Fairfax County Police Watch: 2020

The point is being missed once again

If the cops are a problem, right away the cops and the media look at race.

The problem with the Fairfax County Police isn't race.

The cops has a problem with all races.

....okay? So it's a not a race issue....its a hiring issue. The FCPD hires malcontents with a punk attitude. Solve that problem....its solvable by brining in outside blood to kick ass and take names......and the County has basically solved 90% of their police issues

In Quest for Transparency, FCPD Launches New Data Dashboard

Amidst national calls for transparency and accountability in policing, the Fairfax County Police Department is launching a new interactive data dashboard.

The tool, which is based on Geographic Information System mapping, houses data including arrests, citations, warnings and police department training and policies. FCPD will debut the new platform at a series of virtual town halls beginning on Nov. 18.

“We look forward to implementing this additional layer of accountability and leveraging data analytics to continue to strengthen trust and confidence in your police department,” FCPD wrote in a statement.

The department says the tool was designed based on community input.

“Our new GIS-based data dashboards were designed with input from stakeholders and we will continue to. Have healthy discussions with each of you concerning police policies and operations in all communities,” wrote FCPD Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. in a letter to the community on Oct. 16.

A renewed focus on FCPD’s operations is expected in early 2021 when a team of researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is expected to complete an academic analysis of FCPD’s data and its relationship to core operations today.

The review was initiated at the direction of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the county’s Independent Police Auditor.

Researchers at UTSA are studying the department’s culture after a study released in 2017 found that roughly 40 percent of all use-of-force incidents involve a Black individual.

Across the country, similar conversations about transparency in policing have resulted in reform and additional policy directives.

Recent arrest data released by the departments shows some evidence of disproportionate policing in the county. The data indicate that Black individuals make up roughly 39 percent of all arrests last year. Black residents account for 9.7 percent of the total population.

FCPD officers arrested 34,330 people in 2019, 57 percent of which were white. White residents make up roughly 61 percent of the total population.

In 2017, a study found that roughly 40 percent of all use-of-force incidents involve a Black individual.

Roessler Jr. says his department is grateful for “the additional layer of accountability” provided by the data sets and the ongoing academic review.

“Together, we shall continue to leverage data analytics to build trust,” he said.

FCPD plans to host virtual town halls with district station commanders to discuss training and policies related to the data sets. The complete schedule, including links to the meetings, is below:

• Fair Oaks District – Nov. 18 https://bit.ly/3eJt3Uo

• West Springfield District – Nov. 24 https://bit.ly/3khd01i

• Sully District – Dec. 9 https://bit.ly/2JYG8y9

• Mount Vernon District – Dec. 16 https://bit.ly/3peB8Wb

• McLean District – Jan. 6 https://bit.ly/3kk4ZZz

• Mason District – Jan. 20 https://bit.ly/32tXLfi

• Reston District – Feb. 4 https://bit.ly/38vYDUG

• Franconia District – Feb. 17 https://bit.ly/3ncEVBy

All meetings will be recorded and released the public at a later date.

..and it only took them 200 years to come up with a law that protects us from the Fairfax County Police

One day after defeat, House committee approves bill limiting qualified immunity for police officers

By Joe Dashiell

Published: Sep. 1, 2020 at 7:28 PM EDT

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) -One day after a House of Delegates committee failed to advance a key criminal justice reform, the measure resurfaced.

And this time, a bill that would make it easier to sue law enforcement officers for violating an individual’s rights moved closer to becoming law.

The legislation would limit the qualified immunity, the legal doctrine which currently shields officers from lawsuits.

It would create a civil action in state law for the deprivation of rights.

“I hope that we will put in place something that will help people think about what they’re doing,” said Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County), “before they shoot people in the back.”

Opponents said the law would make it harder to recruit, and would encourage good officers to leave the force.

Del. Terry Austin (R-Botetourt County) said he had spoken with officers who oppose the measure.

“They’ve got many years of service,” Austin said. “They’re very dedicated to their profession, but this bill can be very devastating. And they’re not willing to jeopardize their livelihood and their homes in the event of a civil case.”

