We’re now closing in on three months since a member of the Fairfax SWAT team shot and killed optometrist Sal Culosi, and Fairfax police have yet to release the results of their investigation. That’s way too long. Tests on the gun were completed weeks ago. Surely it couldn’t take three months to interview the officers involved. What could possibly be holding things up? And why has the police department still refused to officially and publicly name Office Bullock as the man who pulled the trigger? Anyone believe that if a civilian had accidentally shot a police officer without malice or intent, Prosecutor Horan and the Fairfax PD wouldn’t have that civilian’s name plastered all over the newspapers? Cops work for us. When they screw up and kill one of us, we at the very least deserve some accountability.

Culosi’s family, understandably frustrated, held a press conference today with their attorney. The family will likely sue, and bully to them (here’s an interview with their attorney). Here’s hoping that in addition to a generous award, the family also wins dramatic reforms in the way Fairfax serves its search warrants.

It’s time to put the SWAT team away. Dust off the Kevlar helmets and MP5s only for those situations in which a suspect presents an immediate threat to the lives and safety of others. Gamblers and pissant drug offenders don’t qualify.

I think it’s also about damned time Fairfax County got itself a new prosecutor.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 13th, 2006 at 6:10 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.