U.S. Police Just Killed More People In March Than All Police Shootings In the U.K. Since 1900!


To put how many people U.S. police kill in perspective, it helpful to compare the death toll of Americans, to those killed by law enforcement in other countries. .
 
In the month of March alone, a total of 111 people were killed by police in the United States. Compare that to the grand total of the entire United Kingdom, since 1900: only 52 people have been killed by police in the past 115 years.
Granted, the U.K. is much smaller than the United States, but that is still an astronomically lower death rate for civilians in the U.K. than in the U.S.

U.S. cops kill twice as many people ever single month than the U.K. cops have since 1900.

In the U.S., March’s total is 36 more citizens killed than the previous month.
 








The Fairfax County Police need more time to learn to stop killing citizen


Fairfax Co. leaders press for patience on police overhaul

By Max Smith | @amaxsmith
FAIRFAX, Va. — Nearly three years after John Geer was shot and killed by a police officer in his Springfield home, and weeks after that officer pleaded guilty, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors took up recommendations for changes to use of force and transparency.
Community members said Fairfax County police mishandled the release of information regarding the 2013 shooting of John Geer, which created many of the concerns discussed Tuesday, said Tom Wilson of the Police Executive Research Forum.
Wilson’s group and a county commission, formed in the wake of Geer’s death, have made dozens of recommendations to the county that are being worked through by the board over the next year.
Only 7 percent of the recommendations have been completed.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova understands that votes on use of force policies and transparency next month may not appear to be coming soon enough, but joins other supervisors in backing more deliberate action.
“The public feels that we’re taking too much time,” Bulova said. “However, these are weighty issues, and we don’t want to look back a year or two or more and say we were too hasty and that we made bad decisions. This is important stuff.”
Tuesday’s committee meeting, and expected votes in late June, focus on communication and use of force.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said oversight of investigations and release of information that he is allowed to share ethically could help turn things around.
“I feel public confidence is on the wane,” he said.
His office was set to take former Fairfax County police officer Adam Torres to trial for the murder of John Geer, but Torres agreed to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Even though many suggestions to the county remain outstanding, the chair of the ad hoc police commission’s use of force subcommittee, Phil Niedzielski-Eichner, praised Police Chief Ed Roessler for progress in many areas.
Supervisor John Foust said Roessler is making changes that at least will help public perception.
“I see a change, so we can argue about whether it was always this way or not, but I think it was a great police force, I think you’re doing some things that are going to make it better,” Foust said.
The county does not plan to immediately address some other commission recommendations, like police body cameras or changes to freedom of information laws.
Sean Corcoran of the Fairfax Coalition of Police Local 5000 said while the much-trumpeted new training is great, it is not a major shift.
“I don’t want to burst anybody’s bubble, but I see absolutely nothing new here,” he said. “This is fundamentals in communication, these are fundamentals in what we expect of our officers, there’s nothing that I haven’t been hearing for 15 years in this department and beyond that.”
Officers’ representatives questioned recommendations from PERF and the ad hoc commission to release the names of officers involved in deadly incidents within a week, raising concerns about potential threats to officers.
He also questioned the emphasis on proportional use of force.
“This is not some sort of choreographed fight scene from a Hollywood movie. If somebody makes that choice that they’re going to take that route and the officer or the officers have to use force, it needs to be definitive, it needs to be overwhelming, and they need to take care of it and get it done as soon as possible and resolve the situation as quickly as possible, because the longer we delay these things, that’s when injuries occur,” Corcoran said.
While there is public pressure to move forward with recommendations, both from members of the commission and others in the public who attended Tuesday’s committee meeting, Supervisor Pat Herrity is concerned that six police department command staff are spending the majority of their time working to address the recommendations.
“I think we need to move this stuff forward, but I don’t want to have this become the obsession when we’re dealing with heroin issues, human trafficking issues, crimes against the elderly issues, [etc.],” Herrity said.
Roessler says the department is doing new training and other changes so far within the approved budget.