The impact each side argued, would be significant.

“The worst thing that can happen here is you’re second-guessing yourself all the time and in the back of your mind is I can always be sued,” said Del. Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights).

" We went for eight and a half minutes. Someone was on George Floyd’s neck,”said Del. Delores McQuinn (D-Richmond). “There should have been a second-guessing at that time.”

This time the bill passed on a vote 12 to 8. Now it’s headed for a vote in the full House.

I don't agree with this guy, but at least he has tried to make a difference. The problem is punk attitude on FCPD, bottom line

By John Lovaas, Reston Impact Producer/Host

#It was my intention to dedicate this week’s column either to the adventure of running the Reston Farmers Market during Covid-19 or the whereabouts of the RA CEO. As you see, I am doing neither. I cannot ignore the endless police brutality and killing with impunity of people of color. And, I fear it could happen here. Images of shocking brutality on black people by rogue cops keep coming, courtesy of videos by ubiquitous cell phone videos. The latest from Kenosha, Wis. shows an officer holding Jacob Blake and pumping seven bullets into his back beside a car with Blake’s three young children inside. Then we see footage of rioting in Kenosha as police stand by watching, and even socializing a white man with an assault rifle he allegedly used to spray bullets at protesters, killing two of them. A few weeks before that we watched a Minneapolis officer execute George Floyd, asphyxiating him face down in the street with a knee in his back. Will the officers be held accountable for these vile acts? Not if history is our guide.

#Floyd’s killing resulted in massive protests all over the USA. In some cases, protests were followed by small groups rioting and looting, criminal acts using the peaceful protests as camouflage for destruction and robbery. These acts by thugs, among them white supremacists and others encouraged by the right, deserve condemnation by us all and prosecution to the full extent of the law. Law breakers’ violent acts divert attention from the urgent need to reform the police and, as Joe Biden says, not to defund them. End immunity, restore community!

#Fairfax County worked to reform our Police Department in 2015, following public uproar over the unprovoked killing of a white resident and a subsequent coverup. I served on the Ad Hoc Commission created to review police practices. The Commission unanimously adopted over 200 recommendations for transformation of the force. Since then, there has been progress, e.g., improved police training, new use of force regs, and better public information. However, key recommendations were not adopted by the Board of Supervisors. Others stalled in implementation, e.g., adoption of body-worn cameras for police officers.

#The most crucial shortcomings, ones that make the community vulnerable to continued police impunity, were the Board of Supervisors’ failure to adopt recommendations for independent investigation of police use of force and killings. The Commission recommended the County provide funding for both the Commonwealth Attorney and the Civilian Review Panel to contract independent investigators responsible to them, not to the other police officers. Without these reforms, police remain accountable to investigation only by fellow officers for killings and other use of force misdeeds. Without corrective action by the Board, impunity lives on in our Police Department.

#Another shortcoming in the reform effort is the failure of the Police Department to recruit, hire, and promote woefully under-represented minority officers, especially blacks and Latinos, to assure that the force resembles the community it serves. Despite assurances of recruiting in minority areas and the formation of a special diversity advisory group to the Chief, blacks and Latinos are just as under-represented in hiring and promotions to management levels as they were in 2015. One excuse I hear is: they just aren’t interested in being police officers. That is surprising considering that officer salaries start around $55,000. Again, one wonders when will the Board take corrective action?

#Finally, there is the matter of the impunity in the other law enforcement agency of Fairfax County. The Sheriff’s office, with 600 uniformed deputies, is a constitutionally independent unit which did not agree to participate in the reform process. It is the same outfit that in 2015 brutally tasered Natasha McKenna, a mentally ill black prisoner, to death while taking her from her cell to a vehicle for transfer to another jurisdiction. In this case, an official video was released for all to see. An “investigation” by County Police determined that none of the Sheriff’s staff was at fault. The steel blue curtain promptly closed. In this case, reform cannot be mandated by the Board of Supervisors. Reform falls to Sheriff Kincaid.

Do you need more proof the Fairfax County Police are out of control?

