Fairfax County Police Watch: May 2020

Body-Worn Police Cameras Debut May 1 In Fairfax County
Some Fairfax County Police officer will begin wearing body-worn cameras later this week, but funding for full implementation remains unsure.
By Michael O'Connell, Patch Staff

Some Fairfax County Police officer will begin wearing body-worn cameras later this week, but funding for full implementation remains unsure. (Shutterstock)
FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Police will be rolling out the first phase of its three-phased Body-Worn Camera (BWC) program on Friday, May 1, at the Reston, Mason, and Mount Vernon stations. The second and third phases, which have 2021 and 2022 implementation dates, may be delayed due to the impact of the coronavirus on the economy.
"All stakeholder employees for phase one are nearing completion of their training and use of the body worn camera systems," said Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr., in a video message on the FCPD blog. "This includes staff from the police department, the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney, the Public Defenders Office, and court personnel."
Roessler originally proposed the body-worn camera program in June 2015. Following a successful test in 2018 at the Reston, Mason, and Mount Vernon stations, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved funding for the first phase of the BWC program as part of the Fiscal Year 2020 carryover budget. On Friday, 416 cameras will be in place at those three stations.
Although Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill included funding for phase two in the FY 2021 Budget Proposal he introduced in February, the revised budget he submitted to the Board earlier this month only included a $1.77 million funding increase to meet the workload and information technology requirements for the first phase of the program.
No additional funding in the revised budget proposal, which Hill submitted to take into account the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, means the last last two phases of the program would be delayed.

Fairfax County Police Department to launch body worn cameras, after 3 year wait
VIRGINIA
The Fairfax County Police Department will be launching phase 1 of its body worn camera program on May 1
by: Kelsey Jones

Posted: Apr 29, 2020 / 07:43 PM EDT / Updated: Apr 29, 2020 / 07:43 PM EDT
FAIRFAX, Va. (WDVM)– The Fairfax County Police Department will be launching phase 1 of its body worn camera program on May 1.
Stakeholder employees such as police staff, court personnel and the Fairfax County Office of the Commonwealth Attorney have completed phase 1 of training on how to use the BWC system. According to officials, officers will have the body worn cameras on them in certain events.
Erica Ebb, 2nd lieutenant said, “Phase 1 will include the Mason Station,Mount Vernon, Reston Station, Motor squads, K-9 squads and the Driving While Intoxicated Enforcement Squad all will be issued cameras. It will also include 357 camera operators.”
According to Webb, the community requested these cameras for full transparency

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.