Times haven’t
changed. Ya’ll’s in the south now son and I can prove it by the local
government’s reaction to the killing of John Geer. In that light, the Fairfax
County political mechanism isn’t being unresponsive to the killing of John
Geer. Just the opposite. Everyone from the board of supervisors to the federal
prosecutor is present and accounted for and they are all doing their jobs. Their
doing exactly what they’re supposed to do. ….not responding. Thier closing
ranks and protecting themselves against intrusive outsiders like the public and
the press. What the Washington Post rightfully calls stonewalling, the Fairfax
County Good Ol Boys calls survival. But is goes beyond them.
The US Attorney isn’t going to do anything in
the case until after the November elections because this isn’t about justice
it’s about protecting a democratic power base. The US Attorney knows that if he
or she wants a career on Wall Street and a house in Greenwich, they’ll leave
the Geer issue alone until the time is right.
Can we really
blame these weasels for their actions? After all we allowed them to get away
with this in the past. For the Fairfax
County lifelong politicians and bureaucrats closing ranks on the killing of
unarmed citizens has worked in the past, so, they ask themselves…..understandably…..
why won’t it work now? Just toss out
some meaningless double talk to appease the press until they go away. (The
print press is the only media following this story. The electronic media is
following the Post on this one or at least they will until they can find a Hap, Hap, Happy! angle to it)
As a prime example
of double speak, take Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr., the
babble king of local government. He promised to “hold myself accountable” to
Mr. Geer’s family….what the fuck does that mean? It means nothing and Roessler,
another lifelong inside player, knows it means nothing.
Roessler may be a
weasel but Prosecutor Raymond F. Morrogh is a sham and a public disgrace. The
cops do what they want in Fairfax County because they know they can rely on Morrogh.
None of this
really matters. In the end, nothing will
happen to Roessler or Morrogh or the US Attorney who has so suddenly gone blind
to justice. Morrogh will get away with
this one too, the US Attorney will move on to corporate law and just like the
last white guy in a silly suit from the Fairfax County Police Department who
over saw the murder of unarmed citizens, Roessler will be handed a six figure
do-nothing county job and a new white guy in a silly suit will take his place,
the cops arrogance will continue, more citizens will be gunned down and nothing
will happen to stop it……unless….unless the people who hire the cops are held
accountable for the cops in a public forum. If that happen’s watch how quickly
things will change. They’re politicians, they’re weasels and if it comes down
to their jobs or cops, the cops will lose.
The way to make
that happen is to start by question John Foust in public.
He was on the board of supervisor through at least four
questionable killings by the Fairfax County Police and never made a stand on
the issue but he did vote against oversight for the cops.
He needs to be questioned on the killing of local citizens
by the police, in a public forum but he also needs to be asked about the state
of American policing in general. Should we allow the federal government to
continue handing out, at no charge, armored tanks, rocket launchers and other
armaments of war to local police department?
Considering the remarkable annual cost of police brutality lawsuits,
should the federal government require all police departments across the country
to issue body cameras to their cops before the department receives federal
funding?
They are all legitimate question since the federal
government funds the Fairfax County Police Department to some degree and
because the issue of cops out of control is a national problem.
But no one will toss a hard ball at John Foust. He’s a
member of the club and he’ll get a pass on this one. Protecting congressional
candidate John Foust from questioning on the killing of John Geer and other
unarmed citizens in Fairfax County by the police isn’t right. But he is being
shielded because he’s a Democrat.
But he should be asked those questions in public forum. Whoever
the republican candidate is should be asked the same question based on the
above reasons. If the candidate doesn’t have an intelligent, responsible answer
maybe they shouldn’t be in Congress.
This issue really
doesn’t warrant much attention because in the end the bad guys will get away
with it again. The only person who MIGHT…MAYBE…get
it in this case is the cop who killed John Geer. Somebody has to burn and he’s
the low man on the pole and nobody objects to a cop getting burned.
But all that will happen
to that cop is that he’ll be fired from the force. That’s it. He won’t be
prosecuted for murder. Basically, he’ll get away with it. He’ll get away with
murder. Watch and see.
And again, forming
a police oversight panel to solve this problem is just stupid. It’s government-worker-think. Police oversight doesn’t work.
What does work are body cameras on cops, cameras on the cop’s
cars, and forcing the cops to insure themselves against law suits. Make complaints against specific cop’s public
information and stop pulling negative information from a cops file after 90
days.
The only bright
spot in this case has been the Washington Post. They have consistently reported
on this story and other involving the Fairfax County Police in a fair and even
handed manner. The Post is ahead of the media pack on this one. People across
the nation are fed up with the low standards governments allow for the police
and this new generation, armed with cell photo cameras and instant access to
the web, isn’t going to stand for it.
The cop crime wave in America will be the ongoing story of the new
century.
I don’t know how newspapers get the Pulitzer
Prize but the Post should get one for their work the Geer killing.
