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by BRIAN TROMPETER,
Staff Writer
A first-ever report by the Fairfax County
branch of the NAACP gave most county supervisors and two top
public-safety officials mostly mediocre to poor marks in their handling of
criminal-justice issues.
“It was an idea when I took over in January as
a way to hold county leadership accountable and help members with their
advocacy,” said Kofi Annan, the group’s president.
The NAACP’s “2016-2017 Criminal Justice County
Report Card” graded all Board of Supervisors members, plus the county’s police
chief and sheriff. None received an overall grade of “A.” Three got “B” grades,
three “C-plus” marks, three “C” grades, one a “D-plus” and two a “D.” The
report did not hew to partisan lines, as Supervisors Patrick Herrity
(R-Springfield) and Kathy Smith (D-Sully) received the lowest marks.
Criminal-justice reform has been a hot topic
in Fairfax County, following some fatal police shootings and sheriff’s deputies
involvement in the deaths of an inmate at the county’s Adult Detention
Center and a mentally ill man in Merrifield.
The report evaluated the policy positions
county officials adopted over the last year, their on-the-record statements,
votes during public meetings (if any) and interviews with each.
While county supervisors have hired an
independent police auditor and set up a Civilian Review Panel to examine police
use-of-force cases, the NAACP’s report, released Sept. 18, found there need to
be more reforms and quicker.
Fairfax County must hire more minority police
officers and sheriff’s deputies, equip officers with body-worn cameras and
investigate the disproportionate number of use-of-force cases involving
African-Americans, the report determined. African-Americans are only 8 percent
of the county’s population, but were involved in 47 percent of police
use-of-force cases, according to the report.
Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr.
seems genuinely to desire increased minority recruitment, but the department is
not addressing a “trust deficit” that may be keeping those number low, Annan
said.
The police force is 15-percent minority, the
same as in 2013, and Latinos especially are underrepresented, the report
stated.
“It’s the elephant in the room,” he said. “A
lot of African-Americans don’t like or trust the police. If they don’t talk
about that as a barrier to recruitment, they’ll continue to have these
problems.”
Law-enforcement personnel should examine their
biases, overt or latent, and endeavor not to let them affect their interactions
with minorities, Annan said.
“It’s just a fact of life: We all do see race,
subconsciously or not, and treat each other differently,” he said. “If you
don’t knowledge stereotypes, you may end up with a force that has a negative
effect on a community, even if it’s not intentional.”
Many studies show that people tend to see
African-American youths as being older than they are, and give them aggressive
descriptions, he added.
“It’s not unique to police,” Annan said. “It’s
a product of the history of our country and their portrayal in the community.”
The Fairfax County NAACP plans to issue
criminal-justice reports annually, as well as ones pertaining to affordable
housing and education, Annan said.
While county officials have taken steps toward
alleviating some of the ongoing issues, “we want to continue having them move
in the right direction,” he said.
The Sun Gazette will list the NAACP’s grades
of local officials, plus any received responses, in a separate article.