Fairfax County favors independent police reviews amid concern over black arrests

The Washington Post July 19th, 2016

Fairfax County's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday signaled support for creating more civilian scrutiny of instances where officers use force, a day after a report revealed that African Americans in the county are disproportionately affected in such cases.

Proposals to create a civilian review panel for police abuse investigations and to hire an independent auditor in cases involving death or serious injury stem from recommendations made by a police advisory commission created in response to controversy over the 2013 fatal shooting of an unarmed Caucasian man.

However, tensions nationwide over how African Americans are treated by the police spilled into a Tuesday meeting about the proposals, which the county board will likely vote on in the fall.

"Black lives matter!" an activist shouted, while others held signs that referred to the report released this week that showed more than 40 percent of use-of-force cases in the county last year involved African Americans, who represent about 8 percent of Fairfax's population of 1.1 million residents.

Supervisor John C. Cook (R-Braddock) chaired the meeting, which started with a moment of silence to honor police officers killed this month in Dallas and Baton Rouge. At one point he threatened to have the activists kicked out.

"We won't stand for that," Cook told the activists.

County officials were already rattled by the controversy surrounding the death of John Geer, a Springfield man shot by a county police officer at the doorway of his home three years ago. A Fairfax County officer pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April.

The ongoing protests over police shootings around the country underscored their support for more oversight, several county officials said.

A proposal to create a civilian review panel would give that appointed body authority to refer complaints of abuse by officers to county police and to review those investigations for thoroughness. The panel could also request a follow-up investigation if the first one appeared problematic.

Meanwhile, a proposal to hire an independent auditor would allow that person to monitor police department investigations into cases that caused death or serious injury, and to report on cases where there were questions about whether police acted appropriately.

Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence) said the new oversight would help assure residents that officials are serious about reviewing instances where officers use force or are accused of misconduct.

"It's just to be sure that we have done as much as we can to be as fair as possible," Smyth said.

Fairfax County police chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr., who attended the meeting, said such external review is "greatly needed in the law enforcement profession."

"We need to restore the confidence and public trust from our community members to be effective as a community," he said.

Some county police officers, however, criticized the ideas.

Joseph Woloszyn, president of the Police Benevolent Association of Virginia, said the Board of Supervisors already had oversight of the department, so there was no need to add the auditor or civilian review panel.

He questioned whether civilian review panel members would have the policing expertise to properly review complaints and whether their decisions might be subject to political pressures because they would be appointees.

"Depending on the qualifications for picking the auditor or civilian review panel, that could make policing more politicized in the county," Woloszyn said. "Look at panels like this in Chicago, Baltimore and Atlanta. It hasn't worked out so well."

The ideas for increased oversight are among 202 reforms proposed in response to the Geer shooting that county officials estimate would cost $35 million to implement.

Many of the changes — including requiring police cadets to undergo training in de-escalating hostile situations before learning to fire their weapons — are already underway.

Last month, the board debated heavily over whether to release the name of an officer involved in an incident causing death or serious injury within 10 days before endorsing that policy.

A decision to require county police officers to wear body cameras was put off until the fall of 2017 to give county officials time to research concerns over privacy related to those devices.

Tuesday's discussion came a day after Fairfax County police released their first comprehensive assessment of the use of force by its officers, another move for increased transparency that stems from the Geer controversy.

The accounting concluded that 985 officers had been involved in using force on 539 occasions in 2015.

Physical contact, stun guns and vehicle intercepts were the most common types of force deployed. An officer discharged a firearm in one case.

The data revealed that in 98 percent of use-of-force cases, civilians were unarmed. Police officials found a violation of department policy in just one of the cases reviewed in 2015.

The report also found that African Americans civilians were disproportionately involved in use-of-force cases and field stops. More than 40 percent of use-of-force cases and 25 percent of field stops involved black residents.

Shirley Ginwright, the president of the Fairfax County NAACP, said she was surprised by the sheer number of use-of-force incidents in the county last year and the proportion that involved African Americans.

