Read on Twitter
WHO on this call doesn't know how to mute their mic and is extremely sore about a change in the roll call order? 
https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/committees/commstream.html?fbclid=IwAR3f5c1ukIar0DGe5b5HniXWZP0ybFvMEx0-cpHlAejAXYJoW1uJWRKOl-w
https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/committees/commstream.html?fbclid=IwAR3f5c1ukIar0DGe5b5HniXWZP0ybFvMEx0-cpHlAejAXYJoW1uJWRKOl-w
welcome to hell: it's a cop presenting a powerpoint but he can't figure out how to advance to slide 2
as a member of the public who has been on the receiving end of what amounts to a war crime from the virginia state police, i do not see "legitimacy and credibility in a trusted law enforcement service," sorry
you can't become a cop if you have already done these things but once you are a cop you actually have to do them at least quarterly or the other cops will give you a wedgie
oh a very clear policy that prohibits the use of unnecessary or excessive use of force?
do not use powerpoint to lie to me, gary.
do not use powerpoint to lie to me, gary.
i don't recognize these state delegates by name or face & there's no nametags, sorry.
one rep asks colonel settle "what needs to change?"
one rep asks colonel settle "what needs to change?"
settle: "the emphasis has to be on de-escalation" (his audio quality just dropped off terribly, he sounds like a robot & is now fully incomprehensible)
delegate scott: "i've seen some disturbing video" of a traffic stop made by VSP last year. "we don't know what corrective actions are being taken." https://wtop.com/virginia/2020/07/virginia-state-police-investigating-2019-traffic-stop-involving-black-driver/
"the policy & procedure is enough to get rid of people like that," "the policy should work but it looks like no one is enforcing it," delegate scott says. he says there seems to be a problem with the culture, not the policy when it comes to officer misconduct.
colonel settle says after the death of george floyd, VSP checked their training policies to ensure they weren't teaching officers to kneel on necks & found that they were not (wow, extremely solid work, boys! mission accomplished)
colonel settle says VSP's use of force reporting system is "very robust" and multi-layered.
scott: "i'm not hearing transparency & accountability." "how do we know what actions are being taken?" how is the public supposed to know what happened with the VSP officer in the video choking & dragging a man out of a car in fairfax last year?
settle says "we immediately commenced a criminal investigation" when the video went viral in recent weeks (he says that video was not known to them during the initial use of force investigation was done last year... so how hard did they investigate?)
the officer shown in the video assaulting that man is "on leave," according to colonel settle. "we have to work within the guidelines," and this is "according to policy."
settle says ultimately what happens to this officer is in the hands of the prosecutor.
settle says ultimately what happens to this officer is in the hands of the prosecutor.
del. levine asks settle to walk us through how a complaint is handled, start to finish - how can citizens stay away of where a complaint is in the process?
asking a cop to describe the process by which a cop might be disciplined is like talking to a sphinx.
del watts asks for a link to the psychometric traits element of the LESI screening test given to applicants.
and that's all the time we have for colonel settle. the next speaker sounds exactly like foghorn leghorn and is from the sheriffs association.
and that's all the time we have for colonel settle. the next speaker sounds exactly like foghorn leghorn and is from the sheriffs association.
and here i thought sheriffs were mostly just courthouse hall monitors, jailhouse taxicabs, and process servers.
always take claims like this with a grain of salt. police agencies will always claim staff shortages when it's time to talk about budgets.
these numbers are based on some arbitrary deputy:population ratio, not actual need.
these numbers are based on some arbitrary deputy:population ratio, not actual need.
"people are talking about defunding... i think we've already been defunded," says the speaker from the VA sheriffs' assoc. "the only thing we really get anymore is personnel."
most localities supplement the state salary for sheriffs dept employees. the speaker blames low pay for the high turnover rate & asks for an increase to the state salary.
"we think the sheriffs model for law enforcement already has the ultimate citizen review because sheriffs are elected," the speaker says.
the association is also "concerned" about talk of doing away with qualified immunity
the association is also "concerned" about talk of doing away with qualified immunity
the VA sheriffs assoc endorses a more robust decertification process & a statewide database to ensure unfit officers don't get law enforcement jobs elsewhere
"you spent 90% of your presentation talking about money and budgetary issues" when this hearing is about reform & how LE can better interact with the communities they serve, says delegate bourne.
