US Court Says it’s Okay for Police Departments to Refuse to Hire Someone who is Too Smart

By Matt Agorist on September 28, 2014

Ever wonder why cops yell “quit resisting” as they beat a person who’s not resisting? Or why they shoot people who pose no threat? Maybe the answer is right in front of us.

The Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test is a popular group intelligence test used to assess the aptitude of prospective employees for learning and problem-solving in a range of occupations. Throughout both the U.S. and Canada, many police forces require candidates to take this test as one of the qualifications prior to being hired.

The standard range of scores applied for police officers is a score between 20 and 27. According to ABC News, The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average. A perfect score on the Wonderlic is a 50.

On March 16, 1996 Robert Jordan from Connecticut, and 500 others underwent a written screening process which included the Wonderlic Test, conducted by the Law Enforcement Council of  Southeastern Connecticut, Inc. (“LEC”), a coalition of fourteen cities and towns, in order to apply for a position as a police officer.

Several months later Jordan learned that the city of New London started interviewing candidates. After not hearing from them, Jordan inquired as to why he was passed over.

Jordan eventually learned from assistant city manager Keith Harrigan that he would not be interviewed because he “didn’t fit the profile.”

Thinking it was obviously age discrimination because he was 46 at the time, Jordan filed an administrative complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

The response that he received was completely out of left field. The city responded that it removed Jordan from consideration because he scored a 33 on the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test, and that to prevent frequent job turnover caused by hiring overqualified applicants the city only interviewed candidates who scored between 20 and 27.

The city of New London claims that “People within certain ranges achieve a degree of job satisfaction and are likely to be happy and therefore stay on the job.” They apparently believed that Jordan was too smart to be happy being a cop.

This reasoning did not seem logical to Jordon so he filed a civil rights action in the District Court for the District of Connecticut  alleging that the city and Harrigan denied him equal protection in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and Article 4, Section 20, of the Connecticut Constitution.

On August 29, 1999 the court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment citing “no suspect classification and that defendants had ‘shown . . . a rational basis’ for the policy.”

Jordan, thinking that this must be just a fluke ruling, then appealed and brought his case to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

In the interim Jordan conducted his own research which showed that high scores do not actually correlate with experiencing more job dissatisfaction. The court ruled that despite the evidence to the contrary of New London’s claim, they are still justified in refusing applicants with high IQs “because it matters not whether the city’s decision was correct so long as it was rational.”

Because all applicants were denied based on high test scores, there was no discrimination taking place.

This decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to condone the ability of police departments to discriminate against smart people is one of the most profoundly ridiculous moves ever made. But it also tends to explain the state of police departments today.

It takes a special kind of person to go to work every day and harass, kidnap, and kill people for victimless crimes. The act of unquestioningly carrying out orders to ruin the lives of good people whose only “crime” was to do with their own body as they wish, would eventually have to raise the eyebrow of a person with a higher level of intelligence…or so we’d like to think.

Knowing that this ability to discriminate against intelligence in police departments exists tends to put ‘Police State USA’ in perspective. In the past decade we’ve seen heavily militarized actions against non-violent protesters. We’ve even seen school districts accepting MRAPs! And we’ve watched from the sidelines as Mayberry transformed to Martial Law.

A smart person does not create a domestic standing army and call it freedom.

A smart person does not deliberately tear gas journalists. A smart person does not point a rifle an an innocent person and tell them that they are going to kill him. A smart person does not severely beat a person with down syndrome because he sees a bulge in his pants, which is actually a colostomy bag. A smart person does not continuously shoot at an unarmed man who posed zero threat and whose arms are in the air.

If more people knew this information you could rest assured that they would try and reform their police departments. No one wants their police officers to be unintelligent, right?

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore helped to expose what happened to Jordan as well as the ridiculous notion of discriminating based on intelligence levels, on his show “The Awful Truth.” The 8 minute segment, while hilarious, paints an ominous picture of adhering to such tactics.