Since 2016 at least 30 fleeing drivers have died after police performed a PIT maneuver

Justin Battenfield died when a state trooper bumped his truck at 109 miles per hour, using what is known as a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT.

WASHINGTON — Just as the sun was rising on April 10 near Fort Smith, Arkansas, 34-year-old Justin Battenfield ran a red light in the black Dodge Ram pickup he had purchased a few days before.

For reasons that will never be known, Battenfield, who lived on Social Security payments from a mental disability, refused to stop when a U.S. Forest Service officer tried to pull him over.

It was a decision that cost him his life.

A high-speed chase ensued, and Battenfield began weaving in and out of traffic as an Arkansas State Police trooper picked up the pursuit, the trooper's dash cam video shows.

Ordered to get the truck stopped, the trooper deliberately bumped the truck at a speed of 109 miles per hour, using what is known as a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT.

What happened next was predictable, experts say. The truck flipped and rolled, and Battenfield was killed in the crash.

He was one of at least 30 people who died since 2016 when police performed the PIT maneuver to stop a fleeing vehicle, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation featured Sunday night on "NBC Nightly News."

Combing through news reports and public records, the Post also found hundreds of people who had been injured when police used the PIT. But the actual number of deaths and injuries is unknown, because there is no federal requirement that police departments keep track.

Eighteen of the deaths came after drivers were suspected of minor traffic violations, such as speeding, the Post found. Ten killed were passengers and four were bystanders.

Nearly half of those who died were minorities: nine Black, four Hispanic and one Native American.

When the technique is used successfully, an officer in pursuit uses the cruiser to push the fleeing car’s rear end sideways, sending it into a spin and ending the pursuit, according to the Post.

Experts consulted by the Post and NBC News say the PIT maneuver can be relatively safe and predictable at speeds under 35 miles per hour, but grows increasingly dangerous at higher speeds. Experts say it's also more dangerous when used against vehicles with higher centers of gravity such as SUVs, trucks and minivans, because they are more prone to flipping.

Maria Asucena Carbijal Lopez died in a 2017 police pursuit in North Carolina.Courtesy Brian Hochman

"If used properly, a PIT is a good, safe maneuver," Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, said. "And if used improperly, at high speeds, in the wrong area, against the wrong vehicle, it's deadly."

An Arkansas State Police spokesman defended his agency's actions to local media after the crash.

"PIT has been used by the Arkansas State Police for no less than the past 18-20 years and continues to be used by state troopers, particularly if innocent lives are being threatened, as was the case involving the Fort Smith incident," spokesman Bill Sadler was quoted as saying at the time.

Sadler did not respond to requests for comment Friday by NBC News.

Linda Hamm, a close family friend who helped raise Justin Battenfield, wondered why the police weren't able to stop him using less violent means — or why they didn't just break off the pursuit and arrest him later.

A temporary license plate on the new truck was in Battenfield's name, she said.

"I don't believe it should have happened," she said. "They had plenty of opportunity to stop him before he got back in town. ... I'm very hurt over it. I just don't understand why they do that rate of speed."

The PIT maneuver was developed for police decades ago in Fairfax County, Virginia, police there say. Officers gave NBC News a demonstration on their track in Chantilly, near Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.

Lt. Jay Jackson, who supervises the training, said Fairfax County police perform the PIT about 13 times a year, and no one has been seriously hurt.

"It all comes down to training," he said. "Here in Fairfax County we do extensive training on the PIT maneuver. They have to do eight successful PITs to even become certified."

The county also has policies that prohibit high speed chases of minor offenders, which means the PIT likely would not be used on someone who ran a red light, Jackson said.

Some departments, including New York State police, have banned the PIT, while others, such as LAPD, forbid it at speeds over 35 miles an hour.

But at least 30 large police agencies allow the technique at any speed, The Washington Post found.

That was the policy of the North Carolina State Police in 2017, when a group of teenagers drove away from a state trooper trying to pull over their minivan.