“Don’t shoot until you have a clear AND SAFE target” is not taught or understood by the Fairfax County Police



Fairfax police hunt for robber after gun fight that leaves 1 hurt

By Dan Morse and Fredrick Kunkle May 21
A gun battle erupted between a jewelry store robber and a police officer at a Fairfax County shopping center Saturday afternoon — an exchange that wounded a bystander and sent people running for cover.
One nearby merchant said there were so many shots that it sounded like rain on a tin roof.
“A lot really fast,” said Jackie Caroe, a manager at Max Muscle, a nutrition supplements store in the Brookfield Plaza shopping center in the Springfield area.
Fairfax authorities on Saturday evening were searching for a man who they say traded fire with the officer, then climbed into a getaway car, drove off, crashed, carjacked another car, crashed again and ran away.
“The suspect exited the jewelry store and immediately opened fire upon our police officer,” said Fairfax Police Chief Edwin Roessler. “And the officer got engaged in a gun battle.”
Roessler said a bystander, who was in a car, was hit by a round that “appears to be from” the robber’s weapon. The victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. The officer was not injured. It wasn’t clear whether the robber was hit.
At 12:22 p.m. Saturday, police received a call for an “unknown situation” inside the Dubai Jewelry store at the Brookfield Plaza shopping center, just south of the Interstate 95 interchange with the Capital Beltway. An officer who responded set up in a “cover and concealment” position outside the store, Roessler said.
The officer then saw a man exit the store armed with a handgun.
“The officer immediately challenged the suspect,” Roessler said. “The suspect then immediately opened fire.”
“As the officer continued with the gun battle, the suspect fled into a getaway car that was stationed nearby,” Roessler said. The gunman appeared to be acting alone, police said.
Inside the Max Muscle shop, Caroe wasn’t at first sure what she was hearing. Then she heard sirens, saw police and learned what had happened.
“I mean, it’s kind of scary,” she said.
Another person who heard the gunfire, Daysi Mazariegos, was working in her tax-preparing business. Mazariegos said she heard three shots, then a burst of eight or more. They sounded to her like a nail gun, as if from construction workers. That’s what she said to her husband, who was also in the office.
“No, those are shots,” he told her.
She looked outside and saw police officers and bystanders running along a wall.
After he drove off, the robber crashed in the area of Spring Village Drive. He stole another car, police said. No one was injured in the carjacking, police said. The robber then drove to the 7600 block of Hooes Road.
“The suspect crashed again,” the chief said, “and then fled on foot.”
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Patrol officers, police dogs and at least one helicopter were used in the search.
Police described the man as 20 to 30 years old, wearing all brown clothing. They cautioned that he may have changed clothes.
During part of the search, residents in the Hooes Road area were told to shelter in place.
Brookfield Plaza and the area around the jewelry store were sealed off while officers collected evidence.
Officials didn’t immediately know how many rounds were fired outside the jewelry store. “There were many shots fired,” Roessler said.








Fairfax County Police add to their greatest hits list


Fairfax police seek witnesses to a struggle before a ‘severely autistic’ man’s death
By Fenit Nirappil

Fairfax County detectives are looking for witnesses to a struggle in Falls Church between officers and a severely autistic man who died after the encounter.
Officers who were seeking a missing person found Paul Gianelos on a commercial strip on Annandale Road shortly after 1 p.m on April 20. Police said the 45-year-old man became combative for unknown reasons when they tried to escort him to a cruiser, and in an ensuing struggle, Gianelos ended up on the ground and in handcuffs.
Medics came to examine an abrasion on Gianelos’s head and determined he was “suffering a medical emergency,” police have said in a news release. He died later at a hospital, and autopsy results are pending.]
Authorities want to talk to passengers of a 3A Metro bus on Annandale Road heading to East Falls Church that passed by the struggle, in addition to anyone else driving or walking nearby.
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Gianelos was handcuffed on the 3100 block about a mile and a half north of Roundtree Park, where he had wandered off from a lunch organized by a group that helps people with disabilities.
Anyone with information can call Detective Cara Griffith at 703-246-7526.
The incident is under investigation by the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County and the county police department’s Major Crimes and Internal Affairs divisions.

Gianelos had no history of violence and could not speak, his brother Jim Gianelos previously told The Washington Post.