Why on Earth would anyone ever think that this is a good idea?

HERE'S THE COMPANIES SPONSORING THE COPS GAMES IN FAIRFAX COUNTY. BOYCOTT THEM

Time to rethink the officers’ bill of rights

By Burton Jay Rubin June 12

For some 20 months, the Fairfax County police officer who shot and killed John Geer has been on “paid administrative duty,” despite the $2.95 million settlement the county agreed to pay Geer’s family. The commonwealth’s attorney is also seeking to empanel a grand jury to consider criminal charges.

Officer Adam Torres’s tenure with the Fairfax County police continues, thanks to the Police Officers’ Bill of Rights, which provides job security protections unavailable to other workers. Similar laws are on the books in Maryland and many other places.

Most employees are subject to the employment-at-will legal doctrine, under which they may be fired for any reason or no reason at all, except for limited discriminatory reasons. Under Virginia’s police officers’ bill of rights, an officer cannot be discharged, even if he or she hurt someone, disobeyed orders or broke the law, without being notified in writing of the basis for the dismissal, given an opportunity to respond orally and in writing, with the assistance of a lawyer, and given the right to file a grievance under state or local procedures.

Police officers’ bill of rights laws sprung up in the early 1970s. Before that, police generally were held to a higher standard of conduct than other citizens.

In New York City, for example, police officers were required to cooperate fully with criminal investig-ations to the point of waiving their constitutional privilege against self-incrimination or lose their jobs. That requirement was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 1968 decision in Gardner v. Broderick. Even though the officer in that case won, police organizations pressed the issue, resulting in what might be regarded as a “second helping” of employment rights, reflected in officers’ bill of rights laws today.

It is sometimes said that the extraordinary job security afforded to police officers is justified by the dangerous nature of their work. But that premise is false. Most police officers never fire their weapons in defense.

Law enforcement is not even among the 10 most dangerous jobs in the United States. Loggers and roofers have the most dangerous jobs, and we don’t provide them with special job security.

The FBI reports that the number of officers killed by criminals is at its lowest in 50 years . Unfortunately, the number of citizens killed by police has increased and now stands at its highest point.

Another argument for special job protection rights for police officers is that officers are the targets for unjustified charges of wrongdoing. That police officers may be falsely accused of misconduct is undoubtedly the case, as it was for a University of Virginia fraternity, Duke University  lacrosse players and child-care workers, yet none of these groups is accorded special legal protections unavailable to the general public.

We are not talking about punishing someone or short-circuiting the legal process to which everyone is entitled. We are talking only about how long a community must keep a police officer on the job and pay him, after that community has lost confidence in him and he has lost his ability to serve in the position for which he was hired.

No one has the right to be employed as a police officer. It is a privilege conferred by the community upon those who meet the requirements and who are worthy of the public’s confidence and trust. A finding of criminal liability is far too low a standard by which to decide if someone should remain a police officer. When an officer has lost his community’s confidence and trust, the community should be able to ask that individual to find employment elsewhere.

We need to rethink our police officers’ bill of rights laws.

The writer is a lawyer and civic activist in Northern Virginia.

Seems fair to me

Introducing the Torres Two year Vacation Plan!

THE TORRES TWO YEAR PAID VACATION PLAN

Are you a cop in Fairfax County? Ever wish you could get two years paid vacation that won’t interfere with your pension?

Well now you can! Under the Torres Two Year Paid Vacation Plan all you have to do is kill someone! *

                      It’s like getting away with murder!

FAQS about the Torres Two Year Vacation Plan

What excuses will work for killing an unarmed citizen?

Almost anything will work! That's right  ANYTHING! As an example “The car door pushed my arm which caused me to pull the trigger that placed a bullet directly though his heart” or “Even though we had him blocked in on all sides and had chased him for miles for stealing a plant, I felt threatened and shot him dead!  Both of those worked!

Go on! And I can get away with excuses like that?