"It is a concern when a disproportionate number of these cases involve minorities," Ginwright said. "We are working to see how we can correct things like these in high-crime areas."

Roessler said the percentage of African Americans involved in use-of-force cases does not indicate that black residents are being targeted by police.

"We as a department are going where the crime is," he said. "Obviously, I will not tolerate any profiling or discrimination. These calls are all generated through engagement with the community."

With pressure mounting to better handle police incidents in Fairfax, some supervisors were nonetheless worried about the cost of doing so.

"I want to understand what the rush is to get this done," said Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield,) who expressed concern about the cost of hiring an auditor and the possibility of creating more work for police department officials who would have to respond to requests from the civilian review panel.

"We're not rushing to address a problem, we're rushing to address the issue of accountability and transparency, and we want to do it right," he said.

This article was written by Antonio Olivo;justin jouvenal

Fairfax poised to take historic step by creating an independent auditor for police complaints

By Tom Jackman July 20

Fairfax County police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said he enthusiastically supports civilian involvement in police misconduct investigations. (Tom Jackman/The Washington Post)

For a county that has long stood beneath a legal cone of silence when it came to police shootings, and enjoyed the relative absence of media scrutiny that is focused on cities but not suburbs, Fairfax County is on the verge of a historic, 180-degree change of direction. It is poised to hire a full-time independent auditor who will “participate in and monitor all Internal Affairs investigations” of police shootings, in-custody deaths and all other police-involved deaths or serious injuries, the Fairfax Board of Supervisors indicated in a hearing Tuesday.

Unless there’s good cause not to, “the auditor shall issue a public report with respect to each reviewed investigation,” as recommended by the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission formed last year, “within 60 days of the Auditor’s access to the complete Internal Affairs file,” and the auditor “shall have full access to the criminal investigation file as well.” And, “the auditor shall also issue a public report annually concerning the thoroughness, completeness, accuracy, objectivity and impartiality of the internal affairs investigations reviewed by the auditor.”

This is huge. But there’s more.

For cases that don’t involve death or serious injury, the county is ready to create a nine-member Civilian Review Panel, which will take complaints from citizens, forward them to the police for investigation, and then review the outcome of the cases and hold public hearings if needed. The civilian panel would not do its own investigations, but it would receive a report from the police on the alleged misconduct and any findings, and the board could then hold public hearings, with both the complainant and the officer allowed to present evidence. “Command staff and internal affairs investigators shall appear before the panel upon request,” the Ad Hoc recommendations being considered by Fairfax state, and the county “shall produce any documents or other materials … as requested by the panel.”

The Board of Supervisors discussed and seemed to embrace virtually all of this in a meeting Tuesday, though they will not vote until September on making it happen. But it is a dramatic move to increase transparency and accountability in Fairfax County, and most importantly it was wholeheartedly endorsed by Fairfax police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. Both Roessler and the board endured great criticism for the extensive secrecy surrounding the August 2013 police slaying of John B. Geer in Springfield. If Fairfax truly does create an independent auditor and a civilian review panel, those would be the most significant positives to emerge from the Geer case, which resulted in Fairfax paying a $2.95 million wrongful death settlement and watching one of its officers plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter nearly three years after the shooting.

It’s also an important step in repairing relationships, in at least one large community — Fairfax’s population of 1.1 million is bigger than most cities — at a time when police-public relations are in utter turmoil nationwide. Whether it’s police-involved shootings or police officers being targeted themselves, the preferred model of police as respected protectors of the peace has been turned upside down. Here is one large, meaningful step that police departments can take to reestablish faith that they are a part of a community, not simply its armed guardians.

“There are about 18,000 police departments in this country,” Roessler said. “What we are doing here truly needs to be done in the other 17,999 law enforcement agencies around the country.”