"nobody hates a bad cop worse than law enforcement," says the sheriffs assoc speaker. he says he & his colleagues saw what happened to george floyd "and we knew law enforcement all over the country would be painted with that." (what a tragedy for you, personally, sir.)
del price: "i wanted to make sure i was not hearing ill-timed humor in regards to the citizen review board." she asks him to clarify - does he really think an election every 4 years is sufficient? is the assoc. opposed to citizen review boards?
"we are not saying that just because a sheriff is elected there is not an appropriate place for some kind of committee," he says, but goes on to say there would be "unanticipated consequences" of civilian review, like people angling to run for sheriff getting on the board.
he doesn't see the need for civilian review of sheriffs deputy conduct when the police & the FBI are perfectly capable of investigating crimes committed by sheriffs dept employees...
?????
?????
and now a presentation on militarized policing from dr lindsey cohn from the US naval war college
that's right.
dr cohn says the research shows that militarized weaponry does not improve outcomes for civilians OR officers.
just some minor reforms like laws that are fair and cops that don't kill black people with impunity
it will be hard for police departments to screen out "potential abusers of authority" because what other kind of person even wants to be a cop?
more money for care! a public database for police misconduct information!
"the idea of police legitimacy relies in part on the belief that the police recognize misconduct and will do something about it."
"the idea of police legitimacy relies in part on the belief that the police recognize misconduct and will do something about it."
dr cohn is careful to say she does not endorse the entire '8 can't wait' platform, but says there are some easily implemented reforms. many VA localities have some of these policies in place, very few have all of them.
"it is important for transparency to the public to be clear about where lobbying money is coming from," dr cohn says about the disproportionate amount of money police unions spend on lobbying.
people should not be forced to obey a law by fear of punishment; they should obey the law because they believe that even if this particular law annoys them, they recognize that as a member of society, laws in general are good, dr cohn says.
"a state where people only obey the law for fear of punishment is by definition a police state," dr cohn says. of the protests, she says we are seeing huge groups of people rising up and saying 'we don't think this is fair and it should change.'
if certain laws or law enforcement practices are consistently unfair to a specific segment of society, eventually those people will not respect those laws or law enforcement officers anymore, dr cohn says.
next presentation is from chief boone of the norfolk police dept.
it's significantly more difficult to become a licensed cosmetologist & while you can really do some damage to somebody's hair without proper training, a bad dye job never murdered anyone.
being terminated for excessive force does not disqualify an officer for future police jobs.
beating someone so badly that even the other cops don't think you're safe to be on the streets isn't grounds for decertification.
beating someone so badly that even the other cops don't think you're safe to be on the streets isn't grounds for decertification.
"it doesn't happen a whole lot but it HAS happened," chief boone says about officers turning in fellow officers for misconduct. well... that's encouraging.
"culture eats policy for lunch"
it doesn't matter what the policies are. cops are still cops.
it doesn't matter what the policies are. cops are still cops.
boone says there needs to be an officer termination database to prevent officers terminated by one department for misconduct being hired by a neighboring jurisdiction.
del. sullivan, re: recruitment: "i'm interested in what we're doing to find people who *should* be" recruited, boone talked about "weeding people out," what is being done to affirmatively recruit?
"if we find a hint of racism or anything like that, they are immediately disqualified," boone says about applications for the norfolk police academy.
"under conflict, you're going to show who you are," he says about putting trainees in stressful situations.
"under conflict, you're going to show who you are," he says about putting trainees in stressful situations.
boone just implied they actively recruit applicants for the police academy at the gay pride parade and i blacked out a little.
next is ashna khanna from the ACLU
decertifying bad cops is such a fucking low bar
"ordinary people are expected to follow the law," other kinds of workers are responsible for their own actions & can be sued. this isn't the case for cops.
the VA ACLU advocates for a state law that would allow citizens to sue the police & receive damages for police violence
addressing concerns raised by the VA sheriffs assoc about the possibility of a rise in frivolous lawsuits against law enforcement, ashna says studies show this isn't really a problem. other states already allow these suits & haven't seen this outcome.
the current decertification process is pretty weak & allows officers fired by one agency for misconduct to simply move to a new department.
