Police Decertification Reform in Commonwealth of Virginia
November 14, 2022 6:22 PM Subscribe
Statewide police conduct standards will soon be enforceable almost two years after law passed “ From 1999 to Feb. 2021, just 81 law enforcement officers lost their ability to work in Virginia because of unacceptable conduct on the job.
Since then, numbers have surged. Between March 2021 and Aug. 5 of this year, 103 Virginia police officers have been decertified” .
the first time a police chief has ever been decertified in Virginia
increased potential crimes involving computer trespass, to include making an unauthorized copy of data.
§ 15.2-1707. Decertification of law-enforcement officers.
“Previously, officers could only be decertified if they were convicted of certain crimes, failed a drug test or did not comply with required training standards. But the 2020 law, which was passed as part of a series of police reform measures, broadened the criteria for decertification to include officers who are fired or resign as a result of certain misconduct, including use of excessive force or actions that compromise their credibility, integrity or honesty. “.
DECERTIFICATION AND STANDARDS OF CONDUCT UPDATES
“Previously, officers could only be decertified if they were convicted of certain crimes, failed a drug test or did not comply with required training standards. But the 2020 law, which was passed as part of a series of police reform measures, broadened the criteria for decertification to include officers who are fired or resign as a result of certain misconduct, including use of excessive force or actions that compromise their credibility, integrity or honesty. “.
This needs to happen in every state
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:34 PM on November 14, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:34 PM on November 14, 2022 [9 favorites]
Can't wait to see how conservatives twist this. Dems DECERTIFIED the police!
posted by bz at 9:23 PM on November 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by bz at 9:23 PM on November 14, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm surprised by the lack of comments - unless it's because there's no controversy. This seems like an all-around good, and what the "defund the police" movement was about. I'm genuinely pleading for answer : tell me I'm wrong
(disclaimer : I'm in LA, and I think I want this here, so please tell me why I either don't want this here, or please tell me how to get it here)
posted by revmitcz at 2:27 AM on November 15, 2022 [7 favorites]
(disclaimer : I'm in LA, and I think I want this here, so please tell me why I either don't want this here, or please tell me how to get it here)
posted by revmitcz at 2:27 AM on November 15, 2022 [7 favorites]
I'm glad problematic police are being decertified. It's terrible that decertification is hardly transferable between states. I know of an officer in Oregon who pulled a gun on a group of children walking home from school. He was fired and within a week was a uniformed highway patrol officer in Rhode Island. If sex offenders have to abide by Megan's Law, police officers under sanction should have to follow similar requirements.
posted by parmanparman at 3:04 AM on November 15, 2022 [28 favorites]
posted by parmanparman at 3:04 AM on November 15, 2022 [28 favorites]
The law also gave the Department of Criminal Justice Services a 280-day deadline to develop standards of conduct for law enforcement officers. [...] To date, the agency has missed that deadline by over 240 days, leaving a process lawmakers intended to be wrapped up by December 2021 still unresolved. DCJS cites the omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as the main reason for the delay.
It's been about 280 days since the omicron wave subsided by itself. You can't blame being a month late on the fact that you had a three-day weekend once.
Repeating what fascists say at face value is repeating fascist propaganda.
On June 1, six months past the December 2021 deadline, the working group convened by DCJS voted unanimously in favor of draft standards for law enforcement that had been developed over four meetings in 2021. The Criminal Justice Services Board also unanimously approved the draft language June 16, followed by the Office of the Attorney General on Aug. 2. The Department of Planning and Budget now has 14 days to review the draft regulation, after which the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security will have two weeks to review it.
It will then go to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for a final review and approval.
It will never be approved in any meaningful way.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:30 AM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
It's been about 280 days since the omicron wave subsided by itself. You can't blame being a month late on the fact that you had a three-day weekend once.
Repeating what fascists say at face value is repeating fascist propaganda.
On June 1, six months past the December 2021 deadline, the working group convened by DCJS voted unanimously in favor of draft standards for law enforcement that had been developed over four meetings in 2021. The Criminal Justice Services Board also unanimously approved the draft language June 16, followed by the Office of the Attorney General on Aug. 2. The Department of Planning and Budget now has 14 days to review the draft regulation, after which the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security will have two weeks to review it.
It will then go to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for a final review and approval.
It will never be approved in any meaningful way.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:30 AM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
@AlSweigart
I'm surprised you didn't include the rest of that paragraph about the COVID excuse:
Vital public business goes dead in the water for a year because they can't vote in a Zoom meeting.
There are some people who should be dismissed from their jobs for nonperformance of duties.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:26 AM on November 15, 2022 [17 favorites]
I'm surprised you didn't include the rest of that paragraph about the COVID excuse:
Since the group was unable to meet in-person due to infection concerns, they could not reach a quorum to vote on proposed language for the standards of conduct.They're saying that they couldn't vote in a Zoom meeting.
Vital public business goes dead in the water for a year because they can't vote in a Zoom meeting.
