In
1960, the Fairfax County Police were wiretapping phones without a court
order. Fairfax police were the only
suburban Virginia police with their own wiretap equipment. The Board of Supervisors knew about it and
endorsed it. In 1966, the chief of
police was called to Washington testify before the US Senate because of the
chief’s statement that “We do wire taps in cases where we need them”. Meaning that the Fairfax County Police alone
decided where they were needed. When a
Senator suggested to the chief that his men might be breaking the law by
discussing what was said on a wiretap, the chief said that it wasn’t a worry
because his men only spoke to each other.
Let me repeat that. The chief
said that it wasn’t a worry because his men only spoke to each other. The Senator called that “a fine spun theory
of law”