Roessler’s full-throated endorsement of the auditor and civilian panel, along with the retirement of long-time supervisor Gerald Hyland (D-Mount Vernon), who wouldn’t even hold committee hearings on public safety, created the path to serious reform in Fairfax. Roessler’s comments Tuesday were almost surprising in their enthusiasm for having outsiders poke their noses in what has traditionally been police-only business: investigating police misconduct. But he has said he was committed to making Fairfax more engaged with its citizens, and here was some solid proof.

“It’s very clear,” Roessler said, the auditor would objectively review all death and serious use of force cases, and the civilian panel will look at “abuse of authority” cases. “We agree with that. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Transparency is what we needed, and I fully support it as chief. It’s something we need to move forward. This is greatly needed in the law enforcement profession.”

Now keep in mind that this is a department that did not release the name of John Geer’s shooter or any details of the case for 16 months, and then only after ordered by a Fairfax judge. A dash-cam video of the 2009 police killing of motorist David Masters on Route 1 was not released until 2015. In 2006, when two Fairfax officers were shot and killed at a police station, no details of the attack were released for seven months.

But after the details of the Geer case were finally made public in early 2015, along with revelations that Fairfax police had not cooperated with state and federal prosecutors, and that Fairfax prosecutor Raymond Morrogh’s attempts to meet with the Fairfax board had been rebuffed, board Chairman Sharon Bulova formed the Ad Hoc commission to look at all of the police policies and practices. Committees were formed on use of force, hiring, mental health, communications and independent oversight. The independent oversight committee issued its report and recommendations for an auditor and a civilian review panel last October, and some thought that might be the last of it.

Instead, Roessler met with committee chairman Jack Johnson, and all of the committee chairs, and embraced huge sections of each report. “We are on the same page,” Roessler said Tuesday of his meetings with the five committee chairs. “There is no conflict.”

Tuesday’s developments were “amazing to me,” said Nicholas Beltrante, a retired Wahington police officer who has been agitating for civilian oversight since the Masters killing, and who formed the Virginia Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability in 2010. “I just never thought it would occur,” said Beltrante, who was on the Ad Hoc commission. “The citizens have never been given a fair deal regarding these matters.” He is not disbanding the citizens coalition yet.

There are still rivers to cross. No one had an estimated cost for a full-time auditor and staff. In Denver, where Nicholas E. Mitchell serves as independent monitor for the city and county police, the staff is 14 and the annual budget is $1.4 million. But Mitchell said his office had been able to change the way police used body cameras and reduced the city’s liability, and they also changed the policy on shooting at moving vehicles and for accountability in the county jail.

The civilian review panel would have no investigative powers prior to the police reviewing and concluding a case. “It is not intended to be another separate investigation,” Johnson said. He and others suggested the panel would be another “portal” for citizens to file complaints, and a way to get accountability after they are handled by the police. “A segment of our community does not trust the police,” Roessler acknowledged Tuesday. “This provides them an unbiased alternative.”

Roessler said the new civilian posts and reports would be more work for him, but “that’s an extra loop I’m happy to take on.” He even said, “We need more complaints, in order to build a stronger relationship with the community.” There are costs, but “I can’t put a price tag on that,” the chief said, “the ability is to build trust with the community and that we take this seriously.”

The police unions are not happy, though Sean Corcoran, head of the Fairfax Coalition of Police Local 5000, sat on the committee which unanimously recommended the auditor and civilian panel. “For me, the importance is in getting these critical incident investigations right,” Corcoran said. He noted that it was odd that the Fairfax prosecutor doesn’t have its own investigator, which the committee recommended and Morrogh would have to find money for somewhere. Corcoran said he was concerned about the costs, and “I’d rather see [the money] go towards programs to help officers.”

Joseph Woloszyn, head of the local Patrolmen’s Benefit Association chapter, asked, “Which of these are we not doing here in Fairfax County? That’s my question.” He was met with silence.