The trooper bumped the vehicle at at one hundred miles an hour. It flipped and rolled and all four teens were thrown out

Two girls, ages 15 and 16, were killed.

Jonathan Thomas suffered a broken neck. The last thing he remembers before the crash is holding his girlfriend, Maria Lopez, who died.

"There's no justification in taking two lives and almost three," he said.

The trooper was not charged, police said. North Carolina instituted a new policy prohibiting the PIT over 55 miles per hour.

Ken Dilanian is a correspondent covering intelligence and national security for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Isn't it awful that we need laws like this to protect US...the citizens from those cops who assume you won't throw back?

Virginia to consider reducing penalty for assaulting police

By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers plan to take up dozens of criminal justice reforms during a special legislative session this week, but one proposal in particular is expected to spark an intense battle: a push to change a law that allows police to charge people with felony assault even if the arresting officers are not seriously hurt.

A bill by Senate Democrats would downgrade the charge of assault and battery on a law enforcement officer from a felony to a misdemeanor.

The proposal is one of an array of reforms drafted in Virginia since the May 25 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police prompted a nationwide protest movement. Lawmakers will also consider bills to ban the use of police chokeholds and no-knock warrants, enhance the ability of courts to expunge criminal records, and eliminate jury sentencing except when requested by defendants.

Sen. Scott Surovell, the chief sponsor of the assault and battery bill, said it would eliminate the current mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail and change the law so the charge can only be brought as a felony if an officer has a visible physical injury. Surovell said he is also considering adding provisions requiring that another officer — not the arresting officer — investigate the circumstances and that a prosecutor approve the charge.

Critics of the current law say police overuse the charge, particularly in cases where they fear the person they arrested will claim police brutality.

“It is a charge that tends to arise whenever officers get into a tussle with someone,” Surovell said. Virginia’s legislature made the charge a felony in 1997, at a time when states around the country and Congress were passing “tough on crime” laws. The enhanced penalty for assaulting law enforcement officers also applies to judges, magistrates, corrections officers, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.

Marie Dantio, of Alexandria, was arrested in 2013 when she went to a church in the middle of the night to try to see a priest. Dantio, who has mental health issues and was homeless at the time, said she did not immediately respond to Fairfax County police officers who responded to a trespassing call.

Dantio said the officers pushed her to the ground. One officer alleged Dantio injured her hand. Dantio said she spent two months in jail and eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in exchange for dropping the felony assault charge. She said she lost her job as a nurse’s aide because of her arrest.

“I feel very sad,” Dantio said. “I know I didn’t do it.”

Lt. Erica Webb, a spokeswoman for Fairfax County police, declined to comment on Dantio’s claims or the extent of the officer’s injury.

“While taking Ms. Dantio into custody, she assaulted an officer, causing an injury,” Webb wrote in an email.

States around the country have a patchwork of laws covering assaults on law enforcement officers. Some states allow the charge to be brought as both a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances, while other states don’t have a separate law, but allow for enhanced penalties for assaults on police, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The proposal to downgrade the charge in Virginia is expected to face fierce opposition from police and Republican lawmakers.

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said the nationwide protests since Floyd’s killing have shown “unprecedented levels″ of anger toward police.

“We should be doing more to protect officers instead of sending a message that assaulting them is not a serious offense,” Schrad said.

Republican Minority Leader Sen. Tommy Norment said he finds it “unfathomable” that Democrats are calling for reduced penalties, given the repeated violent clashes between police and demonstrators during recent protests in Richmond.

“Very candidly, for those who are advocating it — particularly in the current lawless atmosphere — I wonder what they have been smoking,” he said.

Norment is sponsoring a bill that would increase the mandatory minimum sentence of six months to a year in jail. For assaults on police during a state of emergency, the mandatory minimum would jump to two years.

Stephen Hill was charged by Alexandria police last year as he sat outside a grocery store drinking wine. Hill, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, said he was intoxicated at the time and struggling with substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hill said he was moving slowly, intending to follow a police command to leave, when an officer grabbed his arm. He had a broken collarbone, but was not wearing his sling. He said he winced in pain and struggled as the officers handcuffed him behind his back.