Sure! Sometimes you don’t even need an excuse!

What about body cameras? Won’t that leave evidence?

Sure they will BUT WE DON’T USE THEM IN FAIRFAX COUNTY!

Won’t someone investigate the shooting?

Here’s the beauty of the Torres Two year Vacation Plan…..the cops will investigate the cops!

What if the investigation finds me guilty?

In the sixty years of the Fairfax County Police and many, many questionable killings THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED! And if it is does, we’ll just make the evidence exempt from the public records!

How about the media? Won’t they cause a problem?

Perhaps some will…. but for the most part explaining wanton murder takes more than sixty seconds to explain so the electronic media won’t even cover the killing beyond that! Even better still, some members of the media are so desperate for attention they’ll even join government sponsored committees control by the politicians and the police to examine why the police kill people and why our government officials don’t do anything about it! See? Under the Torres Two Year Vacation Plan cops can’t lose!

But isn’t the role of media sacred? Aren’t they supposed to be the watch dogs of democracy?    

Come on kid, land your fuck’n balloon.

Don’t I have to be concerned about the victim’s family?

Naw! Not under the Torres Two Year Vacation Plan! The police department will pay them off with millions in taxpayer’s dollars!

But gosh, won’t this harm our elected officials?

Heck no! As long as they keep calling themselves liberals they’ll keep getting the right endorsements and keep getting reelected!

I’m sold!  How do I start to I take advantage of the Torres Two Year Vacation Plan?

Just start shooting people** It’s that simple!

The Torres Plan Two Year Vacation Plan ….

It’s like getting away with murder!

*Certain rules and restrictions may apply. Unfortunately the Torres Plan does not cover shooting children, most women and people of color.

**Victims must have no prior criminal record and be unarmed and/or posing no direct threat to the public.  

These are the companies that sponsored the Fairfax County Police sports game...Boycott them

While some of us trying to bring the Fairfax County Police to justice and place them under control of the government, the following imbeciles thought it would be a good idea to give the cops money so they could play sports games and take attention off of the six citizens they killed without due cause...thanks for nothing.  

Good news, bad news

                                       Recent photo of Hyland sucking on something as usual

The good news is we’re getting rid of Jerry “Oop’s Dearie” Hyland the best friend the Fairfax County Police ever had. He’s retiring and now he’ll have to use Match.Com to find his dates just like everybody else.

The bad news is while Hyland oversaw the Public Safety Committee, despite the fact that his friends the cops gunned down unarmed three citizens without provocation (And they got away with it) Hyland held no hearing with the committee since June of 1911….and he got away with it too.

  ..and then the people of Fairfax County wonder why the board of supervisors and the cops are so arrogant.  

In the first meeting of the Public Safety Committee since 2011 Penny Gross excused herself saying: “I’m a little preoccupied today,” to laughter.

  ..and then the people of Fairfax County wonder why the board of supervisors and the cops are so arrogant.  

Iowa police officer kills unarmed man who 'walked with purpose'

Was this really the best way to handle it? Stun gun, maybe give that a try, aim the gun and wait until the guy did something…anything…to deserve death…..it doesn't really matter, the press won't follow up on this. The police will investigate themselves and the cop who over reacted and killed this guy will get away with.

Police still investigating why officer Vanessa Miller shot Ryan Keith Bolinger through the rolled-up window of her patrol car

A Des Moines police sergeant said it was not Bolinger’s rapid movement toward the patrol car by itself that prompted officer Miller to fire. But he would not elaborate on the specific reason, citing the ongoing investigation.

Jamiles Lartey

A veteran police officer shot and killed an unarmed man this week in Des Moines, Iowa, after firing through the rolled-up window of her patrol car. Police say the man, identified as 28-year-old Ryan Keith Bolinger, “walked with purpose” toward officer Vanessa Miller’s vehicle when she fired the fatal shot.

