Ferguson, Missouri Killing and Fairfax County Echoes

Regrettably, a lot of the news coming out of a place called Ferguson, Missouri sounds familiar. The police seem eerily similar to some in Fairfax County. Based on press reports and official statements, here are some of the similarities:
-an unarmed citizen is shot to death by a police officer;

-he is shot multiple times, including in the back, according to witnesses;

-the citizen’s bullet-riddled body is left lying where he fell for hours;

-police refuse (for several days) to divulge the shooter’s identity

-the police look more like a military force than civilian police. They have armored vehicles and the weapons of the military in a war zone.

This has happened all too often here in Fairfax County. In May 2007, for example, Randall Leroy Collins was shot 11 times and his body left to lie on the street by his car where he fell. There were several Fairfax police shooters (executioners?) whose names were never divulged. Like Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mr. Collins was killed while being black. But in Fairfax County, police officers have killed unarmed white men, too.

Reactions, however, have been different in Ferguson, Missouri than what we typically see here in Northern Virginia. Citizens there expressed outrage, unfortunately to the point of violence in some cases. And, government officials (beyond the police and town officials) have reacted with sharp criticism and demands for full and transparent investigation of police use of lethal force. Now, the FBI is involved and it seems there is a high probability for a real investigation and holding the police accountable.

To date, in the 72 years since the Fairfax County Police Department was created, there has never been a full, transparent investigation of killings by police officers. Many people have been shot and killed by Fairfax police officers under suspicious circumstances, including several in recent years-- like Mr. Collins and just last year John Geer in Springfield (gunned down as he stood in his doorway talking to the police)--but not a single shooter has ever been charged with inappropriate action much less a crime in 72 years. Why? Because “investigations” have always been done internally by fellow police officers, out of public view and with no civilian oversight.

Sadly, there has been no generalized public outrage in Fairfax County. Citizens have not taken to the streets like the brave people of Ferguson. The Fairfax Board of Supervisors seems intimidated by the police, afraid to provide civilian oversight or demand accountability in the use of lethal force on unarmed people. It seems the police here will continue to act with impunity, perhaps until the day when a Supervisor’s family member or an important campaign contributor is gunned down.

For more information, go to the website of the Virginia Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability at www.virginiaccpa.com