The killing of John Geer now looks unmistakably like a police coverup

[Genx87]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...7f5262-ab26-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Fairfax, one of the largest police departments in the nation, does not regard police-involved shootings as an “actual offense” and therefore does not report them to the FBI — part of a pattern among law enforcement agencies that results in no reliable statistics on the number of people police kill.

I can certainly see why a police department wouldn't report this information. They dont considering shooting people an offense. Also it may raise eyebrows for some rising stars in the DoJ that want to make a name for themselves to go after trigger happy departments violating citizens rights.

Anyways even the cops on the scene didn't see what this officer claimed to see when he shot this guy.

 

[Bock]

The DOJ really needs to start doing something about all these incidents.
For starters, require all cops to have at least 4 yrs college or military.
Body cams for all
Mandatory reporting of all officer involved shootings, no more voluntary self reporting
It should go to a fed grand jury, not a local one. {I've been witness/plaintiff at a criminal court case - the buddy system with the DA, cops, judge & specially selected grand jury is in full effect} Also learned, the people who show up for grand jury aren't anyone's peers.

 

[Blanky]

The DOJ really needs to start doing something about all these incidents.
For starters, require all cops to have at least 4 yrs college or military.
Body cams for all
Mandatory reporting of all officer involved shootings, no more voluntary self reporting
It should go to a fed grand jury, not a local one. {I've been witness/plaintiff at a criminal court case - the buddy system with the DA, cops, judge & specially selected grand jury is in full effect} Also learned, the people who show up for grand jury aren't anyone's peers.

Agree with all.

 

[Double Trouble]

The DOJ really needs to start doing something about all these incidents.
For starters, require all cops to have at least 4 yrs college or military.
Body cams for all
Mandatory reporting of all officer involved shootings, no more voluntary self reporting
It should go to a fed grand jury, not a local one. {I've been witness/plaintiff at a criminal court case - the buddy system with the DA, cops, judge & specially selected grand jury is in full effect} Also learned, the people who show up for grand jury aren't anyone's peers.

Seem like good ideas, except for the "at least 4 yrs college or military" part. That's not feasible, it would significantly raise the cost for every community (assuming enough qualified candidates even exist to fill all the positions), and whether that positively impacts police activity is undetermined.

 

[cabri]

The DOJ really needs to start doing something about all these incidents.
For starters, require all cops to have at least 4 yrs college or military.
Body cams for all
Mandatory reporting of all officer involved shootings, no more voluntary self reporting
It should go to a fed grand jury, not a local one. {I've been witness/plaintiff at a criminal court case - the buddy system with the DA, cops, judge & specially selected grand jury is in full effect} Also learned, the people who show up for grand jury aren't anyone's peers.

Many police forces require a 4 year degree for the LEO.

 

[Subyman]

Many police forces require a 4 year degree for the LEO.

Can you provide some examples?

 

[MiniDoom]

Fairfax County is one of the better trained and more difficult to get in to police department. My brother in law is a fcleo.
I think some accountability would go further.

 

[Moonbeam]

I was not a witness so I don't think I know what happened, and even if I were I could have seen what wasn't there or missed what was.

 

[master_shake_]

making it necessary to have 4 years of college or military will increase the homeless population.

too hard for hot heads to get jobs

 

[Jaepheth]

The DOJ really needs to start doing something about all these incidents.
For starters, require all cops to have at least 4 yrs college or military.
Body cams for all
Mandatory reporting of all officer involved shootings, no more voluntary self reporting
It should go to a fed grand jury, not a local one. {I've been witness/plaintiff at a criminal court case - the buddy system with the DA, cops, judge & specially selected grand jury is in full effect} Also learned, the people who show up for grand jury aren't anyone's peers.

Being in the military should prevent you from joining a police force for, say, 5 years.

People need time to adjust to not using their gun to solve problems.

 

[Brainonska511]

Obligatory: it's just a couple of bad apples.

 

[cabri]

Can you provide some examples?

Chicago

NYC



While others only require GED/HS diploma; the having a degree is a great benefit, especially in Criminal Justice ara.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

The DOJ really needs to start doing something about all these incidents.
For starters, require all cops to have at least 4 yrs college or military.
Body cams for all
Mandatory reporting of all officer involved shootings, no more voluntary self reporting
It should go to a fed grand jury, not a local one. {I've been witness/plaintiff at a criminal court case - the buddy system with the DA, cops, judge & specially selected grand jury is in full effect} Also learned, the people who show up for grand jury aren't anyone's peers.

Don't agree with mandatory military service. They are police officers, not infantry. It's a completely different mind-set.

And once again, collusion between the cops and the DA's is highlighted. Funny how some people deny this happens. *cough*Ferguson*cough*NYC*cough*

 

[mizzou]

The DOJ really needs to start doing something about all these incidents.
For starters, require all cops to have at least 4 yrs college or military.
Body cams for all
Mandatory reporting of all officer involved shootings, no more voluntary self reporting
It should go to a fed grand jury, not a local one. {I've been witness/plaintiff at a criminal court case - the buddy system with the DA, cops, judge & specially selected grand jury is in full effect} Also learned, the people who show up for grand jury aren't anyone's peers.

