds of articles I have to sift through each individual case and only add the cases that we didn’t already track. 2 of the 10 I’ve looked at so far were already in our database as criminal charges.)

Maricopa CA police accused of retaliating against man who threatened suit over questionable impound practices [4] http://bit.ly/mR1MCl

Montgomery Co MD cop sentenced to 5mo home detention for using police database to help drug dealing fiance [0] http://bit.ly/j9l4g4

Cody WY refuses to say why police officer was fired & plans to keep council hearing secret, possibly violating law [4] http://bit.ly/lOSL7s

Rockaway Beach OR cop suspended while under investigation for unspecified allegations as high school softball coach [3] http://bit.ly/lToY4I

Boulder Co CO deputy subject of suit by bicyclist hit by cruiser that pulled out in front of her, deputy was cited [0] http://bit.ly/mBxMpr

Iowa LA police officer arrested on DUI charge after single vehicle accident in police dept take-home vehicle [0] http://bit.ly/iWGRaJ

Shawnee OK cop gets deferred sentence & fine for off-duty DUI charge that also cost him his job [0] http://bit.ly/jjrFFZ

Solon OH cop sentenced to 3days jail after pleading guilty to DUI from when he crashed into tree w/.238 BAC [0] http://bit.ly/iXHbOt

Honolulu HI cop sentenced to 30days for hitting 63yr-old pedestrian while driving under the influence [0] http://bit.ly/jn5QSq

Amherst Co VA deputy sentenced to probation after convicted of attempting to illegally obtain prescription drugs [0] http://bit.ly/m4bn1y

Sandusky OH cop faces discipline after cruiser crashed when he failed to shift to park before exiting to chase kids [0] http://bit.ly/jrzfH0

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.