WHICH OFFICE IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL REISSUE THIS GUYS DIGNITY?

“This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

On May 26, 2010, a Fairfax County jury….in only 10 minutes …found a schoolteacher not guilty of molesting a 12-year-old girl in their school gym.  The cops had charged the teacher with aggravated sexual battery and abduction. 

The entire case against him was based on the testimony of two sixth-grade girls who said the teacher had picked up one of the girls in the middle of the school gym, carried her into an equipment room, laid her down on a mat, and massaged her shoulders, groping her in the process. 

He did admit to lightheartedly picking up one of the girls and twirling her in the air.  However there are no mats in the equipment room where the girls said he carried one of them.  The main accuser, who acknowledged having a grudge against the teacher for threatening to discipline her for her bullying behavior on the school bus patrol, said the teacher briefly touched her breast and buttock during the incident. 

The cop who investigated the child molestation claims never looked at the room where the alleged incident was supposed to have occurred.  School administrator explained to her that the room could not fit the tumbling mats that the lying 12-year-old accuser claimed she was placed.

In fact, when staff and parents tried to tell the police investigator in the case what actually happened, she threatened them with prosecution for obstruction of justice.  The school district investigator confirmed those claims.

When the accuser’s close friend and corroborating witness to the incident quickly tried to retract her story, her mother said, the cop refused to hear what the little girl had to say.  The cop told the mother “if she changes her story, they’re going to wonder why she changed her testimony.  She said, ‘I know how to do my job.  Don’t tell me how to do my job”

Shortly after the little girl recanted, Fairfax County launched a Child Protective Services investigation into the witness’s mother for alleged inappropriate behavior by her boyfriend.  The witness’s mother was eventually cleared of any allegations of misbehavior.

The Jurors said the prosecution had no case, and after reading their legal instructions, it took the seven women and five men about 10 minutes to come to their unanimous decision.  Four jurors said they thought that the teacher should never have been arrested in the first place.

Several months after the teacher was acquitted, Fairfax prosecutors dismissed another of the cop’s child abuse cases when the investigator acknowledged that she had misstated some key facts in her sworn testimony.

The cop has not been fired.  The Board of Supervisors said and did nothing.

“Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind.”  Ayn Rand

SPEAKING OF CHILD MOLESTATION AND INCEST……………….

“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally unstable cops”

In May of 1995 the Fairfax County Department of Family Services accused a long serving member of the Fairfax Police Department of molesting his daughter.  In July 1996, the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of Fairfax County entered an order finding that the children were abused and/or neglected.  The cop was eventually found guilty of raping his 11-year old daughter.

On August 16, 1991, a County cop was sentenced to two months in jail after pleading guilty to a charge of sexual battery although he was indicted on a felony charge of forcible sodomy.  After pleading guilty to the reduced charge, he was sentenced to 12 months in jail with 10 suspended.  Pretty good deal actually.  Think you would get the same deal?

In 2009, a Fairfax County cop was charged with sexually assaulting former girlfriend. The charge was forcible sodomy.

In November of 1984, a D.C. police officer tried to tell Fairfax County police two months that a Springfield man was involved in child prostitution, but his call was never returned. The police denied it of course, but could not explain why the DC cop would accuse of them of such a thing.

 In Feburary of 1971, a Fairfax County cop was arrested and dismissed from the force in a connection with a charge that he contributed to the delinquency of a 15-year-old Springfield girl.

SPEAKING OF ABUSING CHILDREN…………………….

“When honor and the Law no longer stand on the same side of the line, how do we choose?”  Anne Bishop

On July 2, 1975, a Fairfax County cop was convicted of assaulting a 16-year old boy.  The judge found that the cop punched the boy in the face after the boy got into a fight with a teenage friend of cops.  The police leaped into action and sent the cop home WITH PAY after the conviction.

ANYWHERE ELSE IN AMERICA IT WOULD BE CALLED MURDER

“Law never made men a whit more just.”  Henry David Thoreau

September 4, 1974: As horrified neighbors watch, police break up a teenage lawn party with batons.  One teen was arrested.  He later committed suicide in his jail cell, not an uncommon happening in Fairfax County.  The Board of supervisors said and did nothing.

DRIVING-CHALLENGED

One of the problems with handing over an almost unlimited amount of other people’s cash to people who have spent their lives in salary is that they have no true understanding of the value of the money their spending.

 In August of 1991, the cops could not explain why more than $1 million worth of brand new police cars were sitting unused on a fenced grassy lot; their batteries disconnected depreciating and deteriorating.

