Fairfax County Ad Hoc Police Commission

[cclaxton]

I just attended the first in a long set of Police Commission meetings for Fairfax County, VA that was created in response to a number of police incidents:
1) The (possibly unlawful) shooting of John Geer by a police officer http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/l...ew-questions/;
2) The problems associated with a case that has taken more than a year, and the lack of transparency, and the associated Justice Department investigation and the lack of participation by the Commonwealth's Attorney General.
3) Fairfax County Use of Force Policies overall;
4) The use of a SWAT team to shut down a high-class poker game in a rich neighborhood where when no weapons were present and an undercover officer was on the scene;
5) Other incidents of over-use of SWAT for incidents that did not require it including at least one where a man was killed.
6) Policies around Civil Forfeiture (The poker game netted thousands of dollars in civil forfeitures)
7) Developing an action plan on how to better deal with mentally ill people who are having a crisis or acting-out and police are responding;
8) Consideration of a permanent investigation service whose job is to investigate police shootings and other suspicion of police misconduct.

The goal of the commission is to set a new standard in police oversight and use of force and measured response for mentally ill people. They want to be the best in the nation in every one of these areas.

I attended the Commission meeting last night. It has quite a impressive list of people representing just about every aspect of these issues: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/policec...missioners.htm

I have sent a letter to the commission asking them to:
1) Prohibit Civil Forfeiture by policy by Fairfax County and rely on Criminal Forfeiture alone.
2) Establish better threat assessment policies and refrain from use of SWAT or No-Knock unless it is justified and known threats exist for entry;
3) Support the establishment of an independent prosecutor and oversight board for all controversial police activities.

More can be read here. http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/policecommission/

I will be following this closely and will report on their progress, if any.

Cody

[cclaxton]

Related changes to Fairfax County Attorney. Attorney tried to protect the county by restricting release of information to the families of Geer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...y.html?hpid=z4
Cody

[cclaxton]

Media articles on the commission:
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/...-hoc-police-p/
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/loca...eets/70323284/

Cody

[HCM]

When addressing how police interact with the mentally ill please keep in mind they can be extremely dangerous.

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?15479-SJPD-LODD

[cclaxton]

When addressing how police interact with the mentally ill please keep in mind they can be extremely dangerous.
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?15479-SJPD-LODD

Agreed. The current discussion is to consider a program called CIT (Crisis Intervention Team). They will consider other types of similar programs.
The more we provide LE's with the best training, especially for the mentally ill, the better they can respond in ways that don't lead to death or unnecessary incarceration by either party.
Cody

[Chuck Haggard]

Memphis PD started the CIT training program which so many other places have modeled their training after. They did so in response to several deadly force incidents where EDPs were shot by the police.

I help teach the CIT program at my old job, we have two classes a year in which we run 60+ people through. All of the academy recruits are put through this week long class. It's a good program.

[Lon]

CIT training is great stuff. We send a couple guys a year through CIT training and co host the training with our local Career Center. It's a great program. But all the CIT trained officers in the world won't change some situations. Unfortunately, some people don't understand that.

[David Armstrong]

Agreed. The current discussion is to consider a program called CIT (Crisis Intervention Team). They will consider other types of similar programs.
The more we provide LE's with the best training, especially for the mentally ill, the better they can respond in ways that don't lead to death or unnecessary incarceration by either party.
Cody

My daughter co-ordinates and manages the local CIT training program and likes it a lot. She says she thinks it should be mandatory for every officer. Her hubby is in LE and he found it very helpful.

[jnc36rcpd]

I suggested CIT training be placed in the recruit curriculum when I was assigned to the academy. I was told it would increase the length of the training program to an unacceptable level. Considering the percentage of our cliental that are mentally ill, that made no sense to me.

[trailrunner]

I live in Fairfax County, less than three miles from where the Geer incident happened. I also remember the incident you refer to in number 5.