Fairfax police release names of officers involved in struggle with autistic man who died

By Justin Jouvenal April 27
Fairfax County police released the names of the officers who were involved in a struggle with a severely autistic man who died following the encounter in Falls Church last week.
Police said Wednesday that Master Police Officer Michael Meszaros, a 25-year veteran, was the first to make contact with 45-year-old Paul Gianelos after he wandered away from his caretakers at Roundtree Park and they alerted authorities on April 20.
Meszaros and Pfc. Hyun Chang, a six-year veteran, found Gianelos over a mile away on a commercial strip and tried to escort the Annandale man back to a police cruiser, police said.
“It was at this time there was a struggle and the two officers and Mr. Gianelos found themselves on the ground,” police said in a news release.
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Fairfax County police did not detail what happened during the struggle or explain how Gianelos and the officers ended up on the ground. Officer Jessica Kenna and her training instructor, Pfc. Courtney Young, a 15-year veteran, then arrived on the scene and helped put Gianelos in handcuffs, police said.
The officers called for a paramedic team to assess an abrasion on Gianelos’s forehead. After the medics arrived, Gianelos suffered a medical emergency and the medics began performing CPR on Gianelos, the release said. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police said the investigation into the case is ongoing.






Fairfax County cop collects kiddie porn

  
Ex-Fairfax police officer pleads guilty to possessing child pornography

By Tom Jackman May 23 at 2:09 PM

Former Fairfax County police officer William “Bud” Walker pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts of possessing child pornography. (Fairfax County Police Department)
A former Fairfax County police officer pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts of possessing child pornography, and he was handcuffed in the courtroom and taken to the Fairfax jail without bond as soon as his hearing ended.
William M. “Bud” Walker, 50, was a Fairfax officer for 15 years, with his last six years spent as a spokesman in the police public information unit, handling daily inquiries from the news media and the public about the department’s activities and cases. Prior to that, he was a school resource officer at South County High School. In April 2015, police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about suspected child pornography photos uploaded to a Tumblr account. Detectives eventually traced the account to Walker, assistant Fairfax commonwealth’s attorney Jessica Greis-Edwardson said Monday.
The prosecutor said Walker agreed to speak with Fairfax detectives and acknowledged managing the Tumblr account, which had been shut down once for an inappropriate photo. The police searched Walker’s home computer and submitted 20 images to NCMEC, which maintains a database of child porn victims, and the organization said two of the photo subjects were known victims, Greis-Edwardson said. She described the 10 photos that constituted the 10 counts as all being of naked teenage boys, some alone and some engaged in sex acts. Walker was not accused of creating any of the images himself.
Walker was arrested and jailed on April 15, 2015, and released on $15,000 bond two days later, court records show. He was indicted on the 10 possession counts in September. He did not speak in court Monday other than to plead guilty and answer questions from Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Daniel E. Ortiz. Each count carries a sentencing range of one to five years in prison, and there was no agreement reached with prosecutors as to the sentence. Ortiz set Walker’s sentencing for Aug. 12.
Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh said after the hearing, “I thought the Fairfax County Police Department did a great job in putting the case together and bringing Mr. Walker to justice.” Walker becomes the second Fairfax police officer convicted of a felony this year. Last month, former officer Adam D. Torres pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 2013 shooting death of John B. Geer. He also is held in the Fairfax jail without bond awaiting sentencing next month, in which prosecutors have agreed to a 12-month jail sentence.








Former Reynoldsburg Police Officer Agrees to Plead Guilty to Civil Rights Charges, Federal Program Theft


Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Ohio

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Former Reynoldsburg Police Officer Agrees to Plead Guilty to Civil Rights Charges, Federal Program Theft
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Shane M. Mauger, 41, of Columbus, has agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to deprive persons of civil rights and federal program theft.
Benjamin C. Glassman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Field Division, John F. Oleskowicz, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Chicago Field Office, Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the case today.
According to the statement of facts, Mauger was employed as a police officer with the Reynoldsburg Division of Police during the time of his offenses. Since at least November 2006, Mauger conspired with at least one other person to steal money and property in his capacity as a police officer. The money and property he stole came from the execution of search warrants, the execution of consent searches and other police actions. In total, the conspirators stole between $150,000 and $250,000 of money and property.
Mauger and at least one other person also filed false paperwork as part of the conspiracy. Mauger caused search warrant affidavits to be submitted to judges, knowing the affidavits contained false statements. For example, Mauger caused an affidavit to be filed that stated marijuana had been found in a trash pull at a residence, which he knew that in fact no marijuana had been found. He then participated in the execution of a resulting search warrant, which he knew was based on false information. Mauger also conspired with at least one other person to cause police reports to underreport how much money had been found in search warrants. The police reports excluded the amount of money the conspirators unlawfully seized.
By stealing money and property and by causing false statements to be made in affidavits in support of search warrants, Mauger oppressed persons’ Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and their Fourteenth Amendment right not to be deprived of property without due process of law.
Each of the crimes carries a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
An arraignment hearing is yet to be scheduled in U.S. District Court.
Acting U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), Department of Justice OIG and DEA and Assistant United States Attorneys Peter K. Glenn-Applegate, Salvador A. Dominguez, and Jessica W. Knight, who are representing the United States in this case.