 An off the record answer from the cops was that they bought one million dollars’ worth of cars they couldn’t use because they thought the big sedans they favor would no longer be manufactured.  Then it was learned that the cops had actually spent $3,200,000, not $1,000,000 to buy twice as many cars they needed.  The Board of supervisors said and did nothing.

In March of 2008 a female cop with the Fairfax County Police sped through a red light without her siren on and struck and killed 33-year-old Ashley McIntosh, a kindergarten teacher's assistant.

 The cop sped through the intersection without putting on her brakes. The police said that the cop had been dispatched to a call about a fight in progress but have never provided any proof that there was actually such a call.  And for good reason. There was no fight. Eventually the cops admitted that the matter at hand was the arrest of a shoplifter.

Witnesses said the cop didn’t have her siren on. The police must have known that. The interviewed people who saw the woman killed. But they insisted they didn’t know if the siren was on or off.

The in-car video camera was active and working at the time of the crash, but the police refused to release it to the press or discuss what it showed. Nor would they release the cops name to the public.

The chief of police called McIntosh's parents to express his sympathy and then ruined the moment with a joke by promising "a comprehensive, balanced, and fair investigation of the crash”.

When the family hired a lawyer, the police stopped communicating to anyone about the killing. The victim’s family received no updates from police on what happened, nor were they contacted from the department's victim services unit.

The public and the family launched an online petition urging police "to conduct a fair, impartial, and full investigation”. More than 600 people signed it in two weeks.

When asked to explain the foot dragging of the police investigating themselves, the cops said “we want to make sure we have all the facts, analyzed every bit of data to have a complete package to present to the commonwealth's attorney." Or, in other words “We’re really in trouble now, this has made the national news, and we don’t know what to do next”

Over 700 people attended McIntosh’s funeral.

In 2010 the County agreed to pay McIntosh’s family $1.5 million. The cop who hit her paid nothing. The police department budget went untouched.  They got away with it.

The cop was charged with reckless driving but found not guilty, which, even in Fairfax County, came as a shock.  Then another judge ruled that the cop was not entitled to "sovereign immunity”, as a government official performing her duties, because her actions were grossly negligent.  The cop was doomed anyway.  The department has a way of punishing those who embarrass it, because as everyone knows, only the department is allowed to embarrass itself. The cop was placed on administrative duties and the department took no disciplinary action against her. Then she was accused of falsifying her time cards and forced to resign.

In February of 2011 Ashley's Law was passed by the two houses of Virginia's General Assembly 137 to 1.  The law requires those operating police cars and fire engines in Virginia to activate emergency lights and sound sirens before driving through a stop light, slow down and yield to other cars, or stop completely if they wanted to keep the siren silent.

The Fairfax County Council did and said nothing to help pass Ashley’s Law.

In 2008 it was reported by the Washington Post that at least 370 Fairfax County cops commute to work at the taxpayers’ expense by using county cars for the trip. The people of Fairfax County pay for the cars gas, maintenance, insurance, and tolls, to the cost of, in 2008, $2.5 million dollars a year. The report said that the cops also the cars for as personal vehicles, and some have used patrol cars on fishing and hunting trips. At the same time, Chief of Police Rohrer said he did not have enough vehicles for the force, although his fleet of 1,304 is the second largest in the area, behind Prince George's County

As we’ve already seen, the Fairfax County Police are driving challenged.  On May 20, 1970, a Fairfax County cop ran over a 5-year-old County boy, crushing his left arm and pelvis.  A Fairfax County police spokesman said that the department was investigating the incident but the results of the investigation were never released to the public.

Three months later, a cops who claimed he was chasing a phantom “speeding motorist “crashed his police cruiser into a third car.  And yes, as you probably guess, the phantom speeding motorist escaped.  A Fairfax County police spokesman said that the department was investigating the incident but the results of the investigation were never released to the public.

January 23, 2006: Business owner Jatinder Baboota was on his way to one of the five gas stations he owned when a Fairfax County police cruiser slammed into the right side of his car, killing him.  Police did not disclose the crash to the public.  Police said Baboota was at fault for turning in front of a police car with its lights and sirens on.  However, an investigation by the family disputes that the cruiser had on its lights and siren and suspects the cops were speeding and lied about the details to authorities. 

On August 24, 1961, a Fairfax County cop slammed his car into 70-year-old citizen’s car, killing the citizen’s elderly brother.  The cop on the scene denied that she had made any mistakes and said she was driving at normal speeds even though she hit the car fast enough to throw the man through the windshield.  After killing the man’s brothers, the cop gave the man a ticket.

EXTRA SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR EXTRA SPECIAL PEOPLE

 In June of 2010, the wife of powerful Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar was arrested for drunk driving after she slammed into a parked car and took off.  The cops waited for three hours before administering a blood test to her and to be even more extra special nice, they dropped the hit and run charges.

