As I've said for the past decade, its a southern good ole boy club with low standards....fire the chief, bring in new blood, force the little pricks to wear body cameras and hold at least and AA degree and watch how quickly this changes for the better.
We Can’t Wait Until 2021’ in Fairfax County
Calls for police reform intensify
in the days since Fairfax County officer charged with assault for tasing man in
Gum Springs.
By Ken Moore
#The institution of policing
dates back to the institution of slavery. “It has to be acknowledged as such.
What happened 400 years ago is actually manifesting itself in practice today,”
said Fairfax County Chief Equity Officer Karla Bruce.
#“Here’s what we know,” said Sean
Perryman, head of the Fairfax County NAACP. “In a county where black people
make up a little bit less than 10 percent of the population, we make up nearly
50 percent of the use of force. That’s it. That alone should have every Board
of Supervisor demanding answers and reform.”
#Data has to be available and
examined to impact policy and practice, both Bruce and Perryman said in
separate meetings last week, and the data proves how Black and Latinx
communities are disproportionately and negatively impacted.
#“We’ve had this data for a long
time, but we’re now seeing protests across all 50 states,” said Perryman. “The
data has always been there and black people have always said that we are being
policed differently.”
#Last week, the Fairfax County
Chapter of the NAACP held a Town Hall on June 16, and listed eight demands for
police reform, including reporting long-promised data on disparities in police
enforcement, removing police from schools, equipping all officers with body
worn cameras, and more.
#“There is urgency here,” said
Perryman. “I’m not sure people are recognizing that. This needs to be addressed.”
#“That alone should have every
Board of Supervisor demanding answers and reform.”
#— Sean Perryman, NAACP
#BODY WORN CAMERAS are the reason
authorities could see the actions of Officer Tyler Timberlake, who used his
taser multiple times on a Black man who did not appear to be a threat on June
10 in Gum Springs. In the released video, officers and fire rescue personnel
are calmly responding when officer Timberlake enters the scene with his taser
drawn. Then he can be seen with his knees on the man’s back when he uses his
taser again, directly to the man’s neck.
#“It was gut wrenching for me to
watch that video,” said Lee District supervisor Rodney Lusk, also chairman of
the Board’s Public Safety Committee.
#"They are criminal acts
which violate our oath of office, and they ignore the sanctity of human
life," said Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Police Chief.
#Commonwealth Attorney Steve
Descano charged Timberlake with three counts of assault.
#What would have happened if
there was no video? The Mount Vernon police district uses body worn cameras
because it was part of a pilot study, but the Board of Supervisors had defunded
plans to expand the body worn cameras to the rest of the county because of the
financial impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
#Shortly after the incident, the
Board reversed course and now will go forward with implementing body worn
cameras.
#“The number one thing is
accountability, accountability is a must,” said Descano. “If you’re going to
collect that video, you have to have someone who is going to watch all of it.”
#“I would argue that police have
some responsibility in watching all of that as well,” said Lusk. He asked
police to research technology that would help review the footage, as well as
technology to automatically turn on body-worn cameras if an officer grabs his
weapon, his taser, or uses his voice over a certain decibel or uses types of
commands.
#“What happened 400 years ago is
actually manifesting itself in practice today.”
#— Karla Bruce, Fairfax County
Chief Equity Officer
#“WE CAN ALL AGREE there are more
issues demanding our attention and items that we can cover in a single
meeting,” said Lusk, at the Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday, June
16. “I’ve got to say, when Chairman McKay asked me to chair this committee, I
never expected so many urgent priorities facing our county would end up under
its purview.”
#“The best way to reestablish
trust with the community and through dialogue and communications,” he said.
#“I’m committed to looking at how
we can alter the way we do policing here in Fairfax County,” Lusk said.
#Perryman said one promise of
policing data has been asked for since 2018. “We have had a lot of promises of
data and transparency, but we’re not actually getting the data. We can’t wait
until 2021,” he said.
#Perryman and the NAACP are
calling for an end to School Resource Officers in schools.
#“That’s what we call the school
to prison pipeline,” said Perryman. “An officer [in schools] will lead to
arrests of Black students, Latino students and students with disabilities. It’s
just not good policy. Police in schools are a danger because they can escalate
situations that shouldn't be escalated to a crime.”
