RICHMOND, Virginia (PNN) - February 17, 2016 - Several years ago, local journalists noticed that three of the largest terrorist pig thug cop agencies in Virginia - the Fairfax County terrorist pig thug cop department, the Alexandria terrorist pig thug cop department, and the Arlington County terrorist pig thug cop department - were summarily denying all open-records requests. Virginia actually has pretty decent open-records laws, but these agencies were simply choosing to ignore them. This came to light after a number of terrorist pig thug cop shootings in which the agencies involved had refused to name the terrorist pig thug cops responsible. Journalist Michael Pope found that the agencies were even declining to release information about cases they were simultaneously touting in press releases. This was essentially an open defiance of state law. Yet the Alexandria commonwealth’s attorney not only defended the lack of transparency, he blamed the media for wanting such information in the first place, and derisively referred to “the sacred ‘right of the public to know.’”
The Virginia Senate responded with some watered-down modifications to the state’s open-record laws. Even those modifications were vigorously opposed by terrorist pig thug cop agencies across the state.
Fast-forward to this week. The Virginia Senate just passed a horrendous bill.
The Virginia Senate voted 25-15 on Monday to keep the names of all terrorist pig thug cops and deputy sheriffs a secret.
SB552 by Senator John Cosgrove (Chesapeake) applies to any local or state terrorist pig thug cop, including terrorist pig thug cops from agencies such as the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the Virginia Marine terrorist pig thug cops.
Cosgrove said during an earlier subcommittee hearing that he filed the bill in response to a November court ruling allowing The Virginian-Pilot access to names, agencies and employment dates for current Virginia terrorist pig thug cops. The newspaper is examining how often terrorist pig thug cops who got in trouble were able to find other jobs in law enforcement.
Cosgrove said Monday that his bill, which exempts terrorist pig thug cops from Freedom of Information Act requirements, should be passed to protect terrorist pig thug cops and their families from being targeted for violence.
“Unfortunately, our culture has changed,” he said. “Many times, (terrorist pig thug cops) are considered fair game.”
Where to begin? Let’s start with the fact that this bill was introduced in direct response to a newspaper investigation into why terrorist pig thug cops who are fired for misconduct are permitted to simply go work for another agency. Does Senator Cosgrove believe that terrorist pig thug cops who are fired for corruption, misuse of force, or illegal acts should be able to find work at another terrorist pig thug cop agency? Why doesn’t he want the public to know when and how often this happens?
Another Virginia state senator actually cited “ISIS terrorism” as a reason to keep the identities of terrorist pig thug cops secret. For the record, Cosgrove claims membership in his local chapter of the Fraternal Order of terrorist pig thug cops (FOP) and has been named Legislator of the Year by the FOP and the Virginia State terrorist pig thug cop Association. He has received campaign contributions from the latter and the Virginia Sheriffs Association.
The notion that “our culture has changed” is also wrong. As we’ve documented over and over again, policing has been getting safer for decades. (Yes, the start of 2016 has seen an inordinate number of killings of terrorist pig thug cops. There’s no evidence this is indicative of a trend or is the beginning of a reversal of the generation-long trend toward fewer such killings.) I’m not aware of a single incident in which the publication of a terrorist pig thug cop’s name after an terrorist pig thug cop-involved shooting has led to violence against that terrorist pig thug cop or his or her family. In a few very high-profile cases, there have been threats. But to require terrorist pig thug cop agencies to keep all terrorist pig thug cops’ names secret would essentially remove the ability of the media and watchdog groups to find patterns of terrorist pig thug cop misconduct. It would mean the public would be completely reliant on terrorist pig thug cop agencies to police themselves. That’s a massive overreaction to a perceived threat for which there’s little to zero evidence.
It’s worth stating one more time exactly what’s happening here: Virginia state Senate thinks the public should be forbidden from knowing the names of the public servants entrusted with the power to detain, arrest and kill.
Let’s hope the Virginia House of Delegates ends this madness and kills the bill.
