US - Hundreds of LEOs lose licenses over sexual misconduct

From the Associated Press Article:

Even as cases around the country have sparked a national conversation about excessive force by police, sexual misconduct by officers has largely escaped widespread notice due to a patchwork of laws, piecemeal reporting and victims frequently reluctant to come forward because of their vulnerabilities — they often are young, poor, struggling with addiction or plagued by their own checkered pasts.

In interviews, lawyers and even police chiefs told the AP that some departments also stay quiet about improprieties to limit liability, allowing bad officers to quietly resign, keep their certification and sometimes jump to other jobs.

The officers involved in such wrongdoing represent a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands whose jobs are to serve and protect. But their actions have an outsized impact — miring departments in litigation that leads to costly settlements, crippling relationships with an already wary public and scarring victims with a special brand of fear.


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fd1d...ds-officers-lose-licenses-over-sex-misconduct

Anybody who is in a position of power over others and abuses it should be arrested and locked up. IMO.

From the article linked in post #1 -

Of those that did release records, the AP determined that some 550 officers were decertified for sexual assault, including rape and sodomy, sexual shakedowns in which citizens were extorted into performing favors to avoid arrest, or gratuitous pat-downs. Some 440 officers lost their badges for other sex offenses, such as possessing child *advertiser censored*, or for sexual misconduct that included being a peeping Tom, sexting juveniles or having on-duty intercourse.

The AP's findings, coupled with other research and interviews with experts, suggest that sexual misconduct is among the most prevalent type of complaint against law officers. Phil Stinson, a researcher at Bowling Green State University, analyzed news articles between 2005 and 2011 and found 6,724 arrests involving more than 5,500 officers. Sex-related cases were the third-most common, behind violence and profit-motivated crimes. Cato Institute reports released in 2009 and 2010 found sex misconduct the No. 2 complaint against officers, behind excessive force.

... "And the other officers say they didn't see anything, they didn't hear anything."

... "tolerance at any level will invite more of the same conduct."

I'm glad that women (and men!) are starting to come forward and report this issue. It's very brave of them.

A personal anecdote: when my mother was a very young woman she was sexually assaulted. The policeman who arrived to make a report *asked her out* when he was done. A traumatized young woman. He continued to aggressively pursue her after she turned him down. She never reported him, she was too ashamed and thought she must have somehow brought it on herself.

The statistics show this is alarmingly prevalent - combine that with other countries experiencing the same crime from their LE in large numbers - what happened? Is the power of the badge now attracting many predators rather than fewer years ago?

Addressing the problem is moving awfully slow imo - first talked about among US high level officers in 2007. How many victims in the meantime?

I don't know the answer Woodland. TBH, I've been reading stories like this for a couple of decades but the stories were always local. Now that news distribution happens more widely on the internet that may make this feel like "more" when it's really just making all of these transgressions appear more connected, an epidemic rather than isolated instances.

What is alarming, I agree, is that there appears to be little outside oversight and objective reporting with LE to create accountability and a plan to address this.
No doubt this is only the tip of the iceberg.

For women who followed the Moreno case in NYC, they learned what not to do (meaning- never report their rape if the rapist is a cop) while watching that trial unfold. The officers went back to a vomiting drunk woman's apartment multiple times, undressed her, got into bed with her while she was passed out (and that's just what they admitted to- Moreno denied raping the woman). This woman could have choked to death- she woke up in a pool of vomit.

They falsified their logs to cover up where they really were. They were not found guilty. Oh, but the victim is facing a $175k lawsuit now: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...-files-175m-lawsuit-accuser-article-1.1886405

Doubtless there are other places where women have seen similar charges brought against an officer and witnessed what what happens to women who are brave enough to press charges. Predators often choose victims who they know won't be believed, and by the nature of their work Police Officers come into contact with lots of women who have a lot to lose and nothing to gain by reporting their assaults.

Frankly I'm surprised the number of officers held accountable is this high.

Find myself struggling with 6,724 arrests involving 5,500 officers between 2005 and 2011.

That's roughly 916 officers per year facing sexual misconduct charges in the line duty.

Woodland said:

Find myself struggling with 6,724 arrests involving 5,500 officers between 2005 and 2011.

That's roughly 916 officers per year facing sexual misconduct charges in the line duty.

Click to expand...

Not all of the arrests were sex-related. Among the 6,724 cases in the research, sex-related cases ranked number three. Still, that's far too many.


"The AP's findings, coupled with other research and interviews with experts, suggest that sexual misconduct is among the most prevalent type of complaint against law officers.

Phil Stinson, a researcher at Bowling Green State University, analyzed news articles between 2005 and 2011 and found 6,724 arrests involving more than 5,500 officers.

Sex-related cases were the third-most common, behind violence and profit-motivated crimes.

Cato Institute reports released in 2009 and 2010 found sex misconduct the No. 2 complaint against officers, behind excessive force."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fd1d...ds-officers-lose-licenses-over-sex-misconduct