Fairfax County Police Watch: Rockford City Aldermen Say Police Chief Needs More Oversight

Christie Nicks

ROCKFORD -- Rockford city aldermen are caught up in the whirl wind of Police Chief Chet Epperson's battle with the police union. The big question: Who does Chief Epperson have to answer to?

"Who should the police chief be held accountable to?" asked Christie Nicks, Eyewitness News.

"I think it's not a simple answer," replied Ald. Tom McNamara, 3rd Ward.

And the judge ruling in Chief Chet Epperson's restraining order hearing didn't think so either. He shot down Epperson's motion to keep the Police and Fire Commission from investigating him, and rejected the chief's claim he is only accountable to the mayor.

It stems from a complaint filed against him by the police union, alleging misconduct in an incident involving Rockford NAACP president, Lloyd Johnston.

But the judge also wasn't clear on exactly who the chief should answer to. It's a problem now plaguing Rockford aldermen.

"I think he should be held accountable to the police and fire commission," said McNamara. "I think he should also be held accountable to the mayor and he should be held accountable to the city council."

Just to be hired as chief, Epperson had to be recommended by the Police and Fire Commission to the mayor, and then the council ultimately gave him the nod of approval.

But alderman Teena Newburg says he needs more oversight.

"I don't feel at this point he's being held accountable for his actions, I really don't" said Newburg, 9th Ward. "That's where I see a problem."

The problem she says lies in the fact that Chief Epperson doesn't feel he should have to answer to anyone but the mayor, a point made clear in his motion for a temporary restraining order against the commission.

"He's first and foremost a police office,r and every police officer is held accountable to the fire and police commission," said Newburg.

Now, Newburg says the aldermen will likely have to clarify legislatively as to how the accountability process works.

"I'm very sure that the council is going to insist that it be spelled out much clearer in the future so that we don't have this controversy again," said Newburg.

A controversy both Newburg and McNamara say needs to end one way or another.

"I don't necessarily care about this particular instance, I care about the larger picture," said McNamara. "We've had 8 years of controversy, that has to stop."

"I think Chief Epperson is not the person that should be our chief, I'm sorry."

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.