Out of Control. An Informal History of the Fairfax County Police.

An Informal History of the Fairfax County Police.

IT WOULD MAKE US LOOK BAD IF WE TOLD YOU WHAT HAPPENED

In June of 1991 the cops decided not to tell the media or anyone else that a British Royal Air Force officer was kidnapped from a Tysons Corner parking lot.  The officer was taken in the trunk of a car to Prince George's County, where he managed to get out using a tire iron.  Several days later Fairfax police arrested two suspects.

On July 12, 1991 a fight between Hispanic and black youths broke out near Jeb Stuart High School at Baileys Crossroads.One of the youths involved was charged with attempted malicious wounding and six others were charged with disorderly conduct. Those charges showed up on a police computer in the public information office.  For that reason, a local newspaper called the police headquarters to get more information.Headquarters didn't know anything about it.  The Mason District station knew about it but didn't release any information about it.

In July of 1991, someone burned the word "Jew" into the front yard of a West Springfield family.  The police called it a destruction of property report and prayed the media wouldn't pick up on it.  But they did and an account of the lawn burning appeared in a local newspaper when B'nai B'rith officials and the family reported it to the paper.

WE DON'T EVIDENCE SO WE'LL HAVE YOU LIE ABOUT IT

In April of 1980 the cops arrested and jailed a man on burglary based on "positive ID' by the house maid.The accused man hired a private detective who had the house maid, a non-English speaking Asian, swear out a statement that she never spoke to the police, and certainly didn't give them a positive ID of anyone.  The arresting cops were not charged with false arrest nor reprimanded although one was "counseled" on being argumentative with the falsely accused citizen on the night of the arrest.

On November 20, 1996, the court overturned the case of a man accused of murder because his arrest was made by Fairfax County Police who failed to offer the man his Miranda warnings.

August 28, 1980 a man convicted of burglary had his conviction reversed because his confession at the hands of Fairfax County Police was unlawful search and seizure. 

April 5, 1988 the court reversed the conviction of a man convicted on three counts of robbery and one count of the use of a firearm in the commission of a robbery because police tainted out-of-court identifications after the witnesses testified that the single photograph had aided them in their in-court identification. The cops got away with it. No one was punished or reprimanded.