Fairfax County will hire a police department auditor to monitor how the county investigates use-of-force complaints and fatal incidents involving officers like the one in 2013 in which an unarmed man was fatally shot in front of his home.
The vote came as the nation continues to grapple with painful questions about police use of force, most recently in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in Tulsa.
In response to another of the 202 recommendations made by an advisory commission created in the wake of the Geer case, Fairfax also plans to create a civilian review panel for police-abuse investigations and is considering whether to require county officers to wear body cameras.
The auditor will be paid $98,000 to $163,000 a year and report to the Board of Supervisors.
Supported by two analysts hired by the county, the auditor will be allowed to sit in on use-of-force investigations conducted by the police internal affairs bureau.
If there is disagreement over how those investigations are conducted, the auditor can request that the police chief order new investigations. The auditor will also regularly report to the Board of Supervisors on how police investigations in general are handled.
“It is a way to allow the police to receive sort of real-time comments back from the auditor’s office to help strengthen those investigations,” said Supervisor John C. Cook (R-Braddock), chairman of the county board’s public safety committee.
Critics of the police department said the auditor’s position is too weak.
They noted that the Board of Supervisors passed on giving the auditor authority to conduct independent investigations, which the ad hoc police commission had recommended.
In eliminating that authority, the board “excised key revisions to the Commission’s recommendations,” the social justice committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston said in a statement.
County supervisors, acting on legal advice from a county-hired attorney, had previously said they did not want the auditor to jeopardize the integrity of ongoing criminal investigations.
Michael Hershman, who led the police commission, called the auditor position a positive step toward increased transparency in Fairfax’s police department.
“I’m of the mind that we give this a chance,” he said. “Is it perfect? No. Is it a step forward? Yes.”
Cook said the auditor’s job description is likely to change once that person and the county board get a better understanding of what is needed to effectively monitor police investigations.
“I don’t think it would be shocking at all if we pass this and hire an auditor and that auditor came back after some time and recommended some adjustments to things,” Cook said. “We can amend and add changes in the future as circumstances may warrant.”