and the cops on the scene won't be fined even a penny


Tamir Rice’s Family to Receive $6 Million From Cleveland
By MITCH SMITHAPRIL 25, 2016

Cleveland Mayor on Tamir Rice Settlement
Mayor Frank Jackson announced a $6 milllion settlement with the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old killed by the police, but said no price could be put on the life of a child.
CHICAGO — The family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy whose fatal shooting by the Cleveland police in 2014 prompted national outrage, is set to receive $6 million from the city in a settlement announced Monday in federal court records.
The settlement, which would be the latest in a series of seven-figure payouts by major American cities to the families of African-Americans who died at the hands of officers, spares Cleveland the possibility of a federal civil rights trial that could have drawn new attention to Tamir’s death and to the city’s troubled police force. It also allows the city to avoid the possibility of an even larger judgment.
Cleveland officials said the settlement was the city’s largest in a police-related lawsuit, though under the terms of the agreement, the city does not admit wrongdoing. The $6 million figure is in line with settlements in the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
Lawyers for the Rice family had been meeting with Cleveland officials to discuss a settlement since early last month. The agreement must still be approved by a probate court.
For the Rice family, which had called for criminal charges against the rookie officer who opened fire almost immediately after encountering Tamir on Nov. 22, 2014, the settlement means a significant payment and an end to civil proceedings. But it does nothing to change the decision by a Cuyahoga County grand jury last year to not indict the officer, Timothy Loehmann. Lawyers for Tamir’s estate said Monday that “no amount of money can adequately compensate” the boy’s relatives for their grief.






Tell me again why we don't require an IQ test for cops




Ex-Oklahoma deputy Robert Bates guilty of killing unarmed suspect
By Ralph Ellis, Christopher Lett and Sara Sidner, CNN
Updated 7:46 AM ET, Thu April 28, 2016


