We, the undersigned groups, stand together to demand accountability, equal justice, and the reimagination of public services from the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) and the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO). We further demand accountability from those overseeing them, including the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, all state-level law enforcement agencies, and our state legislators and executives.
Collectively, we represent hundreds of thousands of citizens across Fairfax County and the state of Virginia. Our members have experienced or are at chronic risk of disparate use of violence by our own authorities, sponsored by our taxpayer dollars, in our neighborhoods.
Despite consistent advocacy, national and community events, and the evidence of evolving public opinion, we believe these institutions and our public officials are insufficiently responsive to community pleas for fairness and equity when residents engage with law enforcement. They seem unwilling to pursue their duties in service of those who may not be as organized, vocal, well-funded, or empowered as other, more entrenched communities.
We believe and stand in strong solidarity with Ms. Abrar Omeish, countywide leader, Muslim woman of color, and fierce advocate for our communities, whose legal action today leaves us deeply concerned and troubled. We affirm her call for a transparent investigation into the egregious, discriminatory, and unconstitutional misconduct she suffered, which included excessive force and forced removal of her hijab. We encourage responsible county leaders to take disciplinary action and enact policy changes on the county and state levels, as detailed below, both in response to her case and to address persistent and widespread issues of injustice and inequity. We support Ms. Omeish’s efforts to advance justice for all and demand better in Fairfax County, the state of Virginia, and beyond.
We hope this case also further sheds light on the gendered violence and Islamophobia Muslim women experience by law enforcement. We will continue to monitor the progress of this legal challenge as well as the responses of the FCPD, FCSO, and each local and state official to condemn the misconduct. Collectively, we must ensure such invasive and violent abuses of citizen civil rights cannot happen again.
There are thousands of similar cases that go unheard and unpursued; the justice they deserve is thwarted by the high costs and barriers associated with seeking police accountability in our current system.
We call upon both local and state leaders, on the eve of this 2021 legislative session and with the advent of the new year, to publicly pledge to champion these long-forsaken interests of the people, which time will reveal are necessary for enduring justice.
Our county has committed to being OneFairfax. In light of this initiative and in this moment of disheartening national discord, we propose and call all residents towards higher ideals of solidarity to participate by posting their stories under #FightforMe and through advocacy for five policy goals of social justice and equity in our communities, whereby we:
FIGHT FOR FIVE
#FightforFacts:
In Fairfax County and the state, we continue to face resistance to transparent and detailed reporting of annual police/sheriff dealings, as well as refusal to release personnel information about officers or to provide case information sorted by officer name, as is available in a majority of states. While more police data is now available online, summary reports are segmented into categories that are unhelpful. No meaningful data is published from the Sheriff’s Office at all. For both, further demographic breakouts may be needed to unmask disparate impact or treatment of other marginalized communities.
#FightforFairness:
Current law enforcement practices target policing at minority and lower-income neighborhoods. As a result, most criminal charges are disproportionately assigned to minorities, the underprivileged, and those with disabilities. These well-funded mass profiling efforts have yielded adverse outcomes without proven effectiveness. Practices resembling stop and frisk, community checkpoints, and predictive profiling must cease, and disincentives ought to be in place. Only measured, proven methods that center human beings ought to continue. We insist on respect for sincerely-held religious beliefs and expect explicit legal prohibition of any requests to remove religious head-coverings that do not respect religious conditions. We also support the limits on cooperation and information-sharing with federal immigration enforcement agencies adopted by the FCPD and the forthcoming Board Trust Policy for other county agencies. We demand similar accountability and limitations on the Sheriff’s Office.
#FightforFollowUp:
Fairfax County policies must structurally account for asymmetry and inconsistency in a proactive fashion. When civilians are stopped, officers must be required to take a peace pause of three cool down minutes prior to interacting and to verbalize an option to initiate personal recording. When rights are violated in an encounter, we demand that, as a “knock-out rule,” charges in turn be dropped. We insist on preventing qualified immunity defenses against civilians (the new HB 5013) and assert that when qualified immunity is the sole defense invoked in a case, legal fees must not be covered by public monies. We urge that civilian review panels have the ability to investigate allegations, discipline or terminate officers, and nullify unfounded charges. The Sheriff’s actions must also be subject to civilian review. Violations of constitutional rights, including forced removal of religious head-coverings, cannot be tolerated. We also insist on adding specific stipulations to limit the language of broad charges that are widely abused, like obstruction of justice (§ 18.2-460), as well as the number of possible charges in traffic stops.
#FightforFreedom:
We understand that appropriate situations demand suitable expertise, and that communities are unsafe when individuals do not seek help due to lack of trust. We seek to empower families and reapportion and more appropriately triage law enforcement resources to assign on-call social workers, behavioral specialists, and other social service professionals. We insist that militarized policing and use of force policies that lack disincentives or consequences do not support our communities. We also demand a state ban on hiring or retaining law enforcement officers with violent misdemeanor records and call for more selective hiring criteria (§ 15.2-1705).
#FightforFutures:
We seek long-term plans and investments of Fairfax County resources in human development, education, public health, and social welfare initiatives, especially for youth, to address the underlying reasons for which forces are authorized to inflict violence in our communities, in an effort to phase out these situations. In lieu of weapons purchases or additional policing growth, we expect our government to recognize the dignity and potential of every human being and ensure government funding practices reflect this commitment.
In the short-term, #FightforFIVE demands that, within six months, an external audit of all Fairfax County law enforcement practices be initiated by a coalition of civil rights and social service organizations to evaluate dysfunction, recommend proven alternatives, and advise in the selection of the new FCPD chief.
We represent many and speak in unity to demand immediate action. We will watch closely and act accordingly to ensure that county and state policies reflect common-sense, 21st-century-appropriate governance. The momentum driving change must not be lost.
Signatories:
Council on American Islamic Relations
ACLU People Power Fairfax
CASA
Edu-Futuro
NAKASEC Virginia
Centreville Immigration Forum
ADAMS Civic Engagement Committee
Virginia Coalition of Latin American Organizations
Virginia Council of Muslim Organizations
Justice for Muslims Collective
Stop Police Terror DC
IfNotNow DC
Sanctuary DMV
Defending Rights and Dissent
US Council of Muslim Organizations
MPower Change
Emgage
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Islamic Circle of North America Council for Social Justice
National Arab American Women’s Association
Partnership to End Gendered Islamophobia
Muslim American Society
Libyan American Alliance
MALIKAH
Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment
HEART Women & Girls
National Network of Arab American Communities
Isuroon
