Past Lawsuits Against Police Chief Revealed During Hiring Process

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Board members were aware of two civil lawsuits filed against Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis when he was an officer in Prince George's County, Maryland, Jeff McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, confirmed in an interview Saturday with Patch.

"We were made aware of them through the process," McKay said. "We were not aware of them before we did the interviews, but we were made aware of them before the chief was sworn in."

The two lawsuits, which occurred in the 1990s, were not something hidden from the public's knowledge. The Baltimore Sun reported about them in 2015 when Davis was hired to be that city's new police commissioner. It was NBC4 that brought the lawsuits to light again shortly after Davis' appointment in Fairfax County.

In the first case, Davis stopped a soon-to-be law student named Mark Spann while he was driving in Prince George's County. In the second case, which occurred six years later, Davis was sued for false imprisonment and arrest of a man who said Davis and other officers essentially kidnapped him for a night, NBC4 reported.

The lawsuits, both of which Davis lost, have dogged the new chief since the board announced his appointment on April 23. They have also brought into question the hiring process that identified Davis as the most qualified candidate to lead the Fairfax County Police Department at a time of heightened concerns over police violence and the need for reform.

"When we first sent out our position statement, we indicated that we did not agree with the ways in which the search was conducted," said Karen Campblin, president of the Fairfax County NAACP. "There was very minimal, public engagement. They did do the survey and the interviews and the phone calls. Yes. They did do a community town hall, but questions were not answered."

Campblin said the selection process lacked transparency. Her organization reached out to the Board of Supervisors for answers about what went into the selection process and what criteria led to Davis being selected as the top candidate for the job. As of yet, the board has not replied.

McKay, who was a member of the Board of Supervisors the last time a new chief was hired in 2013, acknowledged the screening panel for the most recent search did not include members of the community. The decision was made to limit the panel to county staff, who could sign non-disclosure agreements in order to maintain the confidentiality of the candidates.

"This is a hard time to try to recruit a police chief for obvious reasons, and the concern was we wouldn't get the quality of candidates, if this was not a confidential process," McKay said. "Most people are used to a hiring process being a confidential process."

In regards to soliciting input from the wider community, the county relied on surveys and public meetings with the consultant.

"We had a report of surveys and data before we even started the hiring process," McKay said. "We have never had that before we hired anyone in Fairfax County, and so I do think it was transparent. It's admittedly transparent in a different way than the transparency that people thought in 2013. But for me, as a person involved in both of those processes, I feel like this one was more transparent than 2013."

Fairfax County NAACP Files FOIA Request

Last Wednesday, Fairfax County NAACP filed a Freedom of Information Request asking the county to answer the organization's early questions and demanding the release of other documentation related to Davis' hiring.

"We remain very concerned about this hiring for several of the reasons we have outlined in our previous statements, and continue to demand more transparency," the Fairfax County NAACP said, in a release. "We urge the county to rescind the NDA that seems to shield the county from disclosing important information, release a copy of Mr. Davis’ contract in full, and reveal all Fairfax community members contacted during the data gathering phase."

The Fairfax County Attorney's Office is handing the FOIA request and will determine what information can be released, according to McKay.

"For me, it doesn't matter if there was an NDA or not, because to me closed session and the sanctity of closed session means you don't reveal information about what is done in closed session or else why have it closed to begin with?" he said. "So for me, every single minute I'm in closed session is under an NDA, whether there's one signed or not."

In addition to the call for greater transparency, Campblin criticized the board for not sharing evidence demonstrating Davis had successfully implemented reforms at any of the police departments at which he had previously served.

"This was the chief who worked closely with the Obama administration on implementing a consent decree on the Baltimore Police Department to reform the department," McKay said. "This is a chief who was a George Soros Open Society fellow, who's writing a book on consent decrees and police reform. He was widely known in Prince George's County and Anne Arundel County as a reformist."

Davis also implemented body-worn cameras throughout the Baltimore Police Department and introduced Narcan Policy for Law Enforcement for all officers in the Anne Arundel Police Department, McKay added.

"We looked at the totality of his police career, his background, his work in academia, on reform. He teaches classes on police reform at colleges," McKay said. "The way he answered the questions for us, we were wholly convinced that he was head and shoulders above the other candidates in implementing reforms."

Related:

• Shadow Of Lawsuits Hangs Over New Police Chief In Fairfax
• Fairfax County's New Police Chief Comes With History Of Lawsuits
• Updated: New Chief Supports Police Reform In Fairfax County