imported post
A few years ago I had a bad experience with a Henrico police officer in Short Pump. I filed an internal affairs complaint, and the officer was "administratively disciplined".
One thing Col. Stanley asked Phil Van Cleave is that in the future he be contacted immediately after such incidents, so he can "make things right".
Here's what I'd do post haste if I were you:
1. File a WRITTEN internal affairs complaint. It is not a real complaint if you just talk to internal affairs or a supervisor on the phone.Fax AND mail hard copies of the complaint to internal affairs AND VCDL.
2. Call or email Philip Van Cleave. He helped me a lot. He also worked with Col. Stanley. I will warn you that a top officer in Henrico lied through his teeth early in the process when Col Stanley was out of town and unavailable- he lied to me, lied to Philip, etc. Be prepared for this. (he claimed there had been a 911 "man with a gun" call - there hadn't been. He just made that up out of thin air)
3. Fax and mail a FOIA request for all radio traffic and the incident/call report. Do this asap, even if there isn't an incident report (there wasn't in my case - I've always suspected the officer knew he screwed up and the last thing he wanted was a written record of what he did). However, there was a call report, showing the codes used, the other officers called to the scene, etc.
4. You haven't shared any details of your encounter, so it is impossible for any of us to know if you had a real "problematic encounter" with an officer or not. We also can't judge if your own actions may have contributed (even unwittingly) to the situation you experienced. If your behavior was as "clean asdriven snow", then you may also wish to file a written criminal complaint against the officer with the Commonwealths Attorney, as I did. This must be done in writing. In my case, this led to a seperate invesitgation of the officers behavior by the CA as well (be aware that this will delay the internal affairs process, and tie Col. Stanleys hands to a large degree, until the complaint with the commonwealth attorneyis resolved). If you do this, Col Stanley will be largely unable to intervene until this is resolved.
I have copies of all my complaints and correspondence if you need any assistance. I received an apologyfrom Col Stanley and a letter from internal affairs saying that officers misbehavior was "inappropriate" and "not up to the expectations of the division of police" that also noted the officer had been "administratively disciplined". My experience with internal affairs was that you have to push them a little bit. And if everything is not in writing, then it didn't happen as far as they are concerned. One officer in internal affairs was very good - but his supervisor was less forthcoming and less helpful. Perhaps because my behavior was perfect, the officers behavior was mistaken in multiple regards, andbecause I also involved the Board of Supervisors and VCDL, I did get exactly the result I wanted. Philip helped immensely, as well as the fact that I had two witnesses who gave statements to internal affairs.
PS - I open carry in Short Pump routinely, and have never had a problem since. In fact, I have since encounteredat least a dozen Henrico officers while open carrying since, without ever having a problem.