According to police, the incident began on Tuesday night when Bolinger pulled up his Lincoln sedan to a Des Moines police patrol car helping to make an unrelated traffic stop of another vehicle. Bolinger was allegedly so close to the pullover that the officer inside could not open his door.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Des Moines police sergeant Jason Halifax said Bolinger then got out of his car and began “dancing in the street or making unusual movements in the street”.

Halifax said that Bolinger then got back into his vehicle and led police on a low-speed chase before making a U-turn, giving officers an opportunity to block his path with their patrol cars.

It was at this point, Halifax said, that Bolinger got out of his Lincoln and rushed toward the officer’s vehicle. Officer Miller, a seven-year veteran, fired one shot at Bolinger’s torso, who died on the scene.

No weapons were found on or near Bolinger’s body.

Halifax told the Guardian on Thursday that it was not Bolinger’s rapid movement toward the patrol car by itself that prompted officer Miller to fire. But he would not elaborate on the specific reason, citing the ongoing investigation.

“She obviously felt something,” Halifax said, “and it involved what she was perceiving at the time, but that will be up to the grand jury to hear next.”

Neither officer Miller or any of the other officers involved were wearing a body camera.

The investigation is still pending, as are results of a toxicology report. A phone number listed for Bolinger’s family was disconnected

This moron has way, way, way to much time on his hands.......

Overton police chief Clyde Carter

Cops Raid Little Girls’ “Illegal” Lemonade Stand, Shut it Down for Operating Without a Permit

By Matt Agorist

Tyler, TX — Last week, police in Texas heroically saved the town from likes of two young girls who attempted to open a black market lemonade stand. The girls, one 7-year-old and one 8-year-old, dared to try to raise money to buy a Father’s day present for their dad by setting up a lemonade stand in their neighborhood.

Andria and Zoey Green told ABC affiliate KLTV they were trying to raise about $100 for a Father’s Day present. They wanted to take him to Splash Kingdom.

Over the weekend, the two young entrepreneurs took to the streets with their delicious batch of homemade lemonade and began to provide willing customers with their product. Only one hour into their business endeavour, these girls had raised 25% of their goal.

However, their cash cow would be shut down not long after it started. Overton police chief Clyde Carter showed up along with the city code enforcer and shutdown their criminal operation.

The girls had violated Texas House Bill 970, or the Texas Baker’s Bill, which does not allow the sale of food that needs time or temperature control to prevent it from spoiling. Since the lemonade would eventually grow mold after being left out for days, police said they needed an inspection from the health department and a permit to sell it and deemed their operation “illegal.”

The cost of the permit is $150 dollars.

“It is a lemonade stand, but they also have a permit that they are required to get,” Chief Carter said.

“I think that’s ridiculous. I think they’re 7 and 8, and they’re just trying to make money for their own cause,” said Sandi Evans, the girls’ mother.

The most absurd aspect of this ordeal is that the police know it’s a ridiculous law. However, they said ridiculous or not, it’s the law and they’ll keep enforcing it.

“We have to follow by the state health guidelines,” said Carter. “They have to have a permit if they’re going to do the lemonade stands.”

Police officers can certainly use discretion and choose not to “enforce” this law for use in such an asinine application. The fact that these girls had their good intentions ruined by those who claim to protect them speaks to the level of discontent with law enforcement in America today.

The heartening side to this story is that these young girls are now learning to bypass this tyrannical system of bureaucratic nonsense. The girls said they will be setting up their lemonade stand again this weekend. Instead of selling it though, they will be giving it away, but they will gladly be accepting donations.

Hopefully next week, we aren’t reading the story of these two Texas girls being raided by the IRS for tax evasion on their lemonade donations. But in today’s police state USA, it would be entirely expected.

Imagine this……

You’re having an argument on the phone with your spouse. You are agitated. You take out a gun and kill an unarmed man with his hands in the air.  Four witnesses saw you do it. 