The answer is there are currently no civilians involved in any police misconduct investigation in Fairfax County. This creates the suspicion that police are protecting their own. This suspicion was made worse when Roessler, on the advice of county attorneys, withheld personnel files from Morrogh and federal prosecutors in the Geer case. The new proposals would put non-police participants in every critical investigation and require reports about them to the public, while still allowing experienced police investigators to run the investigations. That’s what is not being done now. And doing it

Fairfax Co. leaders brainstorm ways for civilian review of police complaints

 By Kristi King | @KingWTOPJuly 19, 2016 10:00 pm

WASHINGTON — Fairfax County is working to establish formal procedures for responding to citizen complaints against police.

Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee members at a meeting on Tuesday heard and discussed recommendations for two new levels of review.

One would create a full-time auditor position to review police policies and investigations of police-involved incidents that result in someone being hurt or killed. Secondly, a civilian review panel would respond to complaints of alleged abuse of authority.

“This is not another investigation. This is not a civil service hearing,” said Jack Johnson, Chair of the Independent Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

“This is a review by a civilian panel of the outcome of investigation by the Fairfax County Police Department.”

Public Safety Committee members will continue to hash out details for the proposals on Sept. 13. The full board may consider the measures Sept. 20.

Board members say their goal is to ensure there’s transparency and accountability in investigations of citizen complaints against police.

This new effort is inspired in part by criticism that there were delays in the investigation into the fatal shooting of John Geer in 2013. Former Fairfax County police officer Adam Torres was indicted on a second-degree murder charge for shooting Geer who was unarmed and standing in the doorway of his Springfield home.

Two protestors help up signs at the meeting and occasionally interrupted county supervisors by shouting “black lives matter” and “what about the rights of people in the community?”

Fairfax County police meeting calls for oversight, accountability in officer practices

BY JEFF GOLDBERG, ABC7 TUESDAY, JULY 19TH 2016

Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler says he and his department are committed to greater transparency, and admits that he and others can do better. In a meeting Tuesday at the Fairfax County Government Center, the chief expressed support for the findings of the Ad Hoc review commission calling for greater oversight and accountability of police practices in Fairfax County.

The commission was created in the wake of the fatal police shooting of John Geer nearly three years ago. Last month, officer Adam Torres was sentenced to a year in jail for the killing.

On Tuesday night, Chief Roessler released findings from all the departments “use-of-force cases” in 2015, a total of 539 incidents. The report reveals that more than 40 percent of the use-of-force cases involved African-Americans, who only make up 8 percent of the county’s population. The chief says the disparity in the numbers is a problem that must be addressed and improved upon.

In September 2016, the county board will consider hiring an auditor to oversee and review practices and incidents of the police department.

Fairfax County favors independent police reviews amid concern over black arrests

By Antonio Olivo and Justin Jouvenal July 19

Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday signaled support for providing more civilian scrutiny of police officers’ use of force, a day after a report revealed that African Americans in the county are disproportionately affected in such cases.

Proposals to create a civilian review panel for police abuse investigations and to hire an independent auditor in cases involving death or serious injury stem from recommendations made by a police advisory commission created in response to controversy over the 2013 fatal shooting of an unarmed white man.

However, tensions nationwide over how African Americans are treated by the police spilled into a Tuesday meeting about the proposals, on which county supervisors will probably vote in the fall.

 “Black lives matter!” an activist shouted, while others held signs that referred to the report released this week that showed more than 40 percent of use-of-force cases in the county last year involved African Americans, who account for about 8 percent of Fairfax’s population of 1.1 million residents.

Supervisor John C. Cook (R-Braddock) chaired the meeting, which started with a moment of silence to honor police officers killed this month in Dallas and Baton Rouge. At one point, he threatened to have the activists kicked out.

“We won’t stand for that,” Cook told the activists.

County officials were already rattled by the controversy surrounding the death of John Geer, a Springfield man shot by a county police officer at the doorway of his home three years ago. A Fairfax County officer pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April.

The ongoing protests over police shootings around the country underscored their support for more oversight, several county officials said.

A proposal to create a civilian review panel would give that appointed body authority to refer complaints of abuse by officers to county police and to review those investigations for thoroughness. The panel could also request a follow-up investigation if the first one appeared problematic.