The problem incidents aren't due to a lack of education or military expertise, it's behavioral. Many of the "bad apples" out there have a strong record of being complete dicks in their professional and private lives, but they continue to work because there are lots of areas where people just don't want to be cops.

Is the mission to eradicate asshole cops, or eradicate poor judgment? A great cop can have poor judgment. It will always exist, but can be minimized with training and high performing candidates. You can increase the amount of high performing candidates, but it will of course come at a significant cost.

Right now we are a country with mixed bag law enforcement candidates. Some perform at an A level, B, level, all the way to F. We should focus more on getting everyone towards the upper echelon.

Would mandating a 4 year degree help? Yeah, I think so. You do have to have your shit together somewhat to get a 4 year degree. But there are also some great cops out there who just have an associates degree.


I'm OK with bodycams. Why not? Although it reduces privacy, it will at least keep people in check on reporting reality. But keep in mind it is a limited and focused perspective. This is definitely the turning point of "big brother" though.
Won't take long for people to say, "Hey, what if we had a camera here? Or there? Or had cameras on all these spots? Facial recognition software + high resolution video + terabytes of storage = cya later anonymity. Sure, we may be safer, but we will also be less free.

 

[mizzou]

Don't agree with mandatory military service. They are police officers, not infantry. It's a completely different mind-set.

And once again, collusion between the cops and the DA's is highlighted. Funny how some people deny this happens. *cough*Ferguson*cough*NYC*cough*

 

[Jimzz]

Yea I live in NoVA and hear about this from time to time. The latest is just crazy. The only person who says Geer was a danger was the cop that shot him. The other police at the scene and other witness's seem to have the same/similar story which does not match what the cop who shot him is saying.

This seems like a open and shut bad shooting.

 

[Kushina]

Ha HA FUCKING FFX COUNTY PRICKS

Now before Mr.White Knight comes out crying like a little girl. Yes not all cops are evil. Fairfax county just seems to be full of them though. I've met quite nice ones in other locations, ones I felt safe with and glad to have around. Ones that the community trusted. Crying and whining like a little girl doesn't make the community trust a cop.

Fairfax County is one of the better trained and more difficult to get in to police department. My brother in law is a fcleo.
I think some accountability would go further.

It might be but it definitely feels like the county and the courts are in on this together, along with lawyers.

 

[master_shake_]

hands up, and we'll shoot.

terrible.

But Torres said he thought Geer could have had another weapon hidden at his waist. “It was not accidental,” Torres told investigators. “No, it was justified. I have no doubt about that at all. I don’t feel sorry for shooting the guy at all.”

delusional and suffers from bad judgment.

don't they screen police...

The files also reveal for the first time why the Fairfax prosecutor shifted the case to the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria: an internal affairs investigation into a loud, angry “meltdown” Torres had in the Fairfax County Courthouse. In that incident, five months before the Geer shooting, Torres repeatedly cursed at an assistant county prosecutor and stormed out of the courthouse, according to the prosecutor’s statement included in the released documents.

prone to fits of anger and has a serious problem with aggression.

and he's a cop?

“Within days of the shooting, the police department, at the highest levels, knew of the gross discrepancies between Officer Torres’s version of the events and the accounts provided by every other eyewitness.”

a liar too.

 

[Kushina]

^ this post fits the MAJORITY of fairfax county officers.

 

[Pipeline 1010]

The problem incidents aren't due to a lack of education or military expertise, it's behavioral. Many of the "bad apples" out there have a strong record of being complete dicks in their professional and private lives, but they continue to work because there are lots of areas where people just don't want to be cops.

No, they continue to work because the "good" ones support them and protect them and lie for them and ignore their behavior. They continue to work because cops have fought so voraciously and successfully for limited to no accountability. They continue to work because of corrupt unions, internal affairs divisions, DAs, and judges.

There are plenty of people waiting in line to be cops.

Is the mission to eradicate asshole cops

Yes, of course it is. Why would we not do this? Attributing asshole cop behavior to poor judgement is the same thing as saying there are no asshole cops, only good cops who exercise poor judgement. In other words, cops should get to do whatever they want. Nope nope nope nope.

 

[MongGrel]

+1

 

[Triumph]

^ this post fits the MAJORITY of fairfax county officers.

Well no, not really. They're actually a pretty highly trained police force, not your Podunk small town cop. But the policies should be changed to reflect the failures in this case - protection of the cop, refusal to release records, stonewalling, etc.

 

[Mursilis]

^ this post fits the MAJORITY of fairfax county officers.

No, it's just then when you're 12, all authority figures seem like that.

 

[Ruptga]

I just heard about this case. What in the actual fuck? It's one thing to see a story where some shit for brains manages to become a cop and screws everything up for no good reason. It's quite another for an open-and-shut case against that shit for brains to be ignored about by the entire legal system.

 

[berzerker60]

I just heard about this case. What in the actual fuck? It's one thing to see a story where some shit for brains manages to become a cop and screws everything up for no good reason. It's quite another for an open-and-shut case against that shit for brains to be ignored about by the entire legal system.

That "quite another thing" is basically every single time a police officer kills anyone for any reason. The legal system simply does not apply to police officers, as a practical affair. 100000x more so if the victim is a minority, poor person, or someone who can otherwise be stereotyped easily into a story.