Fairfax County Police Watch: This week’s candidates for the Brian Sonnenberg Peaceful Resolution to Conflict Center Award. Fairfax County Police

Mosby KS police chief was arrested on aggravated assault charge involving unspecified allegations. [2] http://bit.ly/sXfwj1

RCMP officer Red Deer AB charged with obstruction over his testimony during a $600k excessive force civil trial against him [0] bit.ly/vBLnti

Kansas City MO cop is the subject of an excessive force suit over a videotaped traffic stop take down, it’s this officer’s 3rd brutality suit in 14 months, one of which has already been settled. [1] bit.ly/sCiItO

Seattle WA police department human resources mistake has allowed a cop who was found to have used excessive force when he punched an elderly handcuffed jaywalker in the face to avoid any disciplinary action because the mistake violated the police union-mandated 180-day rule which nullifies any disciplinary action that the city attempts to impose on an officer after a 180 day deadline passes from the time an investigation is started….. [0] bit.ly/v3JZPj

Portland OR police are accused of using excessive force during their latest raid on #OccupyPortland, while there were alot of reports of officers using batons, I’ve only seen one piece of photographic evidence that might back that up, being this image of a teen claiming he was hit in the face. [3] bit.ly/rUgo3y

US Bureau of Land Management ranger is accused of excessive force by tasering a transgender woman twice on video, including once in the crotch while she was down, While I’ve actually seen parts of this video, the site linked here seems to have had some technical difficulties embedding the video. [1] bit.ly/vX2YPo

Palm Beach FL State Atty is being accused of dropping a criminal case against two officers who were videotaped beating and kicking a suspect, allegedly in an attempt to get the coveted endorsement of the police union for the upcoming election. [5] bit.ly/w3kOk9

Frisco CO cop suspended while investigated after summons for misd assault over alleged excessive force incident [0] bit.ly/trNi2j

McKees Rocks PA & Stowe PA settle suit for $5k to man alleging cops used excessive force after a chase for speeding. [0] bit.ly/rHKxTb

Richmond VA deputy was suspended and arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge for allegedly beating an inmate at a jail after they got into a verbal dispute. [0] bit.ly/rZoOgZ

Los Angeles CA police face more claims of excessive force during the #OccupyLA raid which was touted as “LAPD’s finest moment”, this time coming from a writer from the “Family Guy” animated show who describes everything in pretty convincing detail. [3] bit.ly/rBSwZ5

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.