*virginia has only decertified THIRTY THREE officers*
*virginia has only decertified THIRTY THREE officers*
cops who get fired for lying or use of force shouldn't get to keep being cops anywhere
princess blanding lost her brother, marcus-david peters, in 2018. he was murdered by richmond police.
earl lewis lost his cousin william chapman in 2015. he was murdered by portsmouth police.
we'll hear next from herndon chief of police, colonel maggie deboard. she does not have a powerpoint.
deboard says her dept was first to come to the table, presenting a plan for reform to the governor early last month.
she has said the word accountability a lot of times, so that's something i guess.
she has said the word accountability a lot of times, so that's something i guess.
deboard says accredited departments "have to have progressive reforms in place," so mandating department accreditation would go a long way to reforming departments.
deboard says the current decert statue is based on *criminal* conduct, but most terminations aren't for conduct that resulted in a criminal conviction.
deboard advocates a more robust decertification law, encompassing bias incidents, use of force, and lying. she says the new statute should include not just terminations, but officers who resign in lieu of termination.
deboard says even if other response models are developed for responding to mental health crisis calls, officers should maintain crisis intervention training, which she says is very important.
she speculates about a possible hybrid model where an officer responds along with a crisis counselor. "if the badge is a turnoff that causes a bigger problem, we can step into the background."
a delegate asks deboard "what criteria would you or your staff use" to determine whether a 911 call gets a crisis counselor or a cop?
right now, their only option is to send a cop, which is how she answers. no answer on how it COULD be handled.
right now, their only option is to send a cop, which is how she answers. no answer on how it COULD be handled.
del. price brings up the marcus alert, a crisis response model proposed in richmond & named for marcus-david peters, who was murdered by richmond police during a mental health crisis.
deboard - "our goal is the safety of everyone, including the person in crisis." she says herndon is exploring "special needs registries" - files kept by the police station about people with certain conditions, she specifically cites autism.
[this has me making this face:
]
[this has me making this face:
]
next speaker is delegate lamont bagby from the virginia legislative black caucus.
the VLBC's special session priorities are here: https://www.vablackcaucus.com/news/c/0/i/47508787/vlbc-special-session-priorities
the VLBC's special session priorities are here: https://www.vablackcaucus.com/news/c/0/i/47508787/vlbc-special-session-priorities
next speaker is marquise hunt, chairman emeritus of the NAACP national youth & college task force.
he urges the body to promote legislation that promotes transparency and addresses racial disparities.
he urges the body to promote legislation that promotes transparency and addresses racial disparities.
marquise hunt ends his comments to the joint committee by recalling the legacy of john lewis, telling us to get into good trouble, necessary trouble, "and for those who haven't heard it in a while: black lives still matter."
newport news sheriff gabe morgan speaking now.
"we're talking about trying to fix something rather than trying to rebuild something," he says, but we need to "reimagine law enforcement."
"we're talking about trying to fix something rather than trying to rebuild something," he says, but we need to "reimagine law enforcement."
"every single failure in our society has fallen in the laps of law enforcement," morgan says. we can't use law enforcement to fix problems like the opioid crisis, he gives as an example.
sheriff morgan says in other countries, law enforcement training is more comprehensive, sometimes taking years.
"we need to reimagine what we want these agencies to do and form the training around that." "right now we're doing a hodge podge."
"we need to reimagine what we want these agencies to do and form the training around that." "right now we're doing a hodge podge."
ooof, morgan recounts an anecdote of a cop caught on tape perjuring himself in a drug case. the jury refused to convict a cop for breaking the law "to get the bad guy," and because the cop didn't get convicted, they couldn't stop this bad cop from continuing to be a cop.
morgan says the DMV needs to add race information to their records so that cops aren't just guessing about people's race. "if we want the best data," the DMV needs to collect it.
a clarifying question from a delegate - morgan says law enforcement CAN do their jobs without no-knock warrants.
sean mcgowan, the executive director of the VA police benevolent association.
(lol @ calling this a "labor organization," sean. cops aren't workers)
(lol @ calling this a "labor organization," sean. cops aren't workers)
mcgowan says any change to qualified immunity is an "extreme and unnecessary reaction that negatively affects public safety and reduces the candidate pool"
mcgowan: "we have no objection to the decertification process that affords the officer with due process," which he says is "glaringly absent" in the current law.
he warns against passing laws "hastily pushed through in a special session."
he warns against passing laws "hastily pushed through in a special session."
del. price: "i understand wanting to slow walk some of the new ideas," but would mcgowan be open to discussing some of the reforms that have been talked about for years?
mcgowan says he's happy to talk anytime.
mcgowan says he's happy to talk anytime.
now for public comment. bonnie burkhardt says she has written 2 amicus briefs about violations committed by ICAC task force officers. "officers use entrapment to create a crime," by posing as imaginary children online.
next speaker advocates for legislation banning rubber bullets. "rubber bullets are not an appropriate weapon to use in crowd control settings," their status as "nonlethal" is questionable - 15% of people injured by kinetic impact weapons are permanently disabled. 3% die.
