Fairfax County Police Watch: Attachment disordered cops

Sheriff's officer fires gun in argument with woman, report says

Sergio Bichao

WOODBRIDGE – A Union County sheriff's officer has been suspended after being accused of shooting his weapon during an argument with a woman and, in another incident, threatening her at gunpoint.

Scott Gardiner, 43, was charged Jan. 16 with making terroristic threats by a township woman who told local police that Gardiner has been "continually harassing her" since December.

The woman told police that Gardiner threatened her with his work-issued weapon several times in 2013, when they lived together.

She claimed that in July 2013 Gardiner shot his gun into a bed during an argument and told her: "Next time it's gonna be you, b.... "

Also that year, she said, Gardiner made her drive him to visit his mother, telling the woman "keep driving, b.... " as he pointed his gun toward the windshield.

She said he also "cursed at her on numerous occasions," calling her vulgar slurs against women.

Gardiner, a Manalapan resident, has been a law-enforcement officer since May 1994, according to state pension records. In 2013, he earned more than $95,000 a year and held the rank of sergeant.

Because the complaint involves alleged domestic violence, authorities are required to take certain steps, including notifying a county prosecutor and confiscating the officer's personal and work weapons.

The woman told police that she was reporting the incidents for the first time because she had not "wanted to get him into trouble," according to a Woodbridge police report obtained by MyCentralJersey.com under the Open Public Records Act.

Gardiner was not arrested, according to the report, which also noted where he worked and that the incident would be investigated by internal affairs.

Union County Sheriff Joseph Cryan on Monday declined to discuss details of the case.

"I can confirm that he has been suspended from our office pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation," he said.

Cryan said Gardiner's weapons were confiscated "as a matter of policy" but declined to elaborate or say whether Gardiner would continue to receive pay.

Gardiner on Monday said the case was "going through the court system" and that the restraining order that a municipal court judge had signed against him last month had been dropped. He declined further comment.

A spokesman for the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office did not return a request for comment.

Investigations into law-enforcement officers involved in domestic violence complaints are governed by state attorney general guidelines that went into effect in 2009.

The guidelines were issued in order to make victims less intimidated about complaining about police officers.

The guidelines require agencies to disqualify job applicants with histories of domestic violence or sexual assault and to train officers annually on handling domestic violence calls and on the impact of domestic violence within the law-enforcement community.

Supervisors are supposed to look for "warning signs" of possible domestic violence problems among officers, including an increase in excessive force complaints, inappropriate treatment of animals, injuries and excessive tardiness and absences.

The guidelines caution against making any arrests until an investigation has been conducted.

The internal affairs unit of the agency where the officer works is supposed to investigate the incident, even if a temporary restraining order is dismissed.

Law-enforcement agencies since 2011 have been required to keep track of internal affairs probes involving domestic violence. Records for the Union County Sheriff's Office indicate that there were no reported domestic violence investigations in 2011 or 2012. Data for 2013 and 2014 is not yet available.

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com

Lexington police officer charged with harassment

A Lexington police officer has been charged with harassment and official misconduct after an investigation.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) - A Lexington police officer has been charged with harassment and official misconduct after an investigation into a Jan. 13 arrest.

The investigation revealed that Officer James Norris had "forceful physical contact" with a suspect, and had "intent to harass and intimidate".

Norris has been relieved of duty since January 22.

WTVQ-TV, LLC

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.