 But when the breath test administered at jail three hours after her arrest showed a 0.11 percent blood-alcohol level, above the 0.08 percent legal limit, the cops were really worried because now they had to press charges.  Here’s the lighter part of the story, the cops said a three-hour lag between the incident, and the breath test is within the normal range because of the time it takes to transport someone to jail.

The jail is in Fairfax, she was arrested in McLean about fifteen minutes away.  Later on when she was found guilty in court, the mandatory jail sentence imposed on her was suspended.  Outraged the politics playing by the police, the Board of Supervisors demanded an international investigation….no, that didn’t happen either.  In fact, the Board of Supervisors said and did nothing.

October 3, 2006: A Fairfax County Cop struck and killed a bicyclist who was trying to cross-busy Arlington Boulevard.  The police released the name of the victim but not the name of the cop.  An internal investigation into the crash was also begun. 

Since the department has decreed that all information pertaining to its officer’s personnel matters is secret, the cops name was withheld from the public and the outcome of the investigation is secret as well.  The Board of supervisor said nothing and did nothing.

In October of 1966, a Fairfax County cop killed a 26-year old mother of two when he slammed his cruiser into her car.  The cop was chasing a speeder, who escaped. Surprisingly enough, the cops blamed the woman, and said she had run a red light.  Police said the cops was driving at 60 miles an hour which means he was probably during 80 to 100 miles an hour.

In June of 1966, a Fairfax Cop ran over and killed a 15-year-old boy.  The cop was on his way to a domestic dispute.  The cop said he was travelling 55 miles an hour in the 45 miles an hour zone when he struck the child.  The Fairfax County police investigated and found the Fairfax County Police innocent in the boy’s death.

THIS IS NOT A POLICE STATE IN THE MAKING. THIS IS NOT A POLICE STATE IN THE MAKING.  KEEP SAYING IT, OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND MAYBE IT WILL COME TRUE.

“The police can't stop an intruder, mugger, or stalker from hurting you. They can pursue him only after he has hurt or killed you.  Protecting yourself from harm is your responsibility, and you are far less likely to be hurt in a neighborhood of gun-owners than in one of disarmed citizens – even if you don't own a gun yourself."  Harry Browne

In 2005, by popular demand, and the law of the state, traffic camera in six Northern Virginia jurisdictions were switched off.  Police were no longer allowed to photograph cars that ran red lights.  The cameras were a violation of civil liberties.  But the Fairfax County Police kept the camera in place and kept them rolling “to collect data”

Fairfax was the only Northern Virginia jurisdiction to require pictures.  The Fairfax police demanded it and they got. In 1996, the cop photographed applicants “so that they could more easily identify physical attributes” a police spokesman said. Police are keeping the pictures and may use them later to verify information.

In 1960, the Fairfax County Police were wiretapping phones without a court order.  Fairfax police were the only suburban Virginia police with their own wiretap equipment.  The Board of Supervisors knew about it and endorsed it.  In 1966, the chief of police was called to Washington testify before the US Senate because of the chief’s statement that “We do wire taps in cases where we need them”.  Meaning that the Fairfax County Police alone decided where they were needed.  When a Senator suggested to the chief that his men might be breaking the law by discussing what was said on a wiretap, the chief said that it wasn’t a worry because his men only spoke to each other.  Let me repeat that.  The chief said that it wasn’t a worry because his men only spoke to each other.  The Senator called that “a fine spun theory of law” 

 In July of 1996, a cop smashed his car into a motorist’s car.  The cop said he was chasing a stolen car.  A Fairfax County police spokesman said that the department was investigating the incident but the results of the investigation were never released to the public.  The Board of supervisors said and did nothing.

On June 2, 1995 an off duty Fairfax County cop saw a man driving erratically.  The cop stopped the man who admitted he had been drinking The off-duty cop arrested defendant and, although an on-duty uniformed cop was then on the scene, the off-duty cop transported him to the police station, where defendant gave a breath test.  In granting the motion to suppress the arrest and breath test, the court ruled that the off-duty cop had only the authority of a private citizen, and while he could arrest defendant for a breach of the peace, such as dangerous driving, his authority ended upon the arrival of the on-duty cop.

In 2008, a Virginia State Crime Commission study found there were at least 1,227 traffic pursuits by cops in Virginia in one year, 15 percent of which ended in crashes.  And those wrecks killed 11 violators but no cops.  How remarkable is that?

WE’LL JUST MAKE A LAW FOR THAT.

