Moving to the forefront of the U.S. conscious is police brutality after alarming and often fatal cases, far too many to name here, have gained national attention and in some cases have rattled the public’s perception of police in recent years, especially this year. A yearlong investigation by the Associated Press however has uncovered a part of police brutality that’s for the most part gone overlooked: sexual misconduct. Cases like Chicago police being investigated for child prostitution, one former police officer extorting a person for a sexual favor, or an Oklahoma City police officer facing trial for raping at least 13 women while on-duty, are happening all over the U.S. and police officers are being forced to resign or are being fired for it. The Associated Press’ study says almost 1,000 officers have been fired between 2009 and 2014 for “rape, sodomy and other sexual assault; sex crimes that included possession of child pornography; or sexual misconduct such as propositioning citizens or having consensual but prohibited on-duty intercourse.”
The AP found out about the 1,000 officers during its investigation of sexual misconduct in state and local police, sheriff’s deputies, prison guards and school resource officers. 1,000 officers is only what the AP could find out of the 41 states that did keep records. States with the largest law enforcements nationally, such as New York and California, weren’t a part of the investigation because they do not have a system keeping track of these criminal police officers. New Jersey also doesn’t have a system and three other states refused to submit their records.
Of the 1,000 officers, 550 lost their licenses after committing sexual assault, like rape, sodomy, sexual extortions where police asked citizens for sexual favors in order to avoid arrest, or “gratuitous pat-downs.” The other 440 officers lost their licenses for reasons such as having child pornography or sexual misconduct like being a peeping Tom or sexting juveniles. This also included having sex while on the job. Almost one-third of the officers were accused of incidents with juveniles.
Astonishingly only half of the U.S. states require police departments to notify state boards when an officer is fired for misconduct or fired period. Only 10 of those states also require departments to report resignations over misconduct.
The eye opening report also indicated from the states that did provide records some reported no officers being fired for misconduct even when court records or news stories proved otherwise.
[via Salon]