Hill said he briefly grabbed onto the officer’s duty belt to stabilize himself. The officer then smashed his face against the side of the patrol car, breaking his nose, he said.

“I had no intention whatsoever to do anything bad,” Hill said

A spokesman for the Alexandria Police Department declined to immediately comment on Hill’s account.

Hill said he agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct because he faced a minimum of six months in jail on the felony assault charge.

“Once the offer was presented, I had no business risking the rest of my life with a felony on my record,” he said.

Calls for Fairfax Police Chief to resign, complaints and police reform being discussed

by Timothy Barber

Fairfax County, VA (ABC7) — Fairfax County’s Public Safety Committee met Tuesday afternoon to talk about police complaints and a study into the department’s use of force.

Presentation were made by the leaders of the Police Civilian Review Panel and Independent Police Auditor Richard Schott.

Professors from the University of Texas at San Antonio also made a presentation about a study they are doing on the agency’s use of force data. The study is looking for potential reasons or causes for racial disparities.

It is expected to be completed with recommendations in early 2021.

The Police Civilian Review Panel processed 29 complaints last year, with two complaints resulting in changes.

So far, the panel has received 18 complaints this year.

The Independent Police Auditor reviewed 22 cases last year.

Last month, Fairfax County Officer Tyler Timberlake was caught on body camera firing a stun gun multiple times at an unarmed Black man who was having some sort of episode in the middle of a street.

Yesterday, Timberlake was indicted on three counts of assault and battery.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano released the following in a statement:

“Today the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office successfully indicted Tyler Timberlake on three counts of assault and battery. This means that we can now look ahead to a jury trial that will give our community an opportunity to weigh in on this important case. I believe the community’s involvement in deciding this matter is essential and is why we pursued and obtained today’s grand jury indictments.”

Police Chief Ed Roessler released the body camera video after the incident and condemned the officer’s actions— a move that sparked calls for his resignation by the local police union.

Brad Carruthers, President of Fairfax Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 77 said in part; “I would like to convey just how disappointed and disheartened we are with your recent statements and actions. It has become abundantly clear that your political agenda trumps your obligation to being a fair and impartial leader. When you publicly excoriate an officer under your command, characterizing their actions as "disgusting" without even a nascent investigation, you have crossed the line from Chief of Police to that of politician playing dress up.”

In Virginia, records detailing police misconduct and use of force are effectively secret

• By NED OLIVER / Virginia Mercury

The white state trooper leaned into the Black driver’s car. “You are going to get your ass whooped,” he said before pulling the man from the car.

Virginia State Police Superintendent Gary Settle offered a swift condemnation of the behavior when video of the incident in Fairfax County was released earlier this month, promising a criminal investigation.

But otherwise, the state police department has refused to release details about the trooper, Charles Hewitt, seen in the footage of the 2019 arrest, declining to say whether he has faced other complaints in the past or to provide reports detailing them.

In many states, such information would be a matter of public record, including Minnesota, where Minneapolis police quickly disclosed that the officer filmed kneeling on George Floyd’s neck had been the subject of 18 prior complaints, two of which resulted in discipline.

Virginia, however, is one of 23 states in which records of police misconduct are effectively confidential, according to a nationwide review by WNYC.

Under Virginia public records laws, police agencies can choose to release records detailing complaints. But in practice, they almost never do. Even prosecutors have said they struggle to obtain personnel records from departments when officers face investigations or allegations of misconduct.

It’s not just police misbehavior that Virginia law shields from public view. Basic information about how officers use force on a day-to-day basis is hard to come by in the state. Only 15 percent of the state’s law enforcement agencies participate in the FBI’s voluntary use-of-force reporting program. And in a survey of the state’s 10 largest cities and counties, only one police department provided use-of-force reports requested by the Virginia Mercury under state open records laws.

Facing questions last week from lawmakers about how troopers are held accountable following complaints, Settle detailed a multi-layered internal review process — variations of which are employed in police departments around the state.

