Because of the “dramatic uptick” in officer-involved shootings by Fairfax County police in the past two years, the county’s Office of the Independent Police Auditor in coming months will review all 15 police shootings of people since 2017.
Officer-involved shootings involving Fairfax County police more than tripled last year, with six incidents involving people and one shooting of a domesticated animal. There have been three officer-involved shootings of people so far in 2023, said Independent Police Auditor Richard Schott, who on June 13 presented his 2022 annual report to the Board of Supervisors’ Safety and Security Committee.
Previously, there had been one officer-involved shooting of a person in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, and two in 2020. There also was one domesticated-animal shooting by police in both 2017 and 2019.
Schott and his staff will conduct a trend review of all 15 officer-involved shootings of people since 2017, the year the Office of the Independent Police Auditor was established.
The office will consider both antecedent and situational factors pertaining to the incidents, the demographics of both the officers and subjects involved in the shootings, case outcomes, and how county police have responded and changed policies as a result.
The Office of the Independent Police Auditor will provide the results of its survey to the Board of Supervisors and public within two or three months, Schott said.
“Clearly, that number [of officer-involved shootings] is concerning,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said. “On the other hand, we need to get to an explanation of what’s really happening, as opposed to just jumping right to what is happening and deciding in our own mind what’s going on.”
Schott’s office reviewed or monitored 22 use-of-force cases last year, according to the annual report. Twelve of those were automatic reviews including 10 cases with officer-involved shootings, one police-canine bite that resulted in a serious injury and one case, not involving use of force by officers, in which someone in police custody died after having a medical emergency.
Nine of the cases stemmed from public complaints, seven of which were fielded by the police department and two by the Office of the Independent Police Auditor. Schott’s office also conducted a 2020 case review, which had been requested by former Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr., involving an officer’s deployment of an electronic-control weapon (i.e., taser).
Those nine excessive-force complaints involved two incidents each of using force to cuff suspects, brandishing firearms and physically taking down people, plus one incident each of police pushing, striking or assaulting people.
Schott in 2022 published eight incident reports that determined the police department’s investigations had been complete, thorough, objective, impartial and accurate.
The police department implemented recommendations based on these three incident reports completed in 2022:
• Following an incident on Dec. 4, 2019, officers are required to issue a warning before releasing a patrol-service dog to apprehend a person.
•Stemming from a case on July 19, 2021, police need to consider non-criminal factors when determining whether officers have used a reasonable level of force in non-criminal situations. This also applies when a person involved in criminal activity is having a medical or mental-health crisis.
• After an incident on Nov. 23, 2020, the police department increasingly will stress the importance of, and training for, proper conduct of searches pertaining to lawful arrests.
County police last year also implemented 12 more of Schott’s recommendations based on incident reports completed before 2022.
Schott also recommended that county police change the terminology in their use-of-force policies to reflect that there needs to be imminent danger, not immediate, to officers’ lives or those of other people before police may use force.
“Court cases throughout the judiciary have always indicated that law-enforcement officers do not have to wait until a threat has become immediate to try to resolve a situation by using force,” Schott said. “They are legally able to use force when the threat of harm is imminent, before it becomes immediate.”
Schott’s office last year also continued to provide support for the Police Civilian Review Panel and assisted with the start-up of the new county office of that same name, plus the hiring of its first executive director.
His office in 2022 also conducted media and outreach events and provided an independent intake for complaints against county police. Schott noted he had given a presentation to the National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement and helped establish a Virginia-centric alliance for civilian-oversight practitioners, which will aid other localities in the state that are conducting similar reviews of law enforcement.
Supervisory Penelope Gross (D-Mason) said Schott was a good hire and that his work consistently has been impressive.
“You issue clear and reasonable opinions and they are understood by the layperson like me,” Gross said. “I read every word.”