“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”  Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome

 For several decades the Fairfax County Police had been charging citizens involved in accidents with "Failure to maintain proper control of a vehicle" until 1980 when a Virginia State Senator establishes that there is no such on the books anywhere in America including Fairfax County.  Several weeks after the practiced is forced to stop, the legislator was involved in a minor fender bender.  Police recognize him and arrest him for reckless driving.

“When there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, its taxation.” Vanya Cohen

In October of 1998, the police announced yet another moneymaking crack down of drivers for "aggressive driving" and "road rage".  Road traps are an old southern cop trick to make money, and this crackdown was a real moneymaker. In the 1990s, the cops, ticket pimps for the Board of Supervisors, gave out more than 60,000 tickets a year in that racket.

In April of 1997, the Fairfax County police released an "urgent bulletin" that someone had stolen one of their very expensive unmarked cruisers, a burgundy Ford Crown Victoria.  The car wasn’t stolen.  A cop had taken the car home with him to Prince William County, where he and most other cops on the Fairfax County police force live. The cops said that another cop had “mistakenly took the wrong car home”

…..THE OPERATIVE WORD HERE IS STUPID

In March of 2008, the cops misunderstood a complaint from a Springfield trucking company about an employee who had been fired while driving trailer that belonged to the company.  Fairfax Police wrongly assumed he had stolen the trailer and used GPA to track the man to Georgia. 

Fairfax phoned the Georgia state police who arrested the man at gunpoint.  He served 34 days in jail.  A Fairfax County jury found the driver innocent and awarded him $50,000 in damages for malicious prosecution, $200,000 for false imprisonment and $340,000 in punitive damages, just under Virginia's cap of $350,000.  The people of Fairfax County paid the tab, the cops walked away scot-free and the Board of supervisors said and did nothing.

SPEED AGAIN AND WE’LL PULL YOUR TONGUE OUT

October 10, 1980: A federal court finds that two Fairfax Police cops used excessive force against a citizen after he was arrested for speeding.  The court found that the cops pulled the man from the car by his hair, handcuffed him, and pushed his head repeatedly into the cars fender.

In 1988, there was a fatal car crash involving a speeding squad car and a citizen. The cops blamed the citizen.

BEATING THE LAW INTO THEM, AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT.

"Brutality and insolence of policemen have increased greatly, and the Police Commissioners seldom, if ever, convict officers for these offenses. Humble citizens of all races today are in more danger from the policemen's clubs than they are from the assaults of criminals. The inaction of the Commissioners in the cases of the Negroes is entirely consistent with their general conduct in all citizens' complaints."  Frank Moss, October 1, 1900

On November 16, 1987, a female undercover cop shot and killed a drug suspect named Jose Carlos Rodriguez, by defended the killing by stating that it was an accident and that the reason he shot the man dead was that the man had “startled” him.  The Fairfax County Police investigated the shooting by the Fairfax County cop and as hard as it is to believe, they found the cop innocent and said that the shooting was caused "an unintentional reflex".

  "This was strictly an accident," said the cops "She fired it but without any intention of having it fired.  He kind of came up like a jack in the box.  It startled her, and she shot the gun.”  …sending bullet into Rodriguez’s head.  On the lighter side of things, the Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said he would review the autopsy results and the findings of the police department's investigation.

“There is plenty of law at the end of a nightstick.” Grover Whalen

On June 28, 1989, Troy M. Davis, a Black day laborer who lives in Ohio and travelled to the DC area for work was arrested for disregarding a red light.  The cops determined he was drunk, took him to the Mount Vernon Police Substation and that’s where the beatings started, at least according to Davis. 

He acknowledged that he swore at the cops as they took him to his cell and said that once inside the cell, one cop grabbed by the throat and started choking him while another handcuffed him.  The cop who was choking him slammed Davis’s head into a windowsill, which knocked him out.  When he woke up he was in the Mount Vernon Hospital, getting 15 stitches sewn into his head.

“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.”  Max Stirner

 In September of 1990, Victor M. Cruz, a Salvadoran native and resident of the District of Columbia sued the police for $60 million claiming that excessive force used by the police while they were arresting him resulted in permanent brain damage. 

Cruz said the police clubbed him after he was handcuffed and subdued for traffic violations.  …… for traffic violations.  Cruz’s lawyer noted that it is "ironic that the same kind of police brutality that Mr. Cruz sought to escape in El Salvador ends up victimizing him just a few miles from our nation's capital”.

 Cruz was allegedly worked over after he was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving on a suspended license, reckless driving, and failing to stop for police.  The cop he accused of doing most of the beating was fired. 

AND SO ENDED HIS CAREER

On February 4, 1979, Fairfax County Deputy Chief told a county panel that his department’s procedures for investigating an officer accused of brutality is decided in favor of the department and the officer and unfair to the public.