#The School Board has to make the
decision first, said Lusk. “I’m certainly open to having the SROs removed from
our schools.”
#Del. Vivan Watts called for
NAACP to expand its recommendation on removing officers from schools to include
training school administration to refrain from involving law enforcement in
what should be school disciplinary issues.
#Perryman agreed. “What should
have been considered a behavior issue became a criminal issue because you have
the presence of a police officer.”
#SPRINGFIELD SUPERVISOR Pat
Herrity said an elephant in the room had not been addressed in the Public
Safety Committee meeting.
#“We need to do something to not
just address our community in crisis but our [police] department in crisis,”
said Herrity, the only Republican on the Board. “The department really has lost
confidence in its chief some time ago. ...
#“The rush to pad a national
resume and the incident with Officer Timberlake has exacerbated that. You
compound that with a Commonwealth Attorney who ran on an anti-police platform
who filed not just one assault charge but three for a single incident. …Our officers
are at a loss.”
#Herrity said none of the
officers he spoke to are of the opinion that Timberlake’s actions were
criminal.
#FCPD Officer Charged with
Assault
#https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2020/06/07/fcpd-officer-charged-with-assault-against-community-member/
#https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjFEDlTCKGE&feature=youtu.be
Viewpoints
#Rodney Lusk, Lee District
Supervisor:
#“There is the need for a softer
touch on some issues in our community. Imagine police running up to someone who
is in the middle of a mental health crisis and demanding that person to put his
hands up. That person is not in the condition to process all of that. If the
police don’t understand that, they may make the wrong decision.”
#Karla Bruce, Chief Equity
Officer:
#“There’s just a fundamental
distrust of government in the community in particular among the communities
that are most negatively impacted. …I think we’ve heard from the community an
interest in taking a broader view of public safety and one that would be inclusive
of understanding the root causes and underlying factors and putting as much
emphasis into addressing those.”
#Steve Descano, Fairfax County
Commonwealth's Attorney:
#“The best person to respond to a
situation is not always a person who holds a gun. …Once people are in that
system there is a narrow window of what that system can do. It pushes that
individual down that path to more recidivism.”
#Pat Herrity, Springfield
Supervisor:
#“We need to do something to not
just address our community in crisis but our [police] department in crisis. The
department really has lost confidence in its chief.”
#Sean Perryman, NAACP:
#“It should be equally disturbing
that some elected officials seem to have no recognition that black people have
a very different lived experience than white people when it comes to law
enforcement.”
#Daniel Storck, Mount Vernon
Supervisor:
#“Neighborhood patrols for me are
a big deal. We don’t do enough of them. … I think it’s an important part of how
we change the dynamic at least in the Mount Vernon community and other
communities that have had histories of policing that may have been less
positive.”
Its not about color, its about hiring punks to be police officers...fire the chief and bring in new blood from the outside
Fairfax Co. police
disproportionately use force on Black people; Chief, NAACP respond
Neal Augenstein | @AugensteinWTOP
Black people make up less than
10% of the population in Fairfax County, Virginia, but a new report shows they
are involved in almost half of all police use-of-force incidents.
In the Fairfax County Police
Department Internal Affairs Bureau’s 2019 Use of Force Report, while only one
in 1,000 calls for service resulted in an officer using force, 45% of community
members who were subjected to force over the year covered by the report were
Black.
The numbers show almost 82% of
officers involved in use-of-force cases are white.
“It’s unsurprising that this
annual report shows use of force is disproportionately used against Black
members of the community, as this trend has persisted in more than five years’
worth of data,” said Sean Perryman, president of the Fairfax County NAACP, in a
statement.
“It points to a systemic problem
that the county must finally address.”
“Preserving the sanctity of all
human life permeates through every interaction we have with our community,”
Police Chief Edwin Roessler said in a statement to WTOP.
“While the overwhelming majority
of these interactions do not result in use of force, it’s crucial that we
document and independently scrutinize every incident to hold ourselves
accountable to the communities we serve.”
The statistics provided in the
report are based on use-of-force incidents that occurred in 2019 and had been
closed as of June 1, 2020.
