Fairfax County Police Watch: 07/01/21

UTSA study: Use of police force still breaking down across racial, ethnic lines

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

(San Antonio, June 29, 2021) - UTSA criminology and criminal justice professors Michael R. Smith and Rob Tillyer working in collaboration with University of Cincinnati Professor Robin Engel examined racial and ethnic disparities in the use of force by the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD). One of the nation's largest county police departments, the FCPD serves Fairfax County, Va., a major metropolitan county near Washington, D.C.

The team presented the results of its 18-month study today to the Public Safety Committee of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The team analyzed three years of data, including 1,360 cases of force used by FCPD officers against at least one civilian between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2018.

In addition to investigating the influence of civilian race, ethnicity and other factors on force used by FCPD officers, the team also was charged with providing recommendations for reducing potential bias in officer decision-making and improving future use of force data collection.

"Last year highlighted the racial and social disparities that are a fact of life for many in the U.S. The protests following the killing of George Floyd, public health disparities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and rising violent crime in many cities are examples of the larger social and economic challenges we face," said Smith. "As an urban serving university, UTSA is committed to research that can address the nation's pressing challenges."

Using benchmarks to compare the rate of force used against racial and ethnic subgroups to the expected risk of force across those groups, the researchers also used a series of multivariate regression models to assess factors associated with the totality and severity of force used used against civilians in Fairfax County.

The researchers benchmarked force used against the major racial and ethnic groups in Fairfax County to the racial and ethnic composition of criminal suspects and arrestees in the county. Key findings of the study included:

• Average force levels were slightly higher for Blacks (2.4 on a 4.0 scale) than for other racial groups while resistance levels were essentially equal across the racial and ethnic groups.

• The rates of force used against White and Black civilians consistently exceeded the benchmarks while Hispanic civilians were underrepresented in force cases compared to the benchmarks. The benchmarking findings for Asian civilians were mixed with some showing overrepresentation and some not.

• Comparing rates of force used against minorities relative to Whites utilizing these same benchmarks showed that in all but one case, the rate of force used against minorities was lower than the rate used against Whites.

• At the same time, Black, and to a lesser degree Hispanic civilians, experienced more severe force than Whites, and those findings varied by district station.

The researchers concluded that force was used county-wide more often than expected against White and Black civilians based on the benchmark comparisons and generally less often than expected against Hispanic civilians. They also found that Black civilians were more likely to have force used against them in arrest situations compared to Whites.

The researchers offered the FCPD many constructive suggestions on how to enhance its data collection practices, improve its use of force policies and provide evidence-based training to officers to help reduce future disparities in the use of force.

"The Fairfax County Police Department is one of the leading law enforcement agencies in the country. We hope our findings provide the agency and the residents of Fairfax County with a roadmap for improvement," said Smith.

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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.