Meanwhile, a proposal to hire an independent auditor would allow that person to monitor police department investigations into cases that caused death or serious injury, and to report on cases where there were questions about whether police acted appropriately.

Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence) said the new oversight would help assure residents that officials are serious about reviewing instances where officers use force or are accused of misconduct.

“It’s just to be sure that we have done as much as we can to be as fair as possible,” Smyth said.

Fairfax County’s police chief, Edwin C. Roessler Jr., who attended the meeting, said such external review is “greatly needed in the law enforcement profession.”

“We need to restore the confidence and public trust from our community members to be effective as a community,” he said.

Some county police officers, however, criticized the ideas.

Joseph Woloszyn, president of the Police Benevolent Association of Virginia, said the Board of Supervisors already had oversight of the department, so there was no need to add an auditor or a civilian review panel.

He questioned whether civilian review panel members would have the policing expertise to properly review complaints and whether their decisions might be subject to political pressures because they would be appointees.

“Depending on the qualifications for picking the auditor or civilian review panel, that could make policing more politicized in the county,” Woloszyn said. “Look at panels like this in Chicago, Baltimore and Atlanta. It hasn’t worked out so well.”

The ideas for increased oversight are among 202 reforms proposed in response to the Geer shooting that county officials estimate would cost $35 million to implement.

Many of the changes — including requiring police cadets to undergo training in de-escalating hostile situations before learning to fire their weapons — are already underway.

Last month, the board debated heavily over whether to release the name of an officer involved in an incident causing death or serious injury within 10 days. The board finally endorsed the policy.

A decision to require county police officers to wear body cameras was put off until the fall of 2017 to give county officials time to research concerns over privacy related to those devices.

Tuesday’s discussion came a day after Fairfax County police released their first comprehensive assessment of the use of force by county officers, another move for increased transparency that stems from the Geer controversy.

The accounting concluded that 985 officers had been involved in using force on 539 occasions in 2015.

Physical contact, stun guns and vehicle intercepts were the most common types of force deployed. An officer discharged a firearm in one case.

The data revealed that in 98 percent of use-of-force cases, civilians were unarmed. Police officials found a violation of department policy in just one of the cases reviewed in 2015.

The report also found that African American civilians were disproportionately involved in use-of-force cases and field stops. More than 40 percent of use-of-force cases and 25 percent of field stops involved black residents.

Shirley Ginwright, the president of the Fairfax County NAACP, said she was surprised by the number of use-of-force incidents in the county last year and the proportion that involved African Americans.

“It is a concern when a disproportionate number of these cases involve minorities,” Ginwright said. “We are working to see how we can correct things like these in high-crime areas.”

Roessler said the percentage of African Americans involved in use-of-force cases does not indicate that black residents are being targeted by police.

“We as a department are going where the crime is,” he said. “Obviously, I will not tolerate any profiling or discrimination. These calls are all generated through engagement with the community.”

With pressure mounting to better handle police incidents in Fairfax, some supervisors were nonetheless worried about the cost of doing so.

“I want to understand what the rush is to get this done,” said Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield,) who expressed concern about the cost of hiring an auditor and the possibility of creating more work for police department officials who would have to respond to requests from the civilian review panel.

“We’re not rushing to address a problem. We’re rushing to address the issue of accountability and transparency, and we want to do it right,” he said.

Tinted windows

Fairfax County Police cancel event due to ‘political climate'

Good! Once again;

-Stay inside your over priced police stations and leave people alone

-Drop your punk attitude

-Stay out of our politics

-Cut your insane budget by 50%




FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA. (WUSA9) - Fairfax County Police has canceled their Cops on a Corner event due to the “political climate.”

Officers with the Reston District Station where scheduled to be out in the community Monday at 6 p.m. They were to talk to the community about safety and recent incidents.

On July 13, Fairfax County police posted on their Facebook page that the Cops on the Corner event has been postponed.