But some lawmakers wondered how those measures square with videos they see of officers brazenly using excessive force or otherwise violating department standards, most recently in the case of Trooper Hewitt.

“Some of the officers look so confident in wrongdoing, it’s as though they know that there will be no repercussions,” Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, told Settle. “It looks like the policy and procedure is enough to get rid of folks like that, but nobody does anything about it. … It looks like no one is enforcing it.”

‘Watch the show folks’

In addition to threatening an “ass whooping,” Hewitt is seen describing himself as “a f—ing specimen,” turning to the camera Derrick Thompson was using to film the interaction and saying, “Watch the show, folks.” He then forcefully pulled Thompson, who had been pulled over for an expired inspection sticker, from the car. Officers said they smelled marijuana in the car but found none.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller issued a blanket denial when asked for information about or copies of complaints Hewitt has faced in the past. Geller cited three exemptions in Virginia’s public records laws that she said allowed them to withhold information about Hewitt, saying the department considers them investigative files, personnel records and records of background investigations.

“The department has considered your request,” she wrote, “and opted to exercise its statutory discretion … not to release the documents.”

The decision is not exactly surprising. Police in Virginia rarely choose to release such information. Sometimes, information about police misconduct stays under wraps even when prosecutors pursue criminal charges against officers.

This month, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Collette McEachin acknowledged that her office and the police department had not been publicly announcing when grand juries handed down indictments for criminal misconduct against officers.

She said that would change going forward, but then refused to provide the name of a city police officer who was recently indicted and is scheduled to be tried next month, meaning for the public to find out about the case, they would have to cross-reference hundreds of court records with a roster of the local police department’s more than 700 officers — a list of names that is not readily available.

“You’re welcome to find it,” McEachin told reporters. “The officer's name is not hidden, it’s on the public indictment. … Literally, it’s in this courthouse.”

In response to questions from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Richmond Police Department subsequently identified the officer as Lance Falkena, who is charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.

In other jurisdictions, some commonwealth’s attorneys have lamented that not even they can get records of police misconduct from their local departments. Members of the newly formed Progressive Prosecutors for Justice are backing legislation that would grant them unrestricted access to police reports and disciplinary records.

“One of the things we do not get access to is personnel issues such as complaints for use of force or integrity issues,” said Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Anton Bell. “As the chief law enforcement officer, we want to be preventative instead of being in a position where we have to respond only after something bad has happened to our communities.”

Use-of-force data often shielded

Residents in some localities have pushed for more transparency not just in misconduct complaints, but how police are using force on a daily basis.

In Norfolk last month, protesters staged a six-day sit-in outside City Hall to demand the city begin releasing reports detailing incidents in which officers shoot, tase, wrestle or otherwise lay hands on someone in the line of duty.

Stop hiring punks and watch how quickly things change

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — For Lee District Supervisor Rodney Lusk, reviewing how Fairfax County dispatches public safety personnel seems like a good first step if you're looking to improve how police respond to calls for service.

"That's where everything starts," Lusk said, in an interview with Patch. "Most of the calls that aren't going to fire and rescue end up going to the police. And the question is, do the police need to get all of those calls, especially for those that have low-level substance abuse, low-level issues with mental health, where there's really no criminality involved? The person is just having an issue."

Lusk and Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn submitted a board matter Tuesday calling for a review of the county's 9-1-1 call system. The idea behind the measure is to identify incidents in which police officers are not necessary, and where it would be better to dispatch unarmed medical, human services, and mental health professionals instead.

In his board matter, Lusk referenced other jurisdictions around the country that have established models where dispatchers routinely divert mental health and similar calls away from the police department to more appropriate responders. In particular, Lusk pointed to the CAHOOTS model employed by the City of Eugene, Oregon.

"It's been around for like 30 years and it's been extraordinarily successful," he said. "If you look at the numbers for it, you can see that they've been able to divert 20 percent of their police calls through this process. With that 20 percent allocation of calls that are going directly to this behavioral, mental health platform, you're only having like 1 percent of them needing [police] backup."