There are some people who should be dismissed from their jobs for nonperformance of duties.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:26 AM on November 15, 2022 [17 favorites]
Also too:
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:34 AM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, former executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said that even with the adoption of statewide standards, “a lot still depends on … whether the local police departments are going to be assertive in applying the standards.”To the extent that there is reliance on voluntary cooperation by departments, this isn't going far enough. There needs to be an explicit duty to report for police officials who know about behavior that would be grounds for decertification, with criminal penalties for failing to do so.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence about what’s going to happen at the local level,” Gastañaga said. “They’ve always resisted external oversight.”
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:34 AM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
Virginia is notorious for keeping state/police crime quiet.
All in the name of supporting underground trafficking.
Here are 2 huge examples :
henry county sheriff and 12 officers arrested
Whitehead, who was Commonwealth Attorney for Pittsylvania County from 1964 through 1975, offered protection to the prostitution ring, including advance warning of planned raids and leniency in prosecution, in return for cash payments from the operators and free sexual services from prostitutes employed by the ring.
posted by screenname00 at 7:38 AM on November 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
All in the name of supporting underground trafficking.
Here are 2 huge examples :
posted by screenname00 at 7:38 AM on November 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
They're saying that they couldn't vote in a Zoom meeting.
Vital public business goes dead in the water for a year because they can't vote in a Zoom meeting.
There are some people who should be dismissed from their jobs for nonperformance of duties.
I get the outrage, and I share it. To play devil’s advocate here, though, there might be some level of legalese at play there, wherein the state’s constitution (or other such governing documents) contains language which infers that legislators/officials must meet physically. If this is so, and they had voted over Zoom, that could introduce an opening you could drive a squad car through, which makes a successful legal challenge to the vote more-or-less a slam dunk.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:00 AM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
Vital public business goes dead in the water for a year because they can't vote in a Zoom meeting.
There are some people who should be dismissed from their jobs for nonperformance of duties.
I get the outrage, and I share it. To play devil’s advocate here, though, there might be some level of legalese at play there, wherein the state’s constitution (or other such governing documents) contains language which infers that legislators/officials must meet physically. If this is so, and they had voted over Zoom, that could introduce an opening you could drive a squad car through, which makes a successful legal challenge to the vote more-or-less a slam dunk.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:00 AM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
Yeah, what Thorzdad said. Also, unfortunately, the omicron wave hasn’t ever really ended, it’s just shifted which particular sub variant of the now hundreds of options is currently dominant… but while I may quibble on the specifics, I think it’s still the case that had they actually wanted to get the thing done, they would have found a way to do it, and some intentional slow-walking of the process seems likely here.
posted by eviemath at 9:07 AM on November 15, 2022
posted by eviemath at 9:07 AM on November 15, 2022
Like meeting outdoors with masks, though I doubt they're actually particularly covid cautious (a lot of cops aren't even vaccinated). Covid's almost certainly just a smokescreen.
posted by jedicus at 9:47 AM on November 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by jedicus at 9:47 AM on November 15, 2022 [2 favorites]
He was fired and within a week was a uniformed highway patrol officer in Rhode Island.
Fired is not decertified. Every state has a police "license" that you get when you pass police academy, which enables you to do cop things legally. Decertification revokes this license. Firing an officer just takes them off their current payroll, freeing them to be hired the next town over. That only happens when their appeals to be reinstated are exhausted, and many places give police two bites at the reinstatement apple: a right of appeal and then a right to appeal a denied appeal.
The firing loophole is still a very successful police PR strategy, possibly more successful than "an ongoing investigation," but the idea of itinerant cops hopping from town to town is starting to receive attention. I try to spread the word of decertification every time I see someone saying "thank God that cop was fired."
posted by rhizome at 12:57 PM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
Fired is not decertified. Every state has a police "license" that you get when you pass police academy, which enables you to do cop things legally. Decertification revokes this license. Firing an officer just takes them off their current payroll, freeing them to be hired the next town over. That only happens when their appeals to be reinstated are exhausted, and many places give police two bites at the reinstatement apple: a right of appeal and then a right to appeal a denied appeal.
The firing loophole is still a very successful police PR strategy, possibly more successful than "an ongoing investigation," but the idea of itinerant cops hopping from town to town is starting to receive attention. I try to spread the word of decertification every time I see someone saying "thank God that cop was fired."
posted by rhizome at 12:57 PM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]
They're saying that they couldn't vote in a Zoom meeting.
And if it wasn't that, it'd be some other horseshit reason.
How much time do you want for your "progress?"
posted by AlSweigart at 3:36 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
And if it wasn't that, it'd be some other horseshit reason.
How much time do you want for your "progress?"
posted by AlSweigart at 3:36 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
Decertify all of them.
posted by creiszhanson at 6:51 AM on November 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by creiszhanson at 6:51 AM on November 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by screenname00 at 6:32 PM on November 14, 2022 [2 favorites]