Fairfax County approves
independent auditor for police
By Angela Woolsey/Fairfax County
Times
The Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors unanimously approved the establishment of an Office of Independent
Police Auditor during its Sept. 20 meeting.
One of 202 recommendations given
to the county by the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission created by Board
of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova in 2015, the independent police auditor
will be responsible for reviewing internal affairs investigations into use-of-force
incidents involving Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) officers that
resulted in serious injury or death, or that were the subject of a public
complaint.
The auditor’s office can also
look into police department policies and practices. For example, the auditor
could investigate why a disproportionate number of incidents involve African
American citizens, according to the FCPD’s annual use-of-force survey.
“I’m very pleased that the board
supported the independent auditor,” Bulova said. “This program within the
county will provide independent oversight when there is a police-involved
incident. It provides assurance to the Board of Supervisors, but even more
importantly, to the public, that there’s an independent, objective look at how
things are being handled.”
The Board of Supervisors formed
the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission on Mar. 3, 2015 in response to
community concerns about transparency and law enforcement’s use of force
following the 2013 shooting death of Springfield resident John Geer at the
hands of an FCPD officer.
Adam Torres, the officer involved
in that incident, was later fired and pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter
in Fairfax Circuit Court on Apr. 18.
In addition to use-of-force
practices, the ad hoc commission made recommendations concerning independent
oversight, communications, recruitment and vetting, and mental health and
crisis intervention team (CIT) training.
The commission delivered its
final report to the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 20, 2015.
Though the board’s approval of
the independent auditor recommendation was largely expected, the process of
getting the proposal from the ad hoc commission to the Board of Supervisors
required extensive discussions and some revisions.
For example, the ad hoc commission
suggested that the independent auditor have full access to the major crimes
division and internal affairs bureau (IAB) files for a case under
investigation.
The final recommendation brought
before the Board of Supervisors said that the auditor can request a copy of the
criminal investigation file through the chief of police upon the completion of
a criminal case or an announcement that the Commonwealth’s Attorney has
declined to prosecute. The auditor can monitor and review internal affairs
investigations and have access to the bureau’s files from the beginning of any
such investigation.
The recommendation ultimately
approved by the Board of Supervisors eliminated an initial requirement of a
term between two and five years for the auditor.
It also clarified that the
auditor will review internal affairs bureau investigations, rather than
participating in them, and that if the auditor finds deficiencies in a
particular investigation, they recommend further investigation that will
“absent good cause be conducted by IAB or other police department investigating
authority.”
The commission’s original
recommendation gave the auditor authority to conduct any such further
investigation.
The other proposed revisions to
the commission’s report regarding an independent auditor can be found in the
Board of Supervisor’s Sept. 20 meeting agenda.
During the board’s discussion of
the recommendation, Braddock District Supervisor John Cook, who chairs the
board’s public safety committee, noted that the approved document can still be
amended in the future, since it isn’t an ordinance or a land use case.
“We can change, amend, add as
circumstances warrant,” Cook said.
Springfield District Supervisor
Pat Herrity proposed an amendment to Cook’s motion to use reserve funding from
the ad hoc commission to create two additional positions within the FCPD
internal affairs bureau instead of waiting until Fiscal Year 2018 to supplement
the department’s investigative work.
Sully District Supervisor Kathy
Smith seconded Herrity’s motion to consider an amendment, but it ultimately
failed by a 2-8 vote, with Smith and Herrity recording the two affirmative
votes.
The board passed Cook’s main
motion by a unanimous vote.
When reached for comment, FCPD
Second Lt. Brian Gaydos said through the department’s public affairs bureau
that the Chief of Police’s Office “is not releasing any official opinion on the
auditor’s office at this time.”
Now that the Office of
Independent Police Auditor has been officially created, the Board of
Supervisors will launch a job search for a person to fill the auditor position.
According to Bulova, the main
position’s requirement is a familiarity with public safety and law enforcement
that would give the auditor professional expertise in handling an
investigation. However, the auditor can’t be a current or former employee of
Fairfax County, ruling out anyone who has worked for the FCPD.
The job description initially
required that applicants be attorneys and members of the Virginia State Bar,
but that qualification was removed.
“We felt that putting that
requirement in there could possibly eliminate qualified individuals,” Fairfax
County NAACP president Shirley Ginwright said. “We don’t want to eliminate
people based on criteria that have nothing to do with the job.”
In addition to leading Fairfax
County’s branch of the NAACP, Ginwright serves as chair for the Fairfax County
Communities of Trust Committee, a citizen group that works with the county and
law enforcement to improve relations between police and the public.
The Board of Supervisors public
safety committee will discuss the possibility of creating a civilian review
panel that would work in conjunction with the Office of Independent Police
Auditor at its next meeting, which is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Oct. 25.
Like the independent auditor
position, the civilian review panel was recommended by the ad hoc commission’s
independent oversight and investigations subcommittee.
Ginwright says that, if the Board
of Supervisors ultimately approves a civilian review panel, it should include
black and Hispanic people in particular, since they enter the criminal justice
system at rates disproportionate to their overall population size.
“It’s important that
diversity is around the table and we do not have a panel [where] everybody on
the panel looks alike,” Ginwright said. “We have that too much in committees
and panels now, and I think that’s why we don’t get a lot of things done,
because the voices that should be representing our minority communities aren’t
there
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