YOU ARE NEVER ARRESTED FOR THE KILLING AND FOR 17 MONTHS THE POLICE REFUSE TO RELASE YOUR NAME TO THE PUBLIC.

It will take the power of US Senator from outside your state to get the police to act on the killing you committed and even with that the cops withhold information on the case.

You get to keep your job but they send you home for two years….WITH PAY.

The incompetent and corrupt States Attorney holds off on opening the case for two years.

YOU THINK YOU’D BE GIVEN THIS SORT OF TREATMENT?

                                           WELCOME TO FAIRFAX COUNTY!

Fairfax prosecutors summon witnesses in John Geer police shooting

By Tom Jackman June 10 at 7:00 PM

A special grand jury to investigate the Fairfax County police shooting of an unarmed man nearly two years ago has been empaneled and prosecutors have begun summoning witnesses to testify beginning next month, witnesses and the county’s top prosecutor said Wednesday.

John Geer, 46, was standing in the doorway of his Springfield townhouse on Aug. 29, 2013, when he was shot once in the chest by Officer Adam D. Torres while four other officers stood nearby. According to police reports, Torres claimed that Geer had jerked his hands down to his waist, but the other officers — as well as Geer’s father and best friend — said his hands were near his head.

No decision has been made on whether to charge Torres, 32, a nine-year veteran who remains on administrative duty. His attorney, John Carroll, did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment.

Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh said Wednesday that the special grand jury was selected by a circuit court judge this month without the prosecution’s involvement. State law requires the grand jury to have between seven and 11 members, each individually questioned and qualified by a judge.

Morrogh said that prosecutors had subpoenaed about 20 witnesses and that the grand jury will begin hearing testimony for four days beginning July 27. Two additional days, in early August, will be added if jurors seek more information.

The prosecutor could not disclose who had been subpoenaed, and it was not clear how many Fairfax police officers will be called to testify.

Geer’s father, Donald Geer, and Geer’s best friend, Jeff Stewart, said they received personal visits Tuesday from Fairfax homicide detective John Farrell, the lead investigator in the case, serving them with subpoenas. Stewart said he might be one of the first witnesses to testify so he can provide biographical details about Geer, a self-employed kitchen contractor, and because he spoke to Geer that day and witnessed the shooting from about 70 yards away.

Donald Geer, who met with Farrell several weeks ago, said it was his first contact with Fairfax police since shortly after the killing. “As far as the county is concerned,” Geer said, “I don’t exist, up until the past few weeks.”

Geer said the grand jury investigation was “a year and a half too late. By the time the grand jury comes up with something, it will have been two years.”

Although there have been no charges, the county agreed to pay $2.95 million to Geer’s two teenage daughters to settle their wrongful-death civil suit. Michael Lieberman, the family’s attorney, said the formation of a grand jury and the issuing of subpoenas were “a positive sign that justice may be done in this case. The family’s been waiting a long time.”

The incident began when Geer’s girlfriend of 24 years, Maura Harrington, told him that she signed a lease on an apartment and was moving out, finalizing a breakup they had discussed for some time, Harrington said. Geer responded by throwing Harrington’s belongings onto the front yard of their home on Pebble Brook Court. When Harrington came home and could not stop Geer from tearing up their house, she called 911.

Torres and Officer David Neil were dispatched, and Geer showed them a holstered handgun, which he placed at his feet. Rodney Barnes, a patrol officer who is also a trained negotiator, then arrived to speak to Geer. Over the next 40 minutes, he could not persuade Geer to come out from behind his screen door, where he was standing with his hands on top of the frame, police and witness statements reveal. Other officers surrounded the scene.

Suddenly, Torres fired once. Geer spun, closed the front door and fell behind it. Barnes radioed that he heard movement inside, reports show, and police waited an hour before rendering aid. Geer was dead just behind the front door.

Although Torres said that Geer had lowered his hands as if reaching for another gun, three officers close to Torres and another just up the street said that Geer’s hands were around his head and not moving toward his waist.