If Fairfax County adopted a program like CAHOOTS, it would not immediately see the same level of success, according to Lusk.

For one thing, the county does not have a level of staff it could dedicate right now to respond to those types of calls. Currently, if a police officer responds to a call that she determines to be a mental health or substance abuse situation, she could either bring the subject to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center or call in the Mobile Crisis Unit.

"We're going to probably have to work ourselves to be able to clearly triage and identify which cases are those low-level ones, and then send out those kind of behavioral, mental health folks and not have to have backups," Lusk said. "But there will be instances, I'm more than certain, where there will be a need for backup. And that's why we don't want to defund the police, because you still need to ensure the safety of those workers and the citizens, when something devolves and becomes much more serious and much more dangerous than it was originally anticipated."

Adopting a CAHOOTS-like program in Fairfax County would also free up officers from certain types of cases and allow them to focus on their core mission.

"If the police aren't dealing with these kind of issues, they can deal with other issues of criminality, other issues that are more of important to the community for public safety," Lusk said. "So to me, I think it allows them to do their best work and to be focused on the issues that are most pressing within the community."

In regards to deescalating violent situations, Lusk is in favor of all FCPD officers receiving Crisis Intervention Training — currently, only 40 percent of the department has received such training.

"Even with this new model, you just never know what circumstances they're going to be put in where you might think that this call that they get sent on is not a behavioral health call," Lusk said. "It might turn into one when they get there. ... I think that's the thing that we've done wrong. We've put them in the front when they probably should be in the back only as support."

Like other places around the country, the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police has proved to be a tipping point for Fairfax County when it came to police reform, according to Lusk.

"If you'd asked me right after George Floyd, I would have been like, 'I don't anticipate that we would have this happen in Fairfax County,'" he said.

But that all changed about a week after Floyd's death when a Fairfax County Police officer responded to a call in the Gum Springs neighborhood.

Body-worn camera footage showed Tyler Timberlake, an eight-year veteran of the force, kneeling on a man's back and tasing him in the neck. Tyler was subsequently charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery.

At its June 9 meeting, the Board voted unanimously to approve a statement of support for those in the county calling for racial justice and to find funding to implement the next phase of the Fairfax County Police Department's body-worn camera program.

"I think there is a recognition that we will not have business as usual," Lusk said. "I also think that the body worn camera has changed this forever into the future."

In the interest of greater accountability, the Board has also pushed FCPD to be more open about the data it collects. The department recently issued arrest and traffic data demographics for 2019.

Lusk said the Public Safety Committee will be bringing in the Citizen Review Panel and the Independent Police Auditor to present their annual reports, as well as the University of Texas, which is conducting a use of force analysis study for the county. He's also planning a series of public information sessions, including one with representatives from the City of Eugene, Oregon, to talk about the CAHOOTS program.

"I think there's a lot of the interest from the Board members, and I think even the work that my committee, the Public Safety Committee, is doing, we have strong advocates in these communities," Lusk said. "They're very specific about what things they think should be changed. They articulate those recommendations extraordinarily well."

At Tuesday's board meeting, the supervisors unanimously approved Lusk and Alcorn's board matter. Now, county staff, including the Deputy County Executive for Public Safety and the Deputy County Executive for Human Services, will review the county's 9-1-1 dispatch and response system to deploy tried unarmed medical, mental health, and human services professionals to respond as needed. A status update must be shared with the board no later than Oct. 1.

'Let me see in their position': Faith leaders attend Fairfax Police use-of-force workshop

by Justin Hinton

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — “The climate is constantly changing so we always have to have this conversation. We always have to be doing this so that we can stay ahead of things,” said Pastor Jeremiah Marshall of Gospel Outreach Community Center.

He said he was inspired to attend and learn from a police use of force training workshop held at Christ Church in Fairfax Station Friday after seeing the body cam footage of an officer using his stun gun on a resident and what ensued.

On Saturday, June 6, after a day of racial justice protests in D.C. following the death of George Floyd, the Fairfax County Police Department called a late press conference to release details surrounding the arrest of one of the department's own officers.

