Fairfax County Police Watch: 12/15/13

Culture of contempt. Directed Patrol in McLean Area Nabs Two Drunk Drivers

The Fairfax County Police have too much time on their hands, not enough to do, too much money and the force is badly bloated and here’s the proof.

“Officers from the Fairfax County Police Departments McLean District Station on Nov. 30 patrolled the county searching for drunk drivers. Authorities charged two motorists with driving while intoxicated and issued 46 summonses and 15 warnings.”

There are 1,119,000 people in Fairfax County and these clowns found just two people who they say were legally drunk. They had to find somebody. It’s called job justification. A court trial will determine the truth.

The expensive November 30 expedition wasn’t community policing, it was organized harassment born out of the unregulated culture of contempt that permeates the Fairfax County Police. And they got away with it.

Midland Police Officer Terminated, Charged With Online Impersonation

Staff ReportNewsWest 9

MIDLAND – A Midland Police officer has been terminated and arrested with online impersonation.
We're told the officer, 25-year-old Jaren Speck, who was a one-year probationary officer with the department, was arrested on Friday and charged with online impersonation, which is a third degree felony.
We're told Midland Police were made aware of the claim after a female contacted the department and alleged that her name had been used to create a website without her consent with the intent to harm, defraud, and intimidate her. We're told explicit photos of the victim was posted to a page that was constructed on a commercial social networking site.

Speck was placed on administrative suspension on December 12 pending the outcome of the investigation.
Midland Police Chief Price Robinson issued the following statement in regards to the arrest, "The Midland Police Department does not condone this type of behavior. I want it made perfectly clear that public trust is of the utmost importance to this department and the men and women that serve our community. This is an isolated incident that we are taking very seriously. We do not tolerate such a violation of public trust."
The case has been turned over to Midland County District Attorney Teresa Clingman for prosecution.

Roseville officer charged with shoplifting

ZANESVILLE — A Roseville auxiliary police officer was charged with petty theft after a Tuesday incident at Walmart on Maple Avenue.
James Carroll, 66, of Roseville, pleaded not guilty to the charge Thursday morning in Zanesville Municipal Court. Petty theft — theft of property or services valued at less than $1,000 — is a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable by up to six months in jail.
According to the police report, Carroll was cooperative with security officials when they confronted him about the alleged shoplifting offense.Carroll spoke with the Times Recorder about the incident, and he said it was never his intention to leave the store without paying. He said he was simply trying to avoid traffic within the store when he left the Subway restaurant and weaved his cart around a recycling container near the exit.
“I was under the impression that, if you walked out of the store with something, you are shoplifting,” Carroll said. “I never left. I didn’t even come close to the door.”
Roseville Police Chief Jeff Slack said Carroll has been an auxiliary officer since 1979. Slack said auxiliaries used to be paid but aren’t anymore. There are no discipline-related incidents in Carroll’s personnel file, and Slack said he has “never had any problems from James.”
Carroll said the reason the items in question already were bagged was because he recycles the plastic.
“I carry the plastic bags with me into the store,” Carroll said. “I’ve done that for two to three years. ... I put one of the items in a plastic bag, and that’s what made the security people think I was stealing.”
The 34-year-veteran officer said his second mistake was turning left instead of right as he exited the Subway inside Walmart. Carroll said he had left his cart outside Subway while he went inside to get a sandwich. When he exited, he said he was trying to avoid a cluster of people in front of the Subway entrance, so he “weaved around the receptacle.” That’s when a Walmart security guard asked to speak with him.
“They told me I had passed a particular point where it was now considering shoplifting,” Carroll said. “I was never going to leave with those items.”
Carroll said the items in question were as follows: two boxes of Keurig coffee, a can of baked beans and “some CDs.” Police could not confirm.
The Roseville Police Department has placed Carroll on administrative leave until his case is cleared. Carroll’s trial has been set for Jan. 8 in Zanesville Municipal Court.

poneill@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com
740-450-6753
Twitter: @PatrickZTR

Howard County officer charged with DUI

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — An off-duty Howard County police officer has been charged with drunken driving.
Officer Austin George has been suspended with pay following the arrest, which police say occurred around 2:20 a.m. in Ellicott City.Police say a county officer watched a car drift in the roadway and stop on the side of Rogers Avenue. Police say the driver, identified as George, showed signs of intoxication. He was charged with driving under the influence and released to be driven home by a sober driver.
Police chief William McMahon says in a statement that officers are held to the same expectations as the rest of the community. George is a 2-year veteran of the department.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Columbus Cop Faces Federal Charges After Threats

COLUMBUS (Terri Sullivan) -- Federal charges were filed against former Columbus police officer Steven Dean, who is already the target of a criminal investigation.