The new date and time has yet to be announced.

Hero's my ass

Daniel Shaver, unarmed man killed by Arizona police officer, cried and begged for life before shooting

Unarmed man killed by Arizona cop cried, begged for life

NY Daily News

BYJASON SILVERSTEIN

Updated: Wednesday, March 30, 2016, 2:49 PM

An unarmed man who was shot and killed by an Arizona police officer in January cried, complied with police orders and begged for his life before the fatal firing, according to a newly released police report.

Mesa Police Officer Philip Brailsford has been charged with second-degree murder for the death of Daniel Shaver, a 26-year-old Texas man. Authorities have declined to release Brailsford’s body cam footage from the deadly encounter.

But a report released Tuesday includes extensive description of the footage, detailing Shaver’s desperate final moments before Brailsford fired five shots at him with an AR-15 rifle.

Police confronted Shaver January 8 after responding to reports of a man pointing a rifle out the fifth-floor window of a La Quinta hotel.

The night of his death, Shaver had invited a man and woman at the hotel to his room for drinks, according to the report.

After some shots of rum, the man asked Shaver about a case that appeared to hold a musical instrument. Shaver opened it to reveal a pellet gun and dead sparrow inside. Shaver told them he was on a business trip with Wal-Mart and “his job is to kill all of the birds that get inside the buildings,” according to the report.

Shaver then briefly pointed the pellet gun out the window.

When police found Shaver, they warned him that he “may not survive” if he did anything that could be considered a threat, the report says.

Brailsford’s body cam shows Shaver appeared to making small jerking motions while he had his hands behind his back, according to the report.

)

An officer yelled at him, “If you do that again, we are shooting you. Do you understand?”

“No, please don’t shoot me,” Shaver said.

At one point, Shaver’s hand appeared to move toward his waist. An officer was heard yelling, “Don’t,” before Brailsford fired.

Shaver was not armed. His hand motion appeared to be him “attempting to pull his shorts up as they were falling off,” the report says.

Previous reports have indicated Shaver may have been drunk at the time of the shooting — despite telling officers he was not — and possibly did not understand police orders. Shaver’s autopsy report has not been released.

Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder and fired from the department. The new report reveals Brailsford had etched on his rifle: “You’re F---ed.”

Shaver’s widow and the mother of his two girls, Laney Sweet, posted a YouTube video Tuesday saying prosecutors are considering a plea deal for the ex-cop. The Maricopa County Attorney has not commented on the case.

Texas police officer fired for excessive force in shooting death of naked, unarmed teenager David Joseph

BY NICOLE HENSLEY

Austin police Officer Geoffrey Freeman had an array of tools to subdue a naked and unarmed 17-year-old boy without lethal force, but instead, he drew his firearm and shot David Joseph.

The Austin Police Department fired Freeman, 41, Monday afternoon in response to the February shooting that killed David — a Connally High School senior and son of an immigrant mother from Haiti — for violating its excessive force policies.

“Officer Freeman’s decision to draw his weapon when he exited his vehicle was unwarranted,” Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo wrote in a memo detailing Freeman’s disciplinary action for violating the Civil Service Commission rules.

Acevedo listed Freeman’s baton, stun gun, pepper spray, a bean bag shot gun stashed in the trunk and even physical force as ways to stop David without lethal force.

It’s unclear if Freeman, a 10-year veteran of the Austin force, will face criminal charges related to the Feb. 8 shooting. He has 10 days to appeal Acevedo’s decision.

“My family is glad to hear that Officer Freeman will not hurt any other unarmed black men,” David’s brother,Fally Joseph, said in a statement to KXAN-TV. “When he took my brother away from us, he stole something no one can ever give us back. We are glad to know that the City of Austin thinks David’s life mattered, and that Officer Freeman will not be on the streets again.”

Freeman encountered the teen — nicknamed by friends “Pronto” — running around a street at 10:25 a.m., blocks from David’s home in the city’s northern suburbs. Following several complaints from residents, the young black subject — clothed at the time — had been harassing residents, even chasing a man.