Body camera video showed the white officer, Tyler Timberlake, deploying his stun gun on a Black man, who was walking away from him at the time.

“Compiled with everything else, it was a heavy weight," Marshall said. "It was heavy weight, hence driving me to be here today to try and understand where they’re at and how I can be a part of the change that can happen within Fairfax County Police Department."

But he and other faith leaders didn’t come to just sit down and learn about the six-month academy, the 250 hours devoted to use of force training or the internal checks to make sure officers aren’t applying force too many times.

They also came for a simulation to see if they would use force on a given scenario.

“It kind of let me see in their position what they have to do and how they have to do it and how much time they have to do it in,” said Marshall.

These types of forums have been taking place in Fairfax County for quite some time.

The police chief says it’s how policies are developed.

“The policies we are explaining today with our community advocates was and is and will continue to be co-produced with our community,” Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said. “Maybe there’s a gap in our policy that community members can identify so we can take that constructive criticism back and work with our community advocates to enhance what we do in Fairfax County.”

He says Fairfax County was ahead of the curve when it came to reviewing policy within the policy department.

Still not getting it. It's a hiring problem, FCPD hires low caliber people for the force.

Calls to 911 could be dispatched differently from the start.

By Ken Moore

Only 40% of Fairfax County Police officers are currently trained in crisis intervention techniques. “Never has this disparity been more clear to me personally than in the body camera footage of the recent incident in Gum Springs, where one officer clearly and responsibly worked to de-escalate and render assistance to a resident in mental distress, while another officer chose to escalate the situation to the point of violence — in my view without having made a meaningful effort to peacefully resolve the situation,” said Lee Supervisor Rodney Lusk in a Board Matter on Tuesday, July 14. “This is a disconnect that is not unique to Fairfax County, and one that other jurisdictions have succeeded in overcoming.”

Why hasn't this punk been checked for mental illness? Did you see what he did? It isn't normal behavior.

Fairfax Co. officer charged in stun gun assault ‘moving to Minneapolis’ when arrested

Neal Augenstein

A prosecutor told a judge Monday that when Fairfax County, Virginia, police officer Tyler Timberlake was arrested for assault, less than two days after using a stun gun on a man, he “was already in the process of moving to Minneapolis” — the city in which George Floyd, a Black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than 8 minutes.

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Frank told District Court Judge Susan Stoney that after the June 5 incident, Timberlake “didn’t turn in his body-worn camera at the end of his shift — he went home sick, and didn’t turn it in the next day.”

Timberlake, who is white, used a stun gun on the man, who was disoriented and did not appear combative, in the Mount Vernon section of Fairfax County. In announcing his arrest, police released body-camera video of the incident.

Asked to elaborate on the statements Frank made in court, or provide a more detailed timeline, Antonio Peronace, a spokesman for Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, declined.

Monday, prosecutors were granted permission to drop three misdemeanor counts of assault and battery against Timberlake, with the intention of seeking a grand jury indictment, so the officer would be tried in circuit court.

“We want to make sure the people of Fairfax County have the opportunity to be heard” as jury members, Frank said.

In district court, the judge hears testimony, sees evidence and issues a verdict.

Frank made his claims about Timberlake’s plans to move to Minneapolis, and not immediately turning in his body-worn camera, in response to statements from defense attorney Edward Nuttall that “high level prosecutors and the police department” went to extraordinary lengths to arrest the officer quickly in the midst of emotional protests surrounding the police-involved deaths of Floyd and other Black Americans.

Nuttall said prosecutors and police had scheduled a news conference before an arrest warrant was issued for Timberlake.

Prosecutors have not said what charges they will seek in an indictment. The Fairfax County grand jury next meets on Monday. Timberlake remains free on his own recognizance.

An attorney for Timberlake didn’t respond to a request for comment about Frank’s statements to the judge.

After Timberlake’s Monday hearing, the local Fraternal Order of Police announced it is calling for the resignation of police Chief Ed Roessler for his comments immediately following the officer’s arrest.

Opinion: Commentary: Police Brutality, Peaceful Protest and Crime