Dean was arrested in November for aggravated menacing but, even after the charges were dismissed, was kept behind bars on a federal detainer.

The reason was sealed in federal court.

Now, the former cop faces a federal indictment accusing Dean of threatening his attorney Mark Collins over the phone.

According to police reports, the conversation went as follows:

Dean: You don't want to upset me today, today is not the day.Collins: I'll be courteous and professional to you.Dean: Shut your mouth and don't interrupt me.Collins: Don't talk to me this way.Dean: If you don't do what I want I will come down there with a gun and shoot you or a knife and stab you.

SWAT officers arrested Dean at his home and found an arsenal of 20 guns, including shotguns, semiautomatics and handguns.

Dean's wife, Sharon, has long claimed her husband is a scapegoat.

"I don't feel like he's done anything wrong," she said. "I mean, not from what I've been told. That's all I have to say."

She was referring to an incident in June 2012, when Dean and another officer were relieved of their duties during an investigation into the handling of surplus military equipment.

Detectives were looking at evidence from scrap yards to determine if those officers were ordered to have a janitor sell the military gear to scrap yards.

They also tried to determine that, if they were sold, where the money went.

Former Deputy Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, now the Cincinnati police chief, was in charge of the program at the time.

He has never responded to ABC 6/FOX 28's requests for comment. Columbus Police Headquarters would only say that no guns are unaccounted for.

Dean is scheduled to return to court Wednesday for a detention hearing. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison on that charge.

East Haven cop Jason Zullo to be sentenced for obstruction on Monday

EAST HAVEN CT

Former town police Officer Jason Zullo is expected to be sentenced Monday in federal court for obstruction of justice and could be sent to prison for 24 months.

According to sentencing documents from the U.S. attorney’s office, “the government respectfully requests that Zullo be sentenced to the term of incarceration that his criminal conduct warrants — 24 months. Zullo stands before this court having pled to one count of obstruction and undoubtedly will seek to excuse his conduct as an isolated incident. The evidence obtained during the course of the investigation, however, demonstrates that Zullo repeatedly abused his position of power as an East Haven police officer and that his actions were premeditated and intended to injure those that he deemed should not be permitted in his town.”

Zullo pleaded guilty in October 2012 to one charge of obstruction of justice after admitting that he purposely left out of a police report the fact that his cruiser had repeatedly hit a motorcycle driven by Robert Salatto, with Salatto’s helmetless girlfriend riding on the back, when he was chasing them on Oct. 18, 2008.

As part of the plea agreement, the prosecution agreed not to push for more than 24 months in prison, while Zullo, 35, and his attorney, Norm Pattis, agreed not to seek less than 12 months, according to Pattis.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Zullo would face either 18 to 24 or 12 to 16 months in prison, depending on which side’s version of the applicable issues the judge accepts. He also faces up to three years of supervised release and up to a $250,000 fine, plus possible restitution.

The charge is a felony, which means Zullo will lose his rights to vote, hold office and carry a firearm. He also will be required to give up a sample of his DNA.

Zullo’s plea deals only with the motorcycle incident and “does not address” the “ethnic-based” allegations that had been at the center of a federal criminal and civil rights investigation of the East Haven Police Department, said Pattis.

Those allegations included a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Latinos and other residents, including ethnic profiling, disparate treatment and use of excessive force. i

The plea made Zullo the second of four former East Haven police officers indicted in January 2012 to plead guilty, following Sgt. John Miller, who changed his plea on Sept. 21. Miller will be sentenced Feb. 1. According to his plea agreement, Miller could avoid jail time if he fully cooperates with prosecutors.

Two other former officers, David Cari and Dennis Spaulding, decided to go to trial. A jury found both guilty in October of numerous charges including conspiracy to violate civil rights, deprivation of rights for making arrests without probable cause and obstruction of justice.

Spaulding was additionally convicted on an unreasonable force charge. Both will be sentenced Jan. 21.

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.