Fairfax County Police Watch: Idiots at work

Attleboro MA police sued by father & daughter alleging brutality, repeated harassment & false arrests [3] http://ow.ly/1vllfM

Bethlehem PA cop gets probation in reduced charge plea deal for destroying video evidence in brutality case [0] http://ow.ly/1vkwWe

Baltimore MD police notified of ACLU intent to sue for arresting man & deleting videos of arrest from his phone [4] http://ow.ly/1vlgQF

Marysville PA cop already serving 10yrs for molesting 12+ girls pleads no contest to repeatedly molesting another [0] http://ow.ly/1vkuCX

Grainger Co TN deputy pleads guilty to fed enticement charges for enticing 13 & 16yr-old girls to have sex w/him [0] http://ow.ly/1vlD0t

Tucson AZ police lt fired after 9mo investigation into allegations he had sexually explicit chats w/minors online [1] http://ow.ly/1vlllB

Baton Rouge LA cop arrested on allegations he broke into home of woman used to date & assaulted her 2x while on duty [0] http://ow.ly/1vlHW5

Kalamazoo MI police officer suspended after arrested on suspicion of domestic violence following wife’s 911 call [1] http://ow.ly/1vkv8x

Los Angeles Co CA deputy fired after video contradicted his version of why he fired shots at car while off duty [2] http://ow.ly/1vlmJd

Laredo TX cop sentenced to 6.5yrs prison for helping drug trafficker protect and move cocaine shipment [0] http://ow.ly/1vlmSJ

Pharr TX cop sentenced to 12yrs on federal charges for protecting cocaine & gun shipments for drug cartel [0] http://ow.ly/1vkQdT

Bluff City TN police chief suspended while investigated for possible improper handling of confiscated vehicles [0] http://ow.ly/1vl1FY

Homer MI police chief & an officer subject of search warrants in criminal probe involving salvage titles [1] http://ow.ly/1vl6j2

Union City NJ police chief ($209k/yr) accused of claiming $45k/yr pay for hours not worked as school security detail [3] http://ow.ly/1vl28d

Los Angeles CA police dpt sued by 10 officers alleging retaliation for refusal to meet illegal traffic ticket quotas [3] http://ow.ly/1vls7x

Rapides Parish LA sheriff accused of nixing dog shooting probe vs pal, whistleblower allegedly fired for animal porn [0] http://ow.ly/1vkYOS

Renton WA police convince prosecutor & judge to get cyberstalking warrant to find out who made cartoons mocking cops [3] http://ow.ly/1vkPYm

North Corwall PA cop suspended 2days for unspecified police act violation a month after other cop fired for same [3] http://ow.ly/1vlw2X

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.