Data released by the Fairfax
County Police Department on officer use of force showed a majority of community
members who experienced force were Black, from 2017 to 2019. (Courtesy FCPD)
Perryman intends to press for the
county to take more action.
“It’s unconscionable that they
allow this to happen without pressing for greater transparency and
accountability from FCPD,” he said.
Roessler said the department and
county are taking the responsibility of using force in performing their public
safety duties seriously.
“We have expanded our definition
of force to include nonphysical encounters for increased transparency and we
subject ourselves to external investigation and audit by an Independent Police
Auditor, and the University of Texas is conducting a methodical review of each
use of force encounter to further evaluate any disproportionality,” Roessler
said.
The report was issued amid recent
protests locally, and nationally, related to the death of George Floyd in
Minneapolis while in police custody.
Earlier this month, Roessler told
WTOP the county has been proactively ensuring officer accountability,
especially in use of force incidents.
On June 6, Fairfax County Officer
Tyler Timberlake was arrested and charged with three counts of assault and
battery for using a stun gun several times on a disoriented man, who did not
appear to pose a threat. Timberlake is white, the man he shocked is Black.
As WTOP first reported,
prosecutors and the defense said the officer shocked a man he mistakenly
thought he recognized.
Fairfax County NAACP Town Hall Tackles Proposed Policing Changes
Ashley
HopkoJune 17, 2020 at 3:30pm
At last
night’s town hall meeting by the Fairfax County NAACP, the organization’s
president Sean Perryman met with local elected officials and community leaders
to discuss the future of policing.
Since
the killing of George Floyd in police custody and outrage over racial
inequities in the U.S., the NAACP compiled a list of policy changes for how to
address how police use force and report actions to the public.
Top
demands for reform include:
• removing police from schools
• reporting data efficiently
• implementing body-worn cameras
• reporting officer misconduct
• reviewing the use of force policy
• demilitarizing the police force
• mandating counseling/early
intervention
Perryman
said that the Fairfax County Police Department needs to see policy and budget
overhauls to end systemic racism and better serve the community. Perryman said
that nearly half the police use of force in the area is used against Black
individuals even though they make up 10% of the population.
At the
meeting, the attendees, which included Supervisors Dalia Pakchik, John Foust,
Walter Alcorn and Chairman Jeff McKay, all agreed that changes are needed to
improve the safety and security of every Fairfax County resident.
Fairfax
County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr.
expressed a willingness to work with the NAACP on the proposed changes.
“I
don’t think I oppose in whole any one of these items,” Roessler said, but added
that there might be stipulations on certain topics.
A point
of confusion at the meeting was about the transparency of data. Though everyone
agreed that data is important to tracking issues and upcoming solutions, no one
was on the same page when it came to the type of data and release date.
The
FCPD police chief said that recent data on use of force data and school arrests
should be released to McKay later this week, but the department is
transitioning to a new data management system to achieve the goal.
“We
have a lot of promises for data and more transparency but we aren’t actually
getting the data,” Perryman said, adding that this data needs to be not only
released to the county board, but also to the public.
“This
would give the community some insight into what is happening,” Perryman said,
adding that this data needs to include other information such as traffic stops
and the races of officers and civilians involved.
The
conversation on body-worn cameras for officers revolved around best practices and
use.
Perryman
suggested that officers shouldn’t be allowed to choose when to use them,
calling it “an essential part of transparency,” he said.
“It is
a waste of equipment, essentially a lens with a price tag, if there is no
policy in place that prevents officers from turning this off or selectively
turning it on,” he added.
When it
comes to budget and funding, Perryman doesn’t believe the department should
receive extra money from the state or the county for this project, suggesting
that the cost should come from internal budget shifts.
“What
we’ve seen in the past when there is a problem with the police, we give them
more money to get more toys and we think that needs to stop,” Perryman said. “I
don’t think there is an appetite for it here in the country or anywhere else
actually.”
The
town hall also addressed concerns with civilian review panels.
Tn the
past, the panels have struggled to “have teeth,” according to Roessler, who
added that the General Assembly would need to correct that.
Though
there are challenges, Perryman said that people need to stop pointing fingers
and create a substantial plan. He wants the panel to be independent and have
the power to investigative incidents independently.
