Advocates urge Fairfax County to address racial disparities in policing

A use of force incident in Fairfax County in June captured on a police body camera. The officer was arrested for assault. [WJLA]

The Fairfax County Police Department needs to do a better job of eliminating racial disparities in the use of force and improve relationships with immigrant communities. Those were among the key issues that surfaced at a public listening session Sept. 30 hosted by Supervisor Rodney Lusk (Lee) and public safety officials. 

Lusk plans to propose a pilot program to have certain non-violent calls involving mental health or substance abuse incidents handled by alternative agencies rather than the police. 

The following summary is from the first hour of the session, which featured representatives from organizations. 

The racial disparity in arrests and use of force is increasing, said Diane Alejandro of ACLU People Power Fairfax. There are five times more arrests of Blacks than whites. And while use of force incidents have decreased overall in Fairfax County, they have decreased among whites but have increased among Blacks and Latinos.

Blacks are just 10 percent of the Fairfax County population but are involved in 46 percent of the use-of-force incidents by FCPD. 

Systemic racism

According to Alejandro, “there are cultural and systemic forces that come into play” that are causing “systemic racism” in Fairfax County law enforcement. While most officers are doing a good job, “there’s an us versus them culture.” As a result, the system rewards practices that lead to biased outcomes. 

In response, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler spoke about the effective men and women on the police force who “value the sanctity of life” and are “building great relationships with the community.” 

“We have great accountability systems on the use of force and the transparency of data, and we are working to provide more robust data,” Roessler said. 

He noted a study of the FCPD is underway by researchers at the University of Texas that will help the department better understand use of force incidents and what precipitated them, such as whether it was a traffic stop or a 911 call. 

Collaboration with ICE

Representatives from the Legal Aid Justice Center and CASA Virginia spoke about the lack of trust between the police and the immigrant community. Many officers unfairly target black and brown people, and as a result, immigrants don’t report crimes because they fear being turned over to ICE and deported. 

A representative of an organization that helps people locked up in immigrant detention centers urged the police department to stop sharing information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through the gang database. 

She said people mistakenly added to the gang database have trouble clearing their names and are at risk of deportation, 

In one example, a Fairfax County resident in his 20s who had fled gang violence in Central America was picked up by police who had been looking for someone else, she said. This man was identified as a gang member with no evidence. He was placed in a detention center for months alongside members of the gang he had escaped from. 

Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner, a former member of the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission, said some of the 200 recommendations put forth five years ago have been more effectively implemented than others. More transparency is needed around the use of force, for example. 

The murder of George Floyd “ignited the need to consider the police through the lens of systemic racism,” Niedzielski-Eichner said. He called for a new commission to develop a consensus on the role of the police and what functions could be better handled by other agencies.

Related story: Police commission proposes citizen panel to investigate misconduct

“There has to be an urgency” about addressing these issues, said Sean Perryman, president of the  Fairfax County NAACP. “There are not just violent criminals subject to the use of force.” 

The University of Texas study “won’t provide more information that we don’t know.” Perryman said. “This has been going on for years. No one cared until a man in Minneapolis was killed by a police officer.” 

A sense of mistrust

The problem is the culture of the FCPD, Perryman said, noting that many of the officers don’t agree with Roessler’s reforms.  

He called for banning the use of force on individuals who are handcuffed, requiring mandatory drug testing, including steroids, for officers involved in lethal use of force incidents, and crisis intervention services available 24/7. 

Kofi Annan, founder and president of The Activated People, urged Fairfax County officials to reduce the police department’s budget and transfer funds to other community agencies that are better suited to handle certain issues. 

Annan also proposed getting rid of school resource officers and instead have disciplinary issues handled by school administrators. SROs “do far more harm than good,” he said. 

Brenda Tillet, founder of a group called Bolster the Blue, spoke up in support of the police and called for efforts to “protect our officers against abuse.” She said Roessler should be fired because the officers no longer trust or respect him. 

Tillet criticized Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano for going too far in actively pursuing charges against officers. Descano, she said, “created an environment in which officers are hunted and he is the hunter.” 

Animal cruelty

Gina Lynch, of the Humane Society of Fairfax County, took aim at Descano’s policy on prosecuting animal abusers. She said people charged with misdemeanors involving animals should be prosecuted by attorneys, not animal protection officers in the police department. 

Descano said animal cruelty cases are important and his office has requested more staff and resources to handle misdemeanor cases.

Dawn Butorac, a public defender in Fairfax County, spoke out for pay equity. She said public defenders, who represent the most vulnerable people – including people who are poor, mentally ill, homeless, and affected by trauma – should be compensated at the same level as prosecutors. 

Ron Kuley, president of Professional Fire Fighters & Paramedics Local 2068, called for more health coverage and hazard pay for emergency workers affected by COVID-19. 

“We are handling some of the most difficult calls of our careers,” including helping infected people in nursing homes, Kuley said. “Our members are at great peril of contracting COVID-19 and taking the virus home to our families.”