POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY

                                       The View From Over Here                                                
         I found a brief article about police using a taser to subdue a cafeteria manager in Arlington County interesting.  It contrasted sharply with what likely would have happened had it involved police in neighboring Fairfax or Loudoun.  In Arlington, police were called to a school to respond to “threatening behavior” by a cafeteria manager.  The woman said she had a gun in her bag. When she reached into it, an Arlington police officer stunned her with a taser and subdued her.  An appropriate, effective response. Yet, a few months ago when a tiny Filipino-American woman waved a pair of scissors at Sheriff’s deputies in a Costco in Loudoun County, she died in a hail of bullets. The officers had tasers, but preferred guns.  After a brief internal review, the deputies involved were absolved of any wrongdoing.                                                                                        In Springfield last summer, John Geer, an unarmed man was gunned down by a still unidentified Fairfax County cop as he stood in the doorway of his home surrounded by a SWAT unit armed for duty in Afghanistan.  The killing seemed not even remotely a matter of self defense.  In any normal, civilized jurisdiction, the killer would have been suspended pending a genuine investigation, followed by charges and a trial. However, in the 72 years the FCPD has existed, lots of folks have been killed in the line of duty, but no officer has even been charged.      `         In the case of John Geer's killing, on February 2, after six months of silence, the Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrogh announced the was referring the matter to U.S. Attorney’s office.  No one has been charged, and Mr. Morrogh says he’s stuck because there is a “conflict of interest that has arisen”, AND “there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office.”  He declined to give any further information because “the investigation” is ongoing.                                                                                                                       I have to give Morrogh credit. At least he is admitting conflicts of interest—as if there were none in the first 72 years of fellow officers investigating shooters!  In many cases in recent years, there has been public outcry, and in some cases, quiet out-of-court, 7 figure cash settlements with families of the dead.  There have been appeals by organizations such as the NAACP and the Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability (CCPA) to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to let the sun shine into the FCPD shroud of secrecy and to establish an objective citizens review board to look into killings when complaints are made.  To no avail.                                                                                                       To date, the Fairfax Chairman and Supervisors have refused to act, failed to do their jobs.  They are unwilling to make the police accountable under the laws that govern the rest of us.  Some say they are intimidated by the police, or the police union (imagine anyone fearing a union these days!).                               Hundreds of jurisdictions around the United States have created successful civilian review boards which bring justice not only to the public, but also to the vast majority of police who use lethal force only when absolutely unavoidable.                                                                                                                 For more information and background, google Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability or email  virginiaccpa@aol.com  for more information.