“Sounds like this guy could either be, he’s 10-86 (subject with mental illness) and losing it or high or something,” Freeman told dispatch.

Instead of waiting for additional officers per department policy when engaging with “subjects displaying symptoms of substance-induced excited delirium,” Freeman approached David alone. He stopped his cruiser within 90 feet of David and got out of the vehicle drawing his weapon.

David then charged Freeman, refusing to stop despite commands and within 6.7 seconds, the cop fired at least one gunshot, striking David out of sight from the cruiser’s dash cam footage. Backup wouldn’t arrive for another minute and a half.

An autopsy found no trace of gunpowder on David’s body meaning the teenager and Freeman were separated by several feet at the time of the shooting.

Additionally, a toxicology report determined David had traces of Xanax, anti-histamines and marijuana in his system, his family told KXAN-TV, but the results conflicted with Freeman’s belief David was experiencing excited delirium.

“No one was under a threat of imminent harm or suffering serious bodily injury or death by Mr. David,” Acevedo determined.

This is the core of the cop problem in America

The violation of the inner person is the greatest territorial crime of all.

—	George Orwell

Fairfax County: Four Arrested at Natasha McKenna Protest

Racial justice group calls for Sheriff Kincaid to fire deputies.

By Tim Peterson

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Four demonstrators were arrested Monday morning at a protest outside the Fairfax Courthouse for the February 15 in-custody death of Natasha McKenna.

The protest organized by the Northern Virginia Chapter of the national organization Showing Up for Racial Justice had some 20 protesters.

It coincided with members from SURJ delivering a petition to Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid demanding the termination of the deputies who handled McKenna’s extraction from the jail, where she died during the process.

McKenna, who was 37 at the time of her death, was diagnosed with mental illness in her youth.

AS DEPUTIES attempted to prepare her for transport to the Alexandria jail, they forced her to the ground, then restrained her limbs in a chair and eventually covered her head with a spit hood. One deputy used a taser on McKenna four times over the course of the incident. McKenna lost consciousness and was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where she later died.

Cat Clark of Alexandria, an activist and organizer with SURJ, said the petition was delivered, but not acknowledged by Kincaid’s office.

When asked to respond to the demonstration and petition, Sheriff Kincaid released the statement: “Everyone has the right to protest lawfully and peacefully and also petition on issues that matter to them. I hope that regardless of where each of us stands on the issues of the day, we listen and learn from each other.”

Because of how they viewed the petition’s reception, Clark said the demonstrators decided to spread across Chain Bridge Road from the Courthouse to draw more attention.

 “When a naked woman who is mentally ill is shackled to a chair, bag over face, basically tased to death and there are no repercussions of any kind,” Clark said, “people need to speak up, hold her name in the light, stand up for her.”

Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh completed an investigation of the incident and concluded there were no grounds for criminal charges. The Sheriff’s office has completed its own administrative investigation but has not said whether any of the deputies faced discipline.

Demonstrators chanted and held signs reading “Black Lives Matter,” “Justice for Natasha McKenna” and “You promised you wouldn’t kill me”--which McKenna can be heard saying on a video Kincaid released of McKenna’s transport from the jail to the hospital.

City of Fairfax Police responded to the incident, as demonstrators in the roadway were illegally obstructing the free passage of others.

Police warned the protesters they would be arrested if they didn’t leave the street, spokesperson Sgt. Natalie Hinesley said. All but four made their way to the sidewalk. Those that remained were arrested.

Hinesley said the four were taken before the a magistrate immediately and were subsequently released under their own recognizance.

A statement from SURJ said Brendan Orsinger, 34, was one of the four arrested for remaining in the street. “Our silence perpetuates violence,” he said. “Too often we take our privilege and walk away from tough conversations. I don't want to be complicit in oppression anymore.”

THE JULY 11 PROTEST represented one of seven SURJ chapters around the United States taking nonviolent actions calling for changes in policing on the same day.

