Cops and County Attorney Block Evidence in Geer Killing

The View From Over Here

If you had any doubt about who oversees the police force in Fairfax County, the killing of unarmed John Geer in Springfield in August 2013 and the subsequent hiding of the evidence in the case by the Fairfax County Police Department should be clearing things up for you. The unarmed Mr. Geer was gunned down in broad daylight in sight of witnesses, including family members, by one of the armed officers arrayed in Geer’s front yard. Police Chief Ed Roessler refused, and continued to refuse, to reveal the identity of the shooter or other evidence related to the killing to the Geer family, the public, the Commonwealth Attorney, or the U.S. Attorney until the latter took the County to court. The Court recently ordered FCPD to release the identity of the shooter and other evidence to the U.S. Attorney.
Wait a minute! This armed force, the FCPD, is not an independent body. It is accountable to the civilian Fairfax County Government. It is a subordinate unit under the Board of Supervisors. Check out the organization chart at the Fairfax County Government website- http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/government/county-org-chart.pdf . So, where are Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova and the nine district supervisors who make up the Board? Silence. The Police Chief, supported by County Attorney David Bobzien (about $250,000/year) who is also supervised by Bulova and Co., refuses to let others see behind the Police curtain of impunity when they kill citizens. Bulova says nothing.
The Board of Supervisors is responsible for setting policy governing the Police operations and supervising them, just like it does for Community Services, Planning and Zoning, Information Technology, and so forth. Yet, it seems that Chief Roessler alone decides what information will be made available to authorities investigating killings by his officers. Where is Chairman Bulova and where are the nine district supervisors? At present, they are more concerned with the issue of another pay raise for themselves, for example.
How about first they demonstrate they are actually doing the work our taxes pay them to do? They have ignored the outrageous chain of events that has now gone on for 16 months. And, regrettably, John Geer’s killing is not the first to have been hidden behind the steel blue curtain. In the last few years, Dr. Salvatore Culosi, Randall Leroy Collins, David Masters and Hailu Brooks, all died in a hail of Fairfax County Police bullets while unarmed. All shooters were quietly investigated internally and found blameless, continuing a 72 record of no cop ever being so much as charged in line of duty killings. By now, FCPD officers all know that if they pull the trigger they will never be held accountable in this County.
There is a serious constitutional issue here—the lack of civilian authority control over the armed force of police. Ms. Bulova and Co. have abdicated