Public Testifies to County Commission on Police Practices

By John Lovaas, member of the Ad Hoc Commission on Police Practices, appointed by Chairman Bulova.

Last Monday night, the Ad Hoc Commission on Police Practices held a special open meeting at the Fairfax County Government Center. The Commission was formed in March by Chairman Sharon Bulova in response to the August 2013 killing of unarmed John Geer standing in his home doorway by a Fairfax County officer and was followed by 18 months Police Department stonewalling the Commonwealth Attorney and the public.

The shooter remains on duty today. The Commission’s program Monday consisted of allowing citizens to speak about their experiences with Fairfax County’s finest. The Commission was treated to some robust feedback. Only a few speakers referred directly to the Geer case.

Most focused instead on troubling personal experiences with FCPD. In all, 23 citizens spoke, including Lawrence Bussey and Yani Yancey of Reston. Mr. Bussey, a long-time civic leader, focused on re-building trust in our law enforcement. He was the first of several to cite the lack of a civilian oversight board as a missing element for establishing accountability and restoring the trust. He cited recent police statistics detailing 66 complaints of excessive use of force, with only two sustained after investigation by the police. He emphasized the disproportionate outcomes of police actions, like arrests, on African Americans and Latinos vs. outcomes for whites, for example, by ratios of 4 and 3 to one, respectively.

Ms. Yancey complained of greater police concern for “covering up for bad officers” than for justice, and seeing their highest duty as protecting themselves instead of the public. She thought it was “time for new leadership.”

Several speakers referred to the lack of accountability and transparency, referring to a “culture of secrecy” in the Fairfax County Police Department. Several citizens spoke in emotional terms of encounters with County Police by themselves or loved ones with mental health issues. There are too few officers trained with the skills essential for dealing with citizens with mental health problems, they said. When untrained officers encounter someone with mental problems, bad things can and do happen. One speaker recommended asking 911 for a trained officer equipped to de-escalate tense situations.

When a person with psychiatric illness gets arrested, the situation can further deteriorate--winding up in the County jail where there is little capability to treat mental health problems.

The recent taser killing of Natasha McKenna at the jail was cited. One speaker recommended “diversion,” i.e., diverting someone obviously experiencing mental health problems to a treatment facility rather than the jail. However, such facilities are very limited, almost none operating on a 24-hour basis.

Two women speakers spoke of physical and emotional abuse by County officers in their homes. One said she was roughed up and stuffed, handcuffed, into a squad car for hours when police responded to a call made by her son to 911 reporting his father for abusing her.

The women both claimed that their subsequent complaints to the Police Chief received only silence in response. Claire Gastanaga, Executive Director of Virginia’s ACLU, called on Police to replace a “culture of secrecy with one of transparency and accountability.” She pointedly reminded the Commissioners and the audience that “the civilian authority should be paramount,” perhaps referring to the apparent invisibility of the civilian authority in the Geer case. Only then, she said, will we return to a “culture of constitutional policing.”

Mr. Lovaas is a member of the Ad Hoc Commission on Police Practices, appointed by Chairman Bulova.