"why would a cop turn off his body cam? what would a cop pop the hood of his cruiser? why would a cop cover his badge number?" "he is premeditating his crime," says the next speaker.
a cop who turns off his body camera is a bad cop, full stop.
a cop who turns off his body camera is a bad cop, full stop.
the speaker asks the committee to push for legislation that requires all cops to have body cameras running at all times while on duty and firing & decertifying any cop who tampers with or turns off a body camera.
next speaker is @BreRVA!
she hopes the committee will take action to limit the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and other crowd control weapons we've seen used against protesters in richmond over the last month.
"we are not terrorists. we have the right to free speech."
she hopes the committee will take action to limit the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and other crowd control weapons we've seen used against protesters in richmond over the last month.
"we are not terrorists. we have the right to free speech."
while these protests were sparked by the murder of george floyd, "the outrage stems from a deeper frustration that is hundreds of years in the making," says @kofiannan321
"we demand that you defund our police and put that money into programs that uplift black and brown people," annan says. removing police from schools, ending qualified immunity, and strengthening decertification are necessary reforms.
next speaker is mike harvey, the director of the rappahannock regional criminal justice academy.
he says we need to "put our partisanship aside," and "move forward" "as virginians."
he says we need to "put our partisanship aside," and "move forward" "as virginians."
"any unfunded mandates that would come our way would put an undue burden on our academy," harvey says.
harvey asks the committee to find ways to remove police as the first response to mental health crises.
harvey asks the committee to find ways to remove police as the first response to mental health crises.
next is dave rogers, a retired cop. "it is my perception that police officers are under attack" and being blamed for a variety of social issues, he says.
dave doesn't have anything useful to say but he does seem awfully sensitive.
dave doesn't have anything useful to say but he does seem awfully sensitive.
next speaker is named michael payne but it isn't my city councilor michael payne.
he is speaking against crowd control weapons used by police. CCWs can cause serious injury, disability, and death.
he is speaking against crowd control weapons used by police. CCWs can cause serious injury, disability, and death.
kinetic impact projectiles (rubber bullets, etc) can cause a variety of serious injuries, including blindness and organ damage.
when used at close range, they are extremely dangerous. at long range, they are extremely inaccurate. there is no safe, effective way to use them.
when used at close range, they are extremely dangerous. at long range, they are extremely inaccurate. there is no safe, effective way to use them.
the group he's with, physicians for human rights, is asking the legislature to limit the use of crowd control weapons, including chemical irritants, to be used only as a last resort.
the next speaker is a formerly incarcerated person speaking on the importance of expungement. at the 1902 VA constitutional convention, carter glass advocated for felon disenfranchisement to "eliminate the darkie as a political factor." https://newsadvance.com/archives/restore-the-vote-to-ex-felons/article_03bddc59-5e39-59ba-899b-649b775dd177.html
the speaker says felon disenfranchisement continues today for the same reason as carter glass pushed for it in 1902 - it is designed to keep black people from participating in government.
we need automatic restoration of rights.
we need automatic restoration of rights.
next speaker is a special education & civil rights attorney.
she says she's something of an expert on physical restraint (it, unfortunately, probably comes up a lot in her work as an attorney for special needs students) - legislation of restraints should be *medically informed*
she says she's something of an expert on physical restraint (it, unfortunately, probably comes up a lot in her work as an attorney for special needs students) - legislation of restraints should be *medically informed*
people who are physically restrained can be injured in a variety of ways. restrictions must address not only the use of particular holds, but prevention of physical force in the first place.
she also advocates for the end of qualified immunity -- criminal convictions for injuries or deaths occurring during improper restraint can be incredibly difficult to get. families need access to civil action.
dr jason fritz studies police militarization & lectures at johns hopkins.
"police militarization is not correlated with violent crimes," he says. "agencies that militarize tend to use deadly force more often" than those that don't.
"police militarization is not correlated with violent crimes," he says. "agencies that militarize tend to use deadly force more often" than those that don't.
he suggests that VA shut down the pipeline that supplies military equipment to police departments. specialized, high-end capability policing needs should be fulfilled centrally, by the state police, he says.
he says VA should outlaw "warrior style" training programs, which make lethal force "more psychologically acceptable"
the final speaker had some microphone problems, so i guess that concludes public comment.
the next hearing before this committee is july 29, 10am. the topics will be training of law enforcement officers & prosecutorial and judicial bias.
the next hearing before this committee is july 29, 10am. the topics will be training of law enforcement officers & prosecutorial and judicial bias.
well i hope the meeting really is over because my power just went out. thereâs a thunderstorm rolling in here.
