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