FAIRFAX, Va. (WUSA9) -- A report from a subcommittee reviewing Fairfax County police policy after the police shooting death of John Geer says the department needs to be more open.
It was almost two years after John Geer died on his front door step before police released the identity of the officer, Adam Torres, who shot him. And it took a lawsuit and a court order for that to happen.
Now a special police practices commission has been reviewing procedures as a result.
"They were spending my money, my taxpayer money to keep secrets from me. They were hiring a lawyer to write a letter to Senator Grassley to try and avoid giving him information that the Commonwealth's Attorney should have had, the U.S. Attorney should have had, the Justice Department should have had, without a fight. And that they should be, for the most part, releasing to the public very early on," Dave Statter, a member of the subcommittee said.
The report says communications with both the media and the public have been mishandled in
"Fairfax County was a little behind the times in communications. In fact, they had a culture of secrecy for a very long time," Statter said.
Some of the communication recommendations that will be reviewed by the full commission next week include providing officer names as soon as possible after a use of force incident (preferably within a week) and adopting an approach to disclose public records presumed to be public.
A month ago, an independent research forum recommended changes in training for the county's police force, suggesting recruits not begin their training with the mechanics of firing a gun and changing terminology on the use of tasers -- to stop calling them non-deadly weapons.
The Geer case is far from over. A special grand jury will begin hearing testimony on the Geer shooting on Monday.
Fairfax County Chief Edwin Roessler has already indicated he will adopt 70 of the 71 recommendations made by last month's independent report. The full commission report isn't due out until October.
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