Fairfax County Police Watch: 01/07/12

idiots at work

Phoenix AZ police found to have retaliated against a police sergeant who blew the whistle on questionable kidnapping stats that were used to get millions in federal grants. This finding was part of a second review into those allegations of rigged stats. [5] bit.ly/wDYwy0

Derry PA police are being sued by a woman after her home was left uninhabited after damaged by 26 tear gas canisters and flash grenades used by police who responded to a call that she was threatening suicide. [0] bit.ly/wIR53Q

Lawnside NJ police are being sued by the owner of a now-defunct bar claiming he had to shut it down after a police officer continually harassed and ticketed his customers after he refused to cave into her attempts to shake him down for money. [3] on.cpsj.com/xIBl8C

Saskatoon SK cop demoted & suspended 30 days for having sex with woman while on duty [0] http://bit.ly/xJSB2b

The Fairfax County Police Officer Jeffrey Hand Award for Creative Income Production. Fairfax County Police. Police Brutality

Honolulu HI cop gets deferred sentence in plea deal for shoplifting $72 worth of merchandise from Walmart [0] bit.ly/y85wGW

Hall Co GA deputy arrested on credit card fraud charges for allegedly using a stolen card at Walmart multiple times. [0] bit.ly/wqfJI1

Fairfax County Police Officer “Crazy Moe” Mohammed Oluwa Jihad's on your ass award. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality

Lake Mary cop is accused of using excessive force on video then deleting a report that incriminated him during that incident. While the video didn’t show much, it showed enough to determine the officer lied on his report. [0] bit.ly/xtVzsn

Merrillville IN enters into a secretive settlement deal only now coming to light months after it was reached with a man who sued alleging a cop used excessive force on him while being transported to jail. [3] bit.ly/xYEBpT

Bridgeport CT police are being sued by a 76yr-old man how suffered multiple injuries when a heavily armed SWAT team forcibly tackled him off his lawn chair in his yard during a raid. His lawyer says the plan is to make the jury laugh at police claims that the frail old unarmed man made the heavily armed and armored officers feel threatened when he allegedly made a boxer’s pose as cops ran through his yard. [3] bit.ly/yZW4kv

Howard Co MD cop was found guilty of assaulting a female Baltimore cop during an altercation outside of a bar when he punched her as his pal was being arrested. [0] bsun.md/xBo2BZ

The officer Christian Chamberlain Award for “Fuck you, I’ll get away with it anyway” Fairfax County police . Police brutality

Cleveland Clinic OH police are being sued by a man claiming that officers broke down his door then dragged him out of his home where they then tasered him and beat him with a baton... all just to give him 2 minor traffic citations they could have just left on his windshield. BTW, handing out traffic tickets isn't a justifiable reason to break into someone's home without a warrant. [3] bit.ly/AwiOsQ

2 Charlotte-Mecklenburg NC cops, one of which has been charged with assault in another case, are accused of using excessive force in an incident prior to the incident that earned him 2 assault charges. [3] bit.ly/A41gqS

Lincoln RI cop who is now on trial for kicking a seated cuffed woman in the head on video in 2009 already had assault conviction from 2001, prompting many to ask why he was still a cop. The video of the incident, shown above, was finally released in court today. [3] bit.ly/ylKVtz

Creepy cop behavior

Cleveland OH cop was arrested on gross sexual imposition charges involving the female crime victim of a case he was investigating. [1] on.wkyc.com/xVwujK

The officer Walter R. Fasci/ Sean McGlone award for sober living. Fairfax County Police.Police brutality

Wolfeboro NH cop was sentenced to 3 days in jail in a deferred sentence deal after he was convicted for stealing painkillers from evidence. [0] bit.ly/zqGFfa

Ohio state trooper sentenced to probation for assisting his wife with illegally obtaining prescription drugs [0] bit.ly/w5NeVS

Wagoner OK cop was charged with drug possession after allegedly attempting to illegally obtain pain pills while on duty. [0] bit.ly/yPjelY

Ohio University OH deputy police chief suspended while under investigation on unspecified misconduct allegations. [2] bit.ly/xpTwvs

Hollywood FL cop resigns in lieu of termination after investigation into allegations he covered up wife’s DUI crash [0] http://sunsent.nl/xy3eVP

Red Willow Co NE deputy resigns before pleading guilty to reduced refusal to take a breath test charge during a DUI stop. [0] bit.ly/wy2qFq

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

Nelson Co NE deputy was sentenced to 120 days jail for misdemeanor battery & destruction of a phone in a DV case. 2 felony charges from that case have been remanded to a grand jury so he may still face 2 more charges. [0] bit.ly/ymXKcP

Mason Co WV sheriff arrested last year for shooting at his son now indicted on several embezzlement charges. [0] bit.ly/xpTeLd

Rape by your local police. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality

Albemarle Co VA rsv deputy was arrested on rape charges after an investigation into unspecified allegations. [2] bit.ly/xyIo0Q

Because they're all weasels, that's why.

