Fairfax County Police Watch: Anaheim Police Assoc. Mobilizing Against Proposed Oversight Commission

Anaheim Police Assoc. Mobilizing Against Proposed Oversight Commission

February 18, 2013 in Anaheim Police, Anaheim Riots, Anna Drive, Tom Tait

The Anaheim Police Association blasted out this e-mail this morning, asking for recipients to e-mail the Anaheim City Council to express their opposition to Mayor Tom Tait’s proposal for a citizens police oversight commission:

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait and his supporters are attempting to weaken our police force by implementing policies and police review procedures that could jeopardize the safety of Anaheim’s families. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of Independent Review already perform independent and objective reviews of officer-involved incidents.

Don’t let the Mayor’s hand-picked cronies and City politics get in the way of our public safety. As citizens of Anaheim, it’s time to take a stand for safer streets, schools and homes.

Don’t let Tom Tait take away our strong police force. Attend the February 19 City Council meeting at 5pm and call or email all 5 of your City Council Members and City Manager immediately to voice your support for the Anaheim Police Department! There are three ways to help: 1. Show up to a City Council Meeting and/or contact the City Council below. 2. Visit our website and sign our petition at www.anaheimpa.com 3. Like us on facebook and follow us on Instagram

Call, write or e-mail the Anaheim City Council to let them know you support public safety.

Click here to send the Anaheim City Council an email now.

Mayor Tom Tait: sray@anaheim.net

Mayor Pro Tem Gail Eastman: geastman@anaheim.net

Council Member Kris Murray: kmurray@anaheim.net

Council Member Jordan Brandman: amezzacappa@anaheim.net

Council Member Lucile Kring: sray@anaheim.net

City Manager Bob Wingenroth: citymanager@anaheim.net

City of Anaheim Office of the Mayor and City Council

City Hall, 7th Floor

200 South Anaheim Boulevard, Anaheim, CA 92805

TEL: 714-765-5247  F

AX: 714-765-5164

The draft structure of a citizens oversight commission hasn’t yet been brough back to the council for consideration, and so isn’t on tomorrow night’s agenda. But the APA is wisely gearing up now to generate opposition to it.

In my opinion, a citizens oversight commission already exists: it’s called the Anaheim City Council. They were elected, in part, to provide oversight of the police department. They have to power to set policy and enact reforms in how the department conducts itself. It’s not as if there is a lack of review when it comes to allegations of excessive force, unnecessary shootings or other issues. Just look at the multiple levels of investigation and oversight brought to bear in the aftermath of the Anna Street shooting. This doesn’t strike me as an instance where an additional layer of government will serve the public good.

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.