EDITORIAL: Another take on police

Protester wins a judgment against a Eugene sergeant

Published: (Saturday, Jan 28, 2012 05:00AM) Midnight, Jan. 28

A federal jury’s ruling Monday that a Eugene police sergeant used excessive force to arrest an environmental activist in 2009 should serve as a reminder to law enforcement officials that people in the community they serve often see allegations of police misconduct through a different prism than the one police use to view those same allegations.

After a four-day trial, the jury awarded Josh Schlossberg $5,583 in damages after deciding unanimously that the environmental activist’s constitutional rights were violated by Sgt. Bill Solesbee during a March 13, 2009, encounter in front of an Umpqua Bank branch at Seventh Avenue and Oak Street.

Schlossberg had set up a table there to hand out leaflets. He was videotaping his interactions with police when Solesbee arrested him for allegedly violating a state law that prohibits people from secretly recording conversations. Schlossberg was released shortly after his arrest, and no formal charges were filed.

In his lawsuit, Schlossberg said he complied with the law by informing Solesbee that he planned to record their interaction and did not conceal his camera. A YouTube clip of the incident shows Solesbee saying that police had received a complaint that activists were “harassing people” and blocking pedestrians. After Schlossberg denied those allegations, the sergeant told Schlossberg that he needed a permit to set up a table on the sidewalk, and should “keep moving.”

Solesbee then took issue with Schlossberg videotaping their conversation. When the activist said he had previously informed Solesbee that he planned to tape their exchange, the sergeant denied that was the case and demanded the camera.

The YouTube tape shows Solesbee saying, “Give me that; that’s evidence.” That’s where the tape ends, and Schlossberg claimed that Solsebee injured him by forcing his arms behind his back, throwing him to the ground and placing his knee on his neck.

Schlossberg initially filed a formal misconduct complaint with the police department, alleging that his constitutional rights were violated when Solesbee seized his camera and viewed its contents. Schlossberg also said the sergeant had used excessive force and arrested him without justifiable cause.

After an internal review, Chief Pete Kerns determined that Solesbee did not violate Schlossberg’s rights, and that both the arrest and the sergeant’s force were “objectively reasonable” and in compliance with department policy. The city’s police auditor also investigated the complaint and came to a similar conclusion.

Schlossberg then filed a lawsuit in federal court, where a jury reviewed the allegations and came to a different conclusion. So did U.S. Magistrate Thomas Coffin, who before the trial began took the unusual step of ruling that Solesbee violated Schlossberg’s rights by viewing contents of his video camera without a search warrant.

The jury’s ruling pleased department critics who contend that the city’s police officers rarely are held accountable for misconduct. But it’s unwise to make too much out of an incident that occurred nearly three years ago. The ruling should not be regarded as an indictment of the police department’s internal complaint system — or of the current conduct of the city’s police officers.

Yes, Eugene police have had some noteworthy problems over the years dealing with protesters, but its recent performance has been professional, and at times exemplary.

The department’s recent handling of the Occupy Eugene protest was marked by restraint, judgment and cooperation; it should be viewed as a model by other communities dealing with similar situations. Behind the scenes, the department has made a significant investment in training officers on protecting the rights of suspects and on the proper use of force. As for the police’s internal review system, the department says its overall rate of sustained allegations was 27 percent in 2010 and 26 percent in 2011, significantly higher than in most communities.

The federal jury’s ruling in the Schlossberg case should serve as a reminder to police that both real and perceived mistakes and misjudgments by officers carry a price — and that juries made up of ordinary people often have a different perspective on police misconduct than that of law enforcement.

But it should not be seen as a measuring stick for a department that has made marked improvement in recent years.

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.