Fairfax County Police Watch: Again...again...we need to have a national minimum IQ for cops, idiot cops, that's 50% of the problem behind the cop crime wave in America

Armored vehicle sent to collect civil fine from 75-year-old in small town

A small Wisconsin town sends 24 armed officers and an armored vehicle to collect fine stemming from property dispute.

STETTIN, Wis., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A small Wisconsin town sent an armored vehicle and 24 armed officers to collect a civil fine from a 75-year-old man.

Roger Hoeppner is filing a federal civil rights lawsuit after authorities came out in force to collect an $80,000 civil fine stemming from property disputes.

Marathon County Sheriff's Capt. Greg Bean says the armored vehicle was only sent to the property because Hoeppner initially refused to come out of his house.

"I've been involved in about five standoff situations where, as soon as the MARV [Marathon County Response Vehicle] showed up, the person gives up," Bean told the Milwaukee-Wisconson Journal Sentinel. "People may not always understand why, but an armored vehicle is almost a necessity now."

Hoeppner was arrested at the scene, reportedly for not following officer's instructions. He paid his $80,000 fine, after a trip to the bank accompanied by deputies, and was released.

The long-running dispute is centered on Hoeppner's 20-acre property, where he restores antique tractors and runs a pallet repair business. The Town of Stettin sued Hoeppner in 2008 over alleged zoning violations and rubbish, signs and vehicles on the property. The two sides settled, with Hoeppner agreeing to clean up his property.

In 2010 the town decided Hoeppner had not complied, and a judge ordered Hoeppner to clear his land. In May 2011, the judge authorized the seizure of Hoeppner's assets for noncompliance. The town did haul away a number of items including trailers and pallets and auctioned them off.

In April 2013, the judge decided Hoeppner was still noncompliant and imposed a $500-a-day fine in addition to granting the town's legal fees. Hoeppner appealed the decision and lost, leaving him $80,000 in debt to the town.

"Rather than provide Mr. Hoeppner or his counsel notice...and attempt to collect without spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on the military-style maneuvers, the town unilaterally decided to enforce its civil judgment," Hoeppner's attorney, Ryan Lister, said.

Hoeppner says that in all, his battle with the town has cost him his retirement fund, some $200,000.

In a federal civil rights suit, Hoeppner alleges Town Chairman Matt Wasmundt infringed on his free speech rights by preventing him from addressing the board during public comment periods, and once having him arrested and released without charge.

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.