“This
has to be a group that can stand up and can make clear recommendations to us,”
McKay agreed. “I’ll be happy to work with you on the roster.”
Later
in the meeting, Alcorn spoke up and talked about limiting the presence of
firearms in the community.
“I’m
not sure sending out folks with firearms is the best approach in 2020,” Alcorn
said, adding that when someone calls 911, depending on the situation, there are
better ways to address a community need.
Supervisors
Palchik and Foust offered their support to continue the conversation with both
FCPD and Fairfax County NAACP about new policies and best practices.
“We are
not immune from making the types of reforms that are necessary to build the
kind of confidence that everyone should have in our law enforcement agencies,”
McKay said. “The most important thing for elected officials to do right now is
to listen.”
Fairfax County Police reviews use of force, body-worn camera policies
'Sanctity
of human life' | Fairfax County Police reviews use of force, body-worn camera
policies
After
an officer tasered an unarmed man with no apparent warning, and calls for
police reform, the FCPD updated the public on what changes they are making.
Author:
Laura Wainman
FAIRFAX
COUNTY, Va. — The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors held a virtual public
safety committee hearing Tuesday afternoon, to examine police policies
regarding use of force and body-worn cameras.
The
governing body called for the meeting following an incident June 5 where a
Fairfax County Police officer used his taser without apparent warning on an
unarmed man, La Monta Gladney, who appeared to be in crisis.
Officer
Tyler Timberlake was ultimately charged with three counts of assault and
battery, and the charges against Gladney were dropped. The Fairfax County
Police Department also immediately released the body-camera footage of the
incident.
The
incident came on the heels of nationwide protests calling for police reform
after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis while in police custody.
"In
my view, this is the most critical long-term public safety issue facing our
community and demands our immediate attention," Supervisor Rodney Lusk
said, acknowledging that the Board of Supervisors needed to develop a path
forward for ongoing dialogue with the community.
On
Tuesday, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Rossler testified that his
department has already implemented many of the reforms being asked for,
beginning in 2013, including the prohibition of chokeholds like the one that
killed Floyd. He also reiterated that the "sanctity of human life" should
be the main guiding principle behind all police behavior.
"Reform
and reconciliation, together they are the driving forces for fair and impartial
policing," Rossler said.
Under
General Order 540, enacted in March 2017, "force is to be used only to the
extent it is objectively reasonable to defend oneself or another, to control an
individual during an investigative or mental detention, or to lawfully effect
an arrest... and "the application of deadly force should only be used in
the most extreme circumstances where all lesser means of force have failed or
could not reasonably be utilized."
Policies
already adopted:
• Carotid artery restraints and
chokeholds are not sanctioned force options
• Requiring de-escalation, when
possible
• Use of force continuum/training
• Requiring verbal warning before using
deadly force, when possible
• Prohibiting shooting at moving
vehicles, unless threat of death or serious injury to officer or other person
and no other option exists
• Requiring officers to exhaust other
reasonable alternatives, when possible
• Requiring comprehensive reporting
• Diversion first/crisis intervention
training
The
department also emphasized that use of force and de-escalation training is
mandated twice a year for all officers.
Pillars
of de-escalation:
• Be balanced
• Be real
• Be smooth
• Be empathetic
• Self-control
• Create lasting positive effects
• Never humiliate
Major
Chantel Cochrane gave an update on the department's body-worn camera program,
which is distributing more than 1,200 cameras over three phases.
The
department's current policy requires "all BWC equipped officers shall
activate their BWC during their response to a scene or as soon as it is
practical and safe to do so and leave it on for the duration of the
incident."
Cameras
should only be deactivated under certain circumstances:
• Medical/Mental Facilities
• Courthouses
• School grounds
• Reasonable expectation of privacy –
service call at a home
Hell has frozen over; a Fairfax County cop finally gets arrested.
A fellow officer’s body camera captured Officer Tyler Timberlake tasing an unarmed man who was having some sort of episode in the middle of a Mount Vernon street.
After the unarmed man was on the ground, the camera showed Officer Timberlake putting his knee on the man’s back, hitting him with the taser, then tasing him again.
The officer’s attorney said Timberlake thought the man was a different person.
