Fairfax County Police Watch: Attorney renews push to reinstate suspended Hinsdale Police Chief

By Phil Demers, Berkshire Eagle Staff

HINSDALE -- Suspended Police Chief Nancy Daniels could be reinstated if the town submits to the state a more-detailed request for a training waiver, according to her attorney.

In a presentation to the Hinsdale Select Board on Wednesday, attorney Mark T. Brennan said that Daniels and Selectman Bruce Marshall attended the Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee's meeting last month to make the case for Daniels' waiver.

What they found, Brennan said, is that the committee rejected the initial request submitted by the Select Board in November because it was insufficient in detail.

"My request would be another letter requesting a [270-day] waiver," Brennan said. "This would just contain a little bit more information [about the medical reasons for] the delay."

Daniels, a former part-time officer who was appointed chief last January, was placed on paid administrative leave in November because she has not completed the six-month Municipal Police Training Academy course that is mandated for full-time officers in the state. She failed her first attempt and was unable to retake the course last summer due to an ankle injury and other medical issues.

Responding to repeated requests by Daniels and her supporters, Hinsdale Select Board Chairwoman Bonnie Conner submitted a letter in November requesting a waiver for Daniels.

When that request was rejected, Conner and Select Board member William Goddard Jr. put Daniels on leave, saying the town faced liabilities by keeping Daniels on because her police powers had expired absent the training.

But the attorney said Conner composed the letter alone and, despite his requests, neither he nor Marshall nor Goddard reviewed its contents prior to it being sent.

Brennan, citing the MPTC's November minutes, said Conner's letter contained no mention of Daniels' medical issues last summer. The committee ultimately rejected the request after concluding that she had missed two additional opportunities to take the test.

If Conner's letter had been more thorough, Brennan said he was told, the vote would have gone differently.

During the December meeting, he said, "the [committee] basically stated that the letter -- that was sent without my review -- was inadequete to explain why Chief Daniels was requesting it."

The Eagle has requested a copy of Conner's letter from the MPTC.

In the meantime, Brennan said, the town needs an active police chief to approve firearms licenses, register sex offenders and testify in court cases.

"[Daniels] has not been able to testify in various court cases due to orders of the Select Board," he said. "Those court cases have allowed a couple of second-offense drunk drivers to walk free. Speaking as a defense lawyer, that's a dream. But I don't think it's good news for the town."

Residents who possess a license to carry require Daniels' check-off this year or they'll need go through firearms safety training again, Brennan and Marshall pointed out.

Goddard and Conner opposed a motion from Marshall to draft new letter to the MPTC, each wanting to see the minutes from the MPTC's December meeting before making a decision.

Conner also wanted town counsel's opinion on discussing Daniels' medical issues in a letter to the MPTC.

"I will contact legal [Thursday] and ask their opinion," Conner said. "I want to talk to legal first."

Brennan told the Select Board he'd be available on Friday to help draft the letter.

Marshall said the MPTC also suggested, as many others have, that there is a simple way to circumvent the state requirement.

"I would say the easiest way to put this whole thing to bed is let her work 32 hours per week," Marshall said.

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.