VIRGINIA BEACH: IS THE FIX IN?

May 31, 2019 was Virginia’s third mass shooting—12 dead and five wounded at Virginia Beach. The first two massacres were the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia on January 16, 2002—three dead, three wounded, and Virginia Tech April 16, 2007—32 dead and at least 17 injured. The aftermath of both those rampages was marred by duplicity and attempted cover-ups. Incompetent people were never held accountable.  

In the case of Virginia Tech, the Governor’s Review Panel Report contains numerous errors and misleading verbiage, all of which is designed to protect against lawsuits. A member of the Virginia Tech review panel later said they were under pressure from the outset to produce a report that would not lead to litigation.

At Grundy, no one asked the school President to explain his rejection of requests for increased school security. At a meeting just weeks before the rampage he brushed aside female faculty members concerns for classroom safety saying, “You women and your hormones and your intuition … there is nothing to be afraid of … it will be ok.”  

Virginia Beach hired Hilliard Heintze to write an independent review of the tragedy, agreeing to pay the firm nearly $500,000—including expenses. The use if the word “review” rather than “analysis” is troubling.

There is a reason why after a crime, in law enforcement the investigation is called a “crime scene analysis.” An analysis delves deeply into motivation, actions, misconduct, as well as people and policies contributing to the crime. A review is just that, a review of what happened without plumbing all the evidence for what led to the crime.             

An “analysis” is a critical investigation, a “review” is not.

Hilliard Heintze is accepting money for its services; legally, its obligation is to the city—referred to as its fiduciary duty.

The city may well be buying and paying for the report it wants—a document that will exonerate. 

Hilliard Heintze’s Scope of Services makes no mention of crime scene analysis. It lists as its core services: violence prevention, threat assessments, and awareness and response training. That is fine going forward, but nowhere does the company include analyzing crimes—particularly mass shootings.  

The company proposed, and the city accepted, to a twelve-week schedule to do the review and produce the report. That schedule is fine for violence prevention, but woefully short for crime scene analysis.

The Virginia Tech analysis took over two years. Analyzing the May 31^st carnage could easily take that long.

The chances are slim Hilliard Heintze will bite the hand that feeds it and produce a report holding the city or any of its employees accountable. 

Initially, Hilliard Heintze’s indicated it would deliver two reports: one confidential and a second for the public consumption. In a press conference on July 23, the company president asserted there would be only one report and he would determine the content. 

The warning signs are already apparent—the fix may be in.