The Police Chief, Commonwealth’s Attorney and County Executive condemned the officer’s actions.
Tuesday afternoon Chief Ed Roessler and Chief Equity Officer Karla Bruce reiterated Fairfax County’s values and the reforms it has made over the years to improve the department’s Use of Force Policy.
The Chief also updated the community on the body camera program, which the County Executive is accelerating after funding issues (especially with COVID-19) delayed Phase II and Phase II.
Phase I provided 416 cameras to the Mason, Reston and Mount Vernon Stations, as well as a few divisions within the department.
Once fully implemented, there will be more than 1,200 cameras on the streets of Fairfax County. The program costs more than $6 million.
The county’s policies and procedures were updated after the shooting of John Geer in 2013.
The Department’s Use of Force Policy only allows deadly force “in the most extreme circumstances where all lesser means of force have failed or could not reasonably be utilized.”
The department requires “officers hold the highest regard for the sanctity of human life, dignity and liberty of all individuals.”
Officers have a duty to intervene if they see another officer using excessive force.
Choke holds are banned, and de-escalation is expected.
if Descano were not in office, Timberlake would have gotten a medal
June 8:
A white Virginia police
officer has been charged with assault and battery in connection with the use of
a stun gun on a black man.
Body camera video shown
at a press conference late Saturday shows Fairfax County police Officer Tyler
Timberlake was trying to get the man into an ambulance to go to a detox center
on Friday.
Fairfax County Police Chief
Edwin C. Roessler Jr. says it’s unclear why Timberlake used the stun gun, but
said he was "disgusted" after viewing the footage, which appeared to
show him deploy an electronic control weapon and "escalate further"
the situation.
"The video also erodes
the public's trust of police officers, not only in Fairfax County but
throughout this world," Roessler Jr. said at the briefing. "These
acts are unacceptable."
He says the man has been
released from the hospital.
It’s unclear whether Timberlake
has a lawyer to comment on the incident.
Police were responding to
a 911 call on Friday afternoon in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Fairfax
County about a man "walking in the street shouting that he needed
oxygen," Roessler said. The unidentified man was having some type of
"episode," he added.
In the video, which the
police department released to the public, someone can be heard attempting to
get the man off a residential street and into an ambulance up the block.
Another person, who appeared to be a medic, also addressed the victim, saying,
"I'm here to help you, so tell me what you need."
While the man is walking
on the street, the video appeared to show Timberlake approach and deploy a stun
gun multiple times and put his knees on the man's back. The victim repeatedly
shouts "No!" and says "I can't breathe" several times after
being handcuffed.
Timberlake was charged on
Saturday evening with three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery and faces
up to 36 months of incarceration. He turned himself in to the Fairfax County Magistrate's
Office on Saturday and was released on a personal recognizance bond, according
to the Fairfax County Police Department's Media Relations Bureau.
Timberlake has been an
officer for eight years and was assigned to the Mount Vernon District, Roessler
said. The police chief said he is unable to comment on Timberlake's personnel
history at this time.
Along with Timberlake,
the other officers involved in the incident have been relieved of their law
enforcement duties and placed on paid administrative leave pending criminal and
administrative investigations, Roessler said. The other officers have not been
charged.
Timberlake's
"horrible use of force" will undergo an independent review by the
Fairfax County police auditor, Roessler said. The county appointed its first
independent police auditor in 2017.
The victim was treated at
a local hospital and released and as of Saturday night was "at home
resting with his family," Roessler said.
Fairfax County
Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano called the footage "unsettling"
and stressed the importance of body-worn cameras in this investigation.
"We are fortunate
that this technology was in use in the region of the county within which this
incident occurred," he said at Saturday's news briefing. "Without it,
I fear we would have had an unfortunately narrow and somewhat distorted view of
what happened in one of our own neighborhoods."
The incident comes amid
mass demonstrations across the U.S. protesting against police brutality and racism
following the death of George Floyd on May 25 while in police custody. In that
case, second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter charges have
been filed against Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who prosecutors say held his
knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.
Chauvin is set to make
his first court appearance on Monday; his attorney has not commented on the
case. Three other officers have been charged with aiding and abetting
second-degree murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter. Attorneys for two of
the officers said the rookie cops tried to urge Chauvin to stop. All four officers
have been fired.