Fort Myers FL a police sergeant in charge of training cops is still on the force after being caught cheating on an exam. [3] bit.ly/ygY5Z9

If Walmart would just hire these people we would not have a police problem in America. Fairfax County Police. Police Brutality

Austin TX police didn’t take a report from a woman claiming a man attacked her shortly before another woman was killed in her nearby home by what ended up probably being the very same attacker 30 minutes after the first report. Residents who live nearby say police were too busy with a jaywalker crackdown. But police say they took the report… just didn’t enter it until shortly after the media started asking questions about it. [3] bit.ly/xxN62d

They needed an investigation to figure this out? Just ask someone, anyone really

Florida investigation into a tv star Broward Co deputy reveals that 137 officers in state are currently Brady listed, which means prosecutors feel they cannot be trusted testifying in court because of past misconduct or criminal behavior. [0] sunsent.nl/ypEXPS

Denver CO outgoing police monitor is requesting a federal investigation into that department on allegations that the internal affairs department is incapable or unwilling to police the police. He cites several cases where evidence or testimony against officers was ignored in investigations but the city insists he’s wrong. [3] bit.ly/xKp4h0

The Fairfax County Police Officer Billy J. Lamb Award for Permanent Domestic Tranquility. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality

Longwood FL cop was sentenced to 2yrs in prison for breaking into the home of his estranged wife's boyfriend and holding a gun to his head while he was in uniform and threatening his life. [0] thesent.nl/yPJklS

The Fairfax County Police Officer Joseph Baltimore alleged child rapist award. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality

Bainbridge Island WA cop's "reign of terror" Facebook post apparently was enough to convince city council members that the city's police officers just couldn't be trusted to police kids in school as they cited that, in addition to other claims, as the reason they refused to ask the feds to help fund school resource officer program. [0] bit.ly/y59aWj

Henrico Co VA cop sentenced to 13yrs for possession & production of child porn, he used craigslist to find young girls who wanted to be models to and promised to help them. [0] bit.ly/z9iNKP

MARTA GA police officer arrested on child molestation & child exploitation charges after an investigation into sexting allegations. [0] bit.ly/wJ53a7

Kingsport TN cop pleads guilty to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise for his role in a massive child and infant porn ring. [0] bit.ly/wa4OPp

Waterville Twp OH cop indicted on allegations he downloaded and viewed child porn on his work computer while on duty. [0] bit.ly/AECaOh

Murdered by your local police. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality.

Fresno CA settles a lawsuit for $1.3 million to the family of a man shot to death in a case recently ruled excessive & unreasonable by a jury. [0] bit.ly/zjgVVd

Kern Co CA deputy is the subject of a legal claim alleging he was speeding w/o his emergency lights & siren activated when he fatally struck 2 pedestrians. [3] bit.ly/As0A29

Cops and dogs...strange, strange relationship. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality.

New York NY cop was docked 10 vacation days for continuing to shoot a dog that attacked him after it was down and didn't present a threat. [0] nydn.us/Auwodn

Cops afraid of the evidence, ironic, ain’t it? Fairfax County Police. Police brutality.

2 Austin TX cops are accused of using excessive force on a woman during a DUI traffic stop that prompted a bystander to start taking pictures. As he was photographing the officers one walked up to him and bent him backwards over his truck after he tried to assert his right to photograph in a public place. That man was arrested on felony charges but another bystander's video, above, captured the incident and appears to contradict the police report. [4] bit.ly/wuN1cZ

Miami Beach FL police sued by a man arrested for refusing to give cops his cellphone after he recorded video of a traffic stop he saw. [4] bit.ly/zGfkKN

New York NY police sued for refusing to release video of a fatal hit & run crash because it’s part of an investigation… despite the fact that they already declared that there would not be any charges in that case very shortly after the incident occurred. [4] nyti.ms/xZ00Hu

Seattle WA filed a lawsuit against an attorney for requesting several dashcam videos involving officers who are the subject of excessive force allegations made by his clients. This move by the city appears to be aimed at overturning recent court rulings that say the city's use of special police officer privacy rights laws to keep videos and misconduct reports secret weren't legal. [5] bit.ly/xTbxAr

Finally, some good news for the citizens

Seattle WA cop died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound the same day he was arrested for allegedly buying crack cocaine in a sting operation and stealing drugs from evidence. It’s sad because it’s doubtful he would have faced any serious criminal sanctions, as typified in the next case… [0] bit.ly/yGNtFD

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.

The law is a gun, which if it misses a pigeon always kills a crow; if it does not strike the guilty, it hits some one else. As every crime creates a law, so in turn every law creates a crime. Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. Louis D. Brandeis, part of his dissent in the case "Olmstead v. United States", 277 U.S. 438, 485 (1928)