•           Robert Bates was a volunteer reserve sheriff deputy for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office
•           He fatally shot Eric Harris in April 2015 after Harris fled
•           Bates' lawyer said he meant to deploy his stun gun and pulled his pistol by accident
Tulsa, Oklahoma (CNN)A jury found a sheriff's deputy guilty of second-degree manslaughter Wednesday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed suspect.
Robert Bates, who was a volunteer reserve sheriff deputy for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office last year at the time of the shooting, never denied shooting Eric Courtney Harris.
Bates, 74, said he meant to use his Taser stun gun, not his revolver, on the suspect, who had been tackled by other deputies and was being held on the ground.
How easy is it to confuse a gun for a Taser?
The jury deliberated less than three hours and recommended Bates serve four years in prison, the maximum possible sentence. Preliminary sentencing is set for May 31. After the verdict, Bates was escorted out of the courtroom by two deputies from the department he once served.
In his closing argument to the jury, defense lawyer Clark Brewster said Bates should be be thanked for trying to help his fellow deputies. He displayed the stun gun and Bates' pistol and showed how they were similar size and weight.
"He got out of his vehicle to man up and help," Brewster said. "I truly believe you will find this was an accident driven to this point by the actions of Mr. Harris."
Prosecutor John David Luton told the jury Bates was nodding off in his car before the arrest. He said it was wrong to blame Harris for the shooting.
"Bob Bates didn't act with usual and ordinary care," Luton said in his closing argument. "He also didn't do what a reasonable person would do under similar circumstances. ... Eric Harris deserved to be chased, he deserved to be tackled, he deserved to be arrested. He did not deserve to be killed by reserve deputy Bob Bates."
Bates was CEO of insurance company
The death of Harris is one of several nationally known cases in which a white law enforcement officer killed an unarmed black man. These cases have galvanized the public over tactics that police are trained to use.
The all-white jury, consisting of six women and eight men, had to decide if the shooting was, in the words of court charging documents, "an act of culpable negligence." Those documents said Bates believed he had his Taser in his hand when he shot.
Bates didn't testify in his own defense and only made one comment on the record in court. When the judge asked if he was satisfied with his defense, Bates replied, "I'm absolutely tickled to death."
At the time of the shooting, Bates was 73 and the CEO of an insurance company. He had worked for the Tulsa Police Department for a year in the 1960s and had been a reserve deputy since 2008.
On April 2, 2015, he was providing backup and parked several blocks away from an undercover officer conducting a sting operation to try to catch Harris illegally selling a gun.
As deputies rolled up to arrest Harris that day, the suspect bolted and was pursued by officers, who caught him and took him to the ground. Bates got out of his vehicle and fired his pistol into Harris' back.
Bates experienced heavy stress, psychiatrist says
'Oh! I shot him! I'm sorry!" Bates said, as captured in a video of the shooting.
Authorities said Bates thought he pulled out his Taser but "inadvertently" fired his gun.
The defense put on two expert witnesses who were both medical doctors. They testified Harris died of a heart attack not from he bullet that pierced his lungs. But the Forensic pathologist Cheryl Niblo testified that Harris' death was a homicide caused by a gunshot.
One of the things the prosecution had to prove to get a guilty verdict was whether Harris was killed by Bates when Bates shot him.
The first defense witness was Dr. Charles Morgan, a forensic psychiatrist, who was shown video of the incident. He testified that Bates may have pulled his gun during the arrest because people tend to resort to their habits, not training, during times of "uncontrollable stress."
Prosecutor Kevin Gray questioned Morgan about how he knew it was Bates' habit to use his pistol. After being prodded by the judge, Morgan answered that he didn't look at any of Bates' training records to come to his conclusion.
Bates' training was an issue throughout the investigation and trial.
Deputy Ricardo Vaca testified that if Bates actually had used a stun gun instead of a pistol at the moment the shot was fired, it would not have been consistent with their training.
"You are supposed to wait until you have a clear opening and then deploy," he said.
Vaca was the first deputy to tackle Harris and was on top of him when the shooting happened.
'I almost got killed,' deputy says
"I almost got killed," Vaca said, his voice cracking. "It makes me emotional. Inches to my right and I would have been killed,"
Vaca and another deputy testified they observed Bates in his patrol vehicle nodding off a few minutes before the takedown order was given.
Deputy Michael Heisten said Bates gave a statement to investigators and claimed to have been in situations like this before. He meant to use nonlethal force as he had in the past, the statement said, according to Heisten.
"Based on his record how often had Bates been in a situation involving a fleeing felon?" Gray asked.
"Never." Heisten replied.
Shooting puts spotlight on reserve officer programs
The defense contended that mistaking the stun gun for the pistol was an honest mistake. On video, Bates could be heard saying he was going to deploy his stun gun. Deputy Leighton Boyd testified he heard Bates say that and moved back to avoid being hit by a stun gun prong.
The judge allowed Brewster, the defense lawyer, to give the jury an opportunity to hold Bates' gun and a stun gun similar to the one Bates carried that day. Brewster took the revolver himself and activated the barrel laser on the courtroom wall. The stun gun also projects a red dot, he said.
Heisten, a detective with the sheriff's office, said the weapons are different. A switch must be flipped before making the stun gun operational. There is no corresponding switch on the revolver, Heisten said.
'I thank God for the conviction'
After court convened, a tearful Andre Harris, brother of Eric Harris, he was relieved the jury convicted Bates.
"I thank God for the conviction," Andre Harris said. "I hope he's [Bates] taught a lesson that all lives matter."
Bates should never have been working as a deputy, he said.
"For a 73-year-old to be out on a drug task force, supposedly chasing deadly criminals, is not his line of work," Harris said. "Seventy-three is the age where you retire with your grandkids and enjoy life."
Andre Harris also said "pay for play" helped Bates obtain his position as a reserve deputy. The Harris family lawyer has said Bates donated equipment to the sheriff's department, an allegation the sheriff's department has denied.
An internal inquiry by the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office in 2009 concluded that Bates was shown special treatment and that training policies were violated regarding his role with the agency.
Information about the internal investigation was not revealed to the jury.
Sheriff resigns in wake of Eric Harris shooting
CNN's Sara Sidner reported from Tulsa. Christopher Lett reported from Atlanta and Ralph Ellis wrote the story in Atlanta.