YEAH BUT ITS STILL WRONG: Timberlake thought he shot a person named Anthony, who had an extensive criminal record. But the victim was somebody else entirely.
June 9:
Lawyers say a Fairfax
County police officer charged with assault after firing a stun gun at an
unarmed African American man believed his target was somebody else.
WTOP Radio reports that
both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer for Officer Tyler Timberlake agreed at a
hearing Tuesday in Fairfax County General District Court that Timberlake
thought he shot a person named Anthony, who had an extensive criminal record.
But the victim was somebody else entirely.
Defense attorney Brandon
Shapiro said the fact is relevant to Timberlake's defense because it shows his
actions toward the individual were not irrational.
Body-worn camera footage
released by Fairfax County Police shows Timberlake, who is white, arrived on
scene Friday in the county's Gum Springs neighborhood, advanced on an African
American man and quickly fired his stun gun after other officers had spent several
minutes trying to persuade him to get into an ambulance to go to a detox
center.
Prosecutor Bob Frank
disagreed about the relevance of the mistaken identity.
“A mistake on his part
does not justify what he did,” Frank said.
Shapiro said Timberlake has
no history of previous incidents and that the widely seen video is jeopardizing
his client's right to a fair trial.
A judge granted a request
from Shapiro that prosecutors turn over other video and recordings from before
and after the shooting., including what Shapiro said were urgent requests for
backup from officers prior to Timberlake's arrival on the scene.
The victim, who was
acting in a disoriented manner in the middle of a residential street when he
was shot, was treated at a hospital and released.
Timberlake, who is free
pending trial, did not attend the hearing.
Charges dropped against man shot by Virginia officer with stun gun
Prosecutors are dropping
charges against an African American man who was shot by a police officer with a
stun gun in northern Virginia.
Authorities say La Monta
Gladney was the victim when Fairfax County police officer Tyler Timberlake shot
him with a stun gun last week in the county's Gum Springs neighborhood. Still,
Gladney wound up being charged with being drunk in public and resisting arrest.
On Thursday, county
Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement he is dropping the
charges after reviewing the case and determining “the evidence is insufficient
to support these charges.”
Body-worn camera footage
shows Gladney speaking incoherently and walking around on a residential street
while officers try to persuade him to go to a detox center. Several minutes
later Timberlake arrives, quickly advances toward Gladney and shoots him with a
stun gun.
Timberlake, who is white,
is facing criminal assault charges. His lawyer has said he believed Gladney was
someone else.
Virginia officer arrested after repeatedly using stun gun on black man
A Virginia police officer has
been arrested on assault charges after video showed him subduing a disoriented
black man with a stun gun.
It happened Saturday on a residential
street in Fairfax County just outside Washington.
The video shows Tyler Timberlake,
a member of the Fairfax County Police Department, striking the man with a stun
gun and then getting on top of him, along with the officer wearing the body
camera.
Once Timberlake is on top of the
man, he presses the stun gun into the back of his neck and fires again.
Sean Perryman, president of the Fairfax
NAACP, told The Washington Post the video showed that Fairfax County is not
immune to police violence.
“We need to reduce the
interaction of black people with armed officers because we see time and time
again that we are viewed as a threat,” he said.
Fairfax County Police Department
officer Tyler Timberlake was charged with assault after subduing a disoriented
black man with a stun gun.
Fairfax County Police Department
officer Tyler Timberlake was charged with assault after subduing a disoriented black
man with a stun gun. (FCPD)
Roessler said someone had called
police about a man walking down a street shouting that he needed oxygen. In the
video, the man hit with the stun gun repeatedly says, “Your body needs oxygen”
and he does not appear coherent.
The officer who responded to the
scene before Timberlake arrived was trying to deescalate the situation, the
police chief said, adding that it’s unclear why Timberlake used his stun gun.
The man was treated at a hospital
and subsequently released, Roessler said.
“Our nation is righteously angry
at the law enforcement profession, as am I,” Roessler told reporters in a
reference to protests against police brutality sparked by the death of George
Floyd, a Minneapolis black man who died in police custody on May 25.
