The Washington Post
June 28, 1978, Wednesday, Final Edition
Half of Fairfax Police Complaints Valid
BYLINE: By Diane Egner, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: Metro; B4
LENGTH: 544 words
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
hearings into the police problem in America.
Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a
permanent DOJ office on Police
Misconduct.
Almost half of the 253 complaints filed against Fairfax
County Police officers last year were justified, according to a summary of an
internal police study released yesterday by the head of the 648-member force.
Only one of the valid complaints involved use of excessive
physical force, according to Police Chief Col. Richard A. King. Another officer
was dismissed on charges of stealing funds from a police station fund and two
were disciplined for unwarranted use of their pistols, King said.
The force is currently being investigated by a federal grand
jury in Alexandria because of an incident in which a 16-year-old youth claimed
he was beaten by three officers who arrested him on charges of violating his
parole. Also under investigation by the grand jury is the county's internal
police review board, an all-officer agency that reviews charges against the
Fairfax officers.
King yesterday called the percentage of justified complaints
"normal," citing 238 complaints the department had recorded in
1976."There are in-excess of 250,000 contacts (by policemen) with the
public every year," he said. "That's (253 complaints) not too
bad."
Most of the complaints involving the officers were filed by
their superiors and involved dress, conduct and disobedience of internal
regulations, King said.
In addition to the dismissal of the officer accused of
taking money from the police station, King said three other officers under
investigation resigned from the force last year. However, the chief said
yesterday he could not remember details of those incidents.
"I have nothing to hide," King said. "That's
the reason for the report."
The excessive force charge stemmen from an incident
involving three officers and a "small group" of people, King said.
One of the officers "roughly handcuffed and put a suspect into a squad
car," King said. "The incident involved the use of a foot." King
said he could not remember other details of the incident. The charge resulted
in th unnamed officer's suspension from the force for 10 days without pay, King
said.
The unwarranted firing of guns charges resulted in a loss of
two days off for each officer involved, but no suspension or loss of pay, King
said. Both were cases of officers firing warning shots, an action not allowed
by the department, King said.
"We do react to complaints. We do react in a positive
manner," King said. "Obviously, not all complaints are valid,"
he said.
The study showed that, besides the 117 valid complaints, 27
other complaints could not be proved or disproved, 70 were found to be accurate
but proper and lawful under the circumstances and 65 were found to be false,
King said.
"We do get complaints, onsviously," King said.
"But we don't get a high number." Over the years, he added,
"there has been some lessening in the number of complaints about excessive
use of physical force."
Of the 283 officers against whom complaints were filed last
year, 44 had received prior complaints during 1976. Complaints against only
three of these repeaters, however, were found to be valid by the study.
King said he has not yet compiled statistics on the number
of complaints against the force for 1978, the period involved in the grand jury
investigation.