An administrative investigation took place within the Sheriff’s Office to determine whether policies had been upheld or violated and if any disciplinary action should occur. The Sheriff’s office wouldn’t comment on results of the administrative investigation, when asked whether any of the deputies had been disciplined in any way or whether any policies had been changed in response.

Good for you Sun Gazette!

Sun Gazette editorial: Supervisors’ hearing on police reforms uninspiring

Perhaps we’ve just become jaded after years of empty promises of holding to account the leadership of the Fairfax County Police Department.

It is through those somewhat skewed lenses that we listened to members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors take a big-picture look at the more than 200 recommendations that came out of the Ad-Hoc Police Practices Review Commission, formed last year after Fairfax officials were (rightly) pilloried for their reaction to the shooting of unarmed Kingstowne resident John Geer in 2013.

Some of the recommendations can be implemented immediately, others are more aspirational, and some no doubt are unworkable. But we were struck, during the June 21 Board of Supervisors meeting, that Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. seemed to fall back, on several occasions, on the issue of cost.

He worried, for instance, about the price tag of equipping all patrol officers with tasers, which can be an effective, non-lethal alternative to guns. He also voiced concern about the cost of body cameras.

Memo to Roessler: Let the Board of Supervisors worry about coming up with the cash. Wringing your hands over financial issues sends a signal that you’re less than gung-ho over implementing reforms. The image problem of the county police is not improved by such behavior.

Individual members of the Board of Supervisors, too, came off poorly at the June 21 meeting. Several – not all, but some – seemed to be attempting to settle old political scores and compete in games of “gotcha” rather than taking the issue of improvements to policing with the seriousness it deserves.

Fairfax County aspires to be a leader in local governance, and in some ways, it is. 

 The systemic concerns about policing, which appear as much a top-down problem as bottom-up, are a blot that is holding the county’s aspirations back.

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. said

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. said his police department “might be willing to begin a pilot program with body cameras worn by officers, but outfitting all officers with the devices would involve a “staggering cost,”

Do you believe this arrogant little fuck?

At this point in the murder spree and law breaking by his cops, he should not have choice

“Roessler said. In addition, the cameras still have many legal questions that must be resolved, he said.

Yeah, they’ll send more cops to jail.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh strikes again

A Fairfax County Adult Detention Center inmate who died after being tasered by a sheriff’s deputy in February 2015. Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh ruled no crime occurred.

Killer cop released after 12 months

  

Adam Torres, the first Fairfax County police officer ever convicted of an on-duty shooting has served 12 months for the killing and was released from jail five days after being sentenced for the involuntary manslaughter death of John Geer.

 Think about……if you gunned and unarmed person down, do you really think they’d let you off with a 12 month sentence and then release you on time served?

Once again County Prosecutor Ray Morrogh, the best friend a criminal ever had,  said the 10 months Torres served before agreeing to plead guilty to a reduced charge was roughly equivalent to the time he would normally spend in jail after sentencing….so they let the son of bitch go.

 The county….BUT NOT POLICE DEPARTMENT FUNDS…….paid Geer’s family $2.95 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit.

This is Fairfax County Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins

This is Fairfax County Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins of the Hunter Mill District. 

She’s an idiot.

 Hudgins actually was dumb enough to say, in a public forum "We must remember our officers are putting themselves in harm’s way to keep us all protected."

No. Wrong. The over funded, over staffed Fairfax County Police are a danger to the community and we need protection from them because they have killed more unarmed citizens in the county in the past seven years than criminal have killed in that same time frame.

Commonwealth Attorney Raymond Morrogh struck again when he …once again….. declined to charge a Fairfax County Cop for running over a pedestrian and killing him back in April. Jeff Ponce Aguilar was struck and killed in the overnight hours on April 2 at Beulah Street near Hilltop Village shopping center, while crossing the street on his way home from work. Morrogh of course determined that the officer did not bear criminal responsibility for the wreck.