The charges against Timberlake
are misdemeanors.
Alcorn: FCPD Should Be Equipped with Body Cameras As Soon As Possible
Fatimah Waseem June 4, 2020 at
2:30pm
Hunter Mill District Supervisor
Walter Alcorn says that all Fairfax County police district stations should have
body-worn cameras as soon as possible.
Although three of the county’s
district stations — including the Reston District Station — already have the
devices, plans to implement the program countywide were stalled due to
budgetary constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I support implementation in the
other five police districts ASAP because the program should not be limited to
only part of the county,” Alcorn said.
He added that bodywork cameras
are “good for government transparency and accountability” and the county’s
police officers.
County officials delayed the
rollout of the program, which would have equipped officers with more than 1,200
cameras across the county.
Although funding was delayed for
other stations, the county’s budget still maintained an increase of $1.77 million
to support the full year of the program.
The program was implemented after
a 2018 pilot study by American University researchers. The Fairfax County Board
of Supervisors approved the $4 million program in late 2019.
Alcorn said his office received
several queries about the status of the program following the killing of George
Floyd and other events across the country.
Rutherford Institute Challenges Police Use of License Plate Readers As Warrantless Mass Surveillance Tool
RICHMOND, Va. — Denouncing the
fact that Americans cannot even drive their cars without being enmeshed in the
government’s web of surveillance, The Rutherford Institute has asked the
Virginia Supreme Court to prohibit Virginia police from using license plate
readers as warrantless surveillance tools to track drivers’ movements.
Mounted next to traffic lights or
on police cars, Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), which photograph over
1,800 license tag numbers per minute, take a picture of every passing license
tag number and store the tag number and the date, time, and location of the
picture in a searchable database. The data is then shared with law enforcement,
fusion centers and private companies and used to track the movements of persons
in their cars. There are reportedly tens of thousands of these license plate
readers now in operation throughout the country. It is estimated that over 99%
of the people being unnecessarily surveilled are entirely innocent. In
challenging the use of license plate readers by Fairfax police, Rutherford
Institute attorneys argue that Fairfax County’s practice of collecting and
storing license plate reader data violates a Virginia law prohibiting the
government from amassing personal information about individuals, including
their driving habits and location.
“We’re on the losing end of a technological revolution that has already
taken hostage our computers, our phones, our finances, our entertainment, our
shopping, our appliances, and now, it’s focused its sights on our cars,” said
constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford
Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People.
“By subjecting Americans to surveillance without their knowledge or compliance
and then storing the data for later use, the government has erected the
ultimate suspect society. In such an environment, there is no such thing as
‘innocent until proven guilty.’”
Since 2010, the Fairfax County
Police Department (FCPD) has used ALPRs to record the time, place, and driving
direction of thousands of drivers who use Fairfax County roads daily. License
plate readers capture over 1,800 images of license tag numbers per minute and
convert the images to a computer format that can be searched by tag number.
This information, stored in a police database for a year, allows the police to
determine the driving habits of persons as well as where they have been. In
2014, Fairfax County resident Harrison Neal filed a complaint against FCPD
asserting its collection and storage of license plate data without an active
investigation violates Virginia’s Government Data Collection and Dissemination
Practices Act (Data Act), a law enacted because of the fear that advanced
technologies would be used by the government to collect and analyze massive
amounts of personal information about citizens, thereby invading their privacy
and liberty.
Despite a 2013 Virginia Attorney
General opinion that its ALPR practices violate the Data Act, FCPD continued to
collect and store ALPR data in order to track the movements of vehicles and
drivers. In 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in favor of Neal, but sent
the case back to the trial court to determine whether the case involved an
“information system” covered by the Data Act.
After the trial court found the Data Act did apply and barred FCPD’s
passive use of ALPRs, the case was again appealed to the Supreme Court of
Virginia. In weighing in on the case, Rutherford Institute attorneys argue that
the history of the Data Act affirms it prohibits the collection and maintenance
of ALPR data by the government, which along with other surveillance
technologies, creates vast dossiers about the lives and activities of citizens.
The amicus brief in Fairfax
County Police Department v Neal is available at www.rutherford.org.
The Rutherford Institute, a
nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge
to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and
educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.
