His is a department whose officers have coerced confessions from innocent people, let their attack dogs loose on homeless immigrants and shot dozens of unarmed men, among them a Howard University student trailed into Maryland from the District. As of March 1, he’ll be in early retirement.
The police chief for Prince George County, Md, just north of D.C., John Farrell, announced his resignation Tuesday after almost six years on the job. The fall-out was expected. The County Executive Wayne Curry said Farrell, who leaves earlier than anticipated, would be missed for his professionalism. The NAACP was not unhappy to hear that Farrell had changed his mind.
So, what to make of Farrell? Certainly, the department is more “professional”?an evasive, bureaucratic word that means “besotted with new technology.” Now, some of that is good: No one is going to argue that a state-of-the-art DNA laboratory is unimportant. But when such a lab is used to exonerate almost half a dozen suspects coerced into confessions because of sleep-deprived 30-hour interrogations, perhaps the state of technology isn’t what the community is worried about when it comes to a department that had the highest per-officer kill rate among the country’s largest cities.
What it wants is a reduction in police brutality and a more open police system. Farrell reports in his retirement letter that the police shot fewer people in his six years than earlier in the decade, but that goes for most forces around the country. There have been “historic reductions in all areas of police misconduct,” he reports. Then maybe the juries were just angrier about each case, because in 2000, they awarded more money to people who had been found to be mistreated by the police than in any previous year.
Finally, Farrell said that he and Curry should be credited for the creation of a Professional Compliance Division that investigates areas of police misconduct. Well, at least some people know what the hell is going on. The Prince George police do not make public any records relating to the investigation into the use of unnecessary force. So much for creating an enduring sense of trust, openness and accountability.
Farrell did confirm, though, that no police shooting has been found unjustified in the last six years by that division or any other internal inquiry. That goes for the case of Daniel Torres, who was shot after an officer said she thought he was going for a gun. In fact, when Torres allegedly reached into his waistband, he was actually grabbing his shirt to wipe away the pepper spray the officer had just sprayed in his eyes. Torres was sprayed because, the officer testified, he forcefully push her.
But is there no fine line that must be enforced? As tough as it may be, officers must know how to judge quickly the difference between a clear and present danger, on the one hand, and, on the other, some not unreasonable doubt as to the suspect’s motive.
What’s frightening is this: If there was someone who could really repair Prince George’s police force, Farrell was certainly a good candidate. The former Miami chief came to Prince George with a reputation as a highly intelligent officer who knew how to cut crime and a savvy community leader able to maintain good relations between the police force and a diverse group of constituents. Yet as he exits, Farrell’s record is far from compelling, despite his protestations to the contrary.
Balancing a sense of urgency with a degree of hopelessness, Prince George residents wait for their next chief as an interim head of the police manages the force. Understanding why Farrell couldn’t produce a substantial improvement in police conduct should be his or her first task. It could be the new chief’s most valuable contribution.