Presented with this information in November 2013, Morrogh asked to see prior internal-affairs cases involving Torres. Fairfax Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. refused to provide them, records reveal. In January 2014, Morrogh sent the case to the Justice Department so federal prosecutors could obtain the files. The Justice Department has taken no public steps on the case since then.

In February, after the internal-affairs files were provided to Geer’s family and to Morrogh, Morrogh said he would not wait for the Justice Department and would request a special grand jury. Fairfax prosecutors have used special grand juries infrequently, and no Fairfax officer has ever been charged in an on-duty shooting.

Tom Jackman is a native of Northern Virginia and has been covering the region for The Post since 1998.

Reciprocation builds trust

More bad press for Fairfax County....thank you board of supervisors for fearing the police department 

The Gazette

There’s much to like in a recent agreement between Montgomery and Howard counties to investigate police-related deaths in each other’s jurisdictions.

If someone dies in the custody of, or during an interaction with, a Montgomery County police officer, the Howard County state’s attorney’s office will review the evidence and decide whether criminal charges are appropriate. Montgomery County’s prosecutor’s office will do the same for Howard County cases.

It’s a promising sign that both counties are striving to be fair and accountable when scrutiny is needed. This especially matters because police-related deaths across the country — in Ferguson, Mo.; New York City; North Charleston, S.C.; Baltimore city; and other areas — have sparked public outrage.

In some cases, there have been strong feelings in the community that officers should have been held criminally responsible for a death, but weren’t.

It’s common practice for a police department, when faced with allegations against one of its own employees, to have a neighboring agency investigate. However, Montgomery and Howard prosecutors say their evidence-review agreement is the first of its kind in Maryland.

Jaded critics could write off this extra step as meaningless symbolism, convinced that police and prosecutors work closely enough that they will watch out for each other, no matter the jurisdiction.

Then we see otherwise, such as when the state’s attorney in Baltimore filed criminal charges against six officers for the death of Freddie Gray. The skepticism that the fix is in isn’t universally justified.

Police work can be remarkably difficult and fraught with grave life-and-death decisions. Sometimes, killing one person to protect the lives of others is understandable.

According to a Washington Post report about a May 19 encounter in Arlington, Va., a man with a metal pole threatened officers responding to a call about a disturbance. An officer tried to use a Taser, but it didn’t work at first, and the man hit the officer in the face with the pole. The officer tried again to use the Taser and ended up hitting a second officer instead.

When the man swung the metal pole again, the officer shot him three times in his upper body, killing him, the Post wrote, based on the latest information from police. If this account holds true, it’s an example of a split-second decision about the use of deadly force.

If deadly violence isn’t justified, a police officer should be held accountable, too, just as anyone else would.

Montgomery County already has a pending investigation that Howard County will review — the May 12 death of Dajuan Graham, 40, of Burtonsville.

On May 10, Graham was seen acting erratically in the Briggs Chaney area, according to police. When a woman tried to get Graham to stop walking in the roadway of Castle Boulevard, he punched the woman in the face, police said. Observers suspected that Graham was under the influence of PCP.

Graham reportedly ignored multiple orders by police to take his hands out of his pockets. An officer then shocked Graham with a Taser. Graham fell down and was taken to a hospital, where he later assaulted an officer and security staff, according to police. Two days later, he died.

Montgomery County police have been open with information about what happened and the officers who were involved. 

That’s a sharp contrast to inexcusable secrecy from the police department in Fairfax County, Va., after an officer there shot and killed a man who had his hands up during a call in 2013, according to police records reported by The Washington Post. It took a court order to force the police department to release details of the call, including the officer’s name, 17 months later. The county has settled a wrongful death suit with the victim’s family, the Post reported.

Montgomery County police and prosecutors have demonstrated that they can be transparent and straightforward in handling cases of police-related deaths, giving the community reason to have faith in their impartiality and professionalism. The reciprocal agreement with Howard County enhances that reputation.

Forget it