Springfield supervisor speaks up
on transparency at first committee meeting to review 140+ recommendations from
ad hoc police commission.
Members of the Board of
Supervisors and representatives of the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review
Commission met at the Oct. 27 public safety committee to begin reviewing the
142 final recommendations of the commission, including a civilian review board
and independent auditor. Photo by Tim Peterson.
By Tim Peterson
Fairfax County Police Department
Chief Edwin Roessler explains a new police process change flow chart at the
Oct. 27 meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ public safety committee meeting.
#While Commonwealth’s Attorney
Raymond Morrogh was held up as one source of stalling the release information
regarding the 2013 shooting death of Springfield man John Geer by then-Fairfax
County police officer Adam Torres, Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield)
offered that “decisions we made” on the Board of Supervisors, on the counsel of
the Fairfax County attorney, were also responsible for Torres’ name,
discrepancies in the investigation and other details of the incident being
withheld from the public and Geer’s family until a lawsuit finally forced the
police department to release everything.
#Herrity spoke up during a
meeting of the board’s public safety committee on Oct. 27 to discuss the 142
final recommendations of the the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission
created in the spring by Board Chairman Sharon Bulova.
#Bulova responded that it was
county policy to not release the name of officers in an officer involved
shooting until the Commonwealth’s Attorney decided whether or not to pursue
criminal charges against the officer. In the case of Geer, “obviously that
didn’t go well,” She said. “It just didn’t happen for a very, very long time in
this case.”
#Herrity came back that the Board
of Supervisors made the decision to withhold both the name and details about
Geer’s death.
#Lack of any information about
the case for more than 16 months fueled public frustration. The ad hoc
commission report on communications referred to a cultural predisposition not
to disclose information within the police department and Board of Supervisors.
#Torres is now being held at the
Adult Detention Center awaiting trial on second degree murder in Geer’s death.
#During her report on
communications subcommittee recommendations, Merni Fitzgerald highlighted the
recommendations for “maximum disclosure, minimum delay” in terms of information
sharing, the need for a civilian public information officer, establishing a
written process for giving out information and providing more “open data” to
the public.
#Deputy county executive and
former Police Chief David Rohrer explained at the Oct. 27 meeting how county
staff and the police department were already digesting the report and
organizing it into a “matrix” to sort, prioritize and track changes, costs and
timelines.
#“There have a been a lot of
challenges,” Rohrer said. “We see this as an opportunity to move forward.”
#The deputy county executive
referenced body cameras and an independent review board as examples of “not so
straightforward” recommendations that would require discussion. He added that
there’s “no one review model,” and whatever form of oversight is chosen “has to
be fair to all, the community, others and police officers.”
#Some recommendations in the
areas of mental health and use of force have already begun to be implemented,
especially ones that repeated recommendations from the previously completed
Police Executive Research Forum study.
#“We’re not afraid of scrutiny,”
Rohrer said. “These powers are granted to police by the public — trust has to
be maintained.”
#POLICE CHIEF Edwin Roessler said
some of the changes already made or in the process of being implemented include
the hostage barricade policy, creating a culture of “slow it down, hold and
contain” for dealing with tense situations and mandating all first line
supervisors report directly to the full-time policy change team.
#“The law enforcement profession
needs to re-engineer itself,” Roessler said. “The sanctity of preservation of
human life has to be paramount.”
#During the report from the
commission’s independent oversight subcommittee, members of the commission
further explained the functions of their recommendations for a civilian review
board and independent auditor.
#Chiefly, the auditor would be
outside the police department and become involved in the process, embedded with
police, as soon as a use of force incident that causes death or serious injury
has occurred.
#The civilian review board,
similar to a model in use in Virginia Beach, wouldn’t review the serious cases
that involved the auditor, but rather complaints of abuse of authority by
police from citizens who are dissatisfied with the final determinations of
police in other instances. The review board would then report to the Board of
Supervisors.
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