The dashboard-mounted camera in Fairfax County Police officer David Scott Ziants’ cruiser shows Ziants and another officer approaching David Masters’ Chevrolet Blazer with guns drawn. Image taken from video released by the Fairfax County Police Department
Citizens can now explore summaries of Fairfax County police officer-involved shootings that occurred over the last 10 years.
On Aug. 11, Police Chief Col. Edwin Roessler released a web page of information through Fairfax County’s website, including brief descriptions of what an officer-involved shooting is, what happens when an officer uses deadly force, the kind of training officers have and a hyperlinked table of shooting summaries organized by year and local police station. The brief summaries do not include names of police officers involved in the shootings or of the subjects of the shootings.
The chart covers the years 2005-2015 and lists 37 total incidents. Of those, five subjects weren’t injured, 16 were wounded and 16 died.
Clicking on the year at the top of the chart brings up a new page with summaries of the shootings for that year. Clicking on the total number of shootings across the bottom of the chart opens a map showing where they took place. According to the chart, there have been no officer-related shootings in 2015.
Roessler stated his intent as: “Providing information regarding the Fairfax County Police Department’s officer-involved shootings will help the community understand what officers encounter and the criminal and administrative investigative processes related to these events.”
The shooting case charts include the Fairfax County Police Department case number, date of the incident, the location, number of officers involved, decision by the Commonwealth’s attorney as to any criminal liability for the officers, the outcome of any internal affairs investigation, the health status of the subject involved (wounded, deceased or no injury), a case summary and any related news releases.
The full release from the chief and embedded database are available online at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/inside-fcpd/063015ois.htm.