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Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police

By TChris, Section Misconduct
Posted on Thu Dec 08, 2005 at 07:25:22 AM EST
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by TChris

Two New York police officers have been accused of sexually assaulting three women. In November, the officers approached a woman who was stopped at a red light in Brooklyn.

Investigators said one of the officers leaned into her car and rubbed his hand on her leg and both officers followed her home on the pretext of making sure she arrived safely, but assaulted her once they got there while her child and her brother's two children were sleeping inside.

DNA belonging to one officer was found in the woman’s apartment. A month earlier, the same officers groped two women in their apartment when they responded to a noise complaint, according to complaints the women filed after realizing the same officers had committed other assaults.

Sexual abuse of women by police officers isn’t limited to New York.

Samuel Walker, a professor emeritus of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, has studied what he said was a growing list of abuse against women committed by on-duty police officers. [Sometimes it involves officers who stop women on the pretext of traffic violations, a practice he refers to as ‘driving while female,’ but other times officers take aim at prostitutes or women at home.]

Mr. Walker wrote a paper about what he said was a nationwide phenomenon in 2002, [noting that it was a form of police misconduct prevalent throughout the nation. His paper cited cases in Texas, Chicago and on Long Island.]

"What we found is that a number of these incidents involved prostitutes, so they were not always involving traffic stops," he said. "There were a number of other patterns where it's other things; a call to a house, and then some misconduct occurs."

(Bracketed additions are from the Times print edition.)

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    Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#1)
    by rdandrea on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:46 PM EST
    You don't have to look much farther than Colorado for similar stories.
    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#2)
    by rdandrea on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:46 PM EST
    Sorry, Here is the link to the trooper story. Left out a quotation mark.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:46 PM EST
    Earlier in the year there was an incident in a small town here in Oklahoma, I believe it was Mustang, where the head sheriff and a couple of deputies were accused of assualting a female convenience store worker. She alleged that the officers came in on two separate occasions on her overnight shift and made advances on her. When she rebuffed them they told her that they could make life hard for her in the town. After sexually assualting her they reminded her that they were police officers and nobody would believe her if she told anyone what had happened. I haven't seen anything on the local news about it lately and to trust the OKC newspaper to cover this story is like trusting the Mafia to tell the police where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. It doesn't surprise me one bit to think that any person with that type of authority would take advantage of their position. A friend of mines mother preformed the psych evaluations for my local PD and felt more than a few times she was fooled by some of the cadets she ok'ed, and in at least one case she was proved right when the cadet she gave the green light to got caught up in a steroid/meth distribution ring along with 2 other veteran officers.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#4)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Power corrupts. We all know this. This is why it is important to teach your children that it is ok to question police officers or any authority figures.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#5)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Power corrupts. We all know this.
    Does anybody have figures on crime rates among cops? I was all set to post something pithy about them being more law-abiding then the general public, thus undercutting the "power corrupts" meme. But I can't find the numbers.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#6)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Roy, even if you could find the numbers, they wouldn't be accurate. The 'blue wall' remember? I'd suggest that on a daily basis, no other group in America violates the Constitution as often as cops do.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#7)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Sailor is right, since criminals and private citizens aren't bound by the constitution, and no else is employed to do law enforcement for the government, it's obvious.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    The executive and legislative branches give law enforcement a run for their money in violating the constitution. I'd say it depends on the crime. The general population will commit more liquor store robberies than police. Police will commit perjury more than the general population.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Patrick,
    Sailor is right, since criminals and private citizens aren't bound by the constitution, and no else is employed to do law enforcement for the government, it's obvious.
    I know what you meant but aren't all 3 branches of the government bound by the constitution? I wouldn't mind seeing statistics on crime by law enforcement; especially over a period of 10 to 20 years. Patrick, please don't take this as me having something against law enforcement. I have several relatives employed as police officers throughout the country and I don't think every cop is bad or dirty. However, where I live, there have been several investigations, indictments, and convictions of local law enforcement officials by the US Attorney. It does worry me.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#10)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    I know what you meant but aren't all 3 branches of the government bound by the constitution?
    It's tricky to say that the Judicial violates the Constitution, since the Constitution changes to meet the Judicial branche's decisions.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Patrick,
    I know what you meant but aren't all 3 branches of the government bound by the constitution?
    Forget that statement... It doesn't really apply to what you said. What I was going after is that congress can pass a bill that ultimately is ruled unconstitutional or the Justice Department (executive branch) can dictate that certain entities have to conform to certain standrards and those standards could be ruled unconstitional. But, that doesn't really apply to your statement.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#12)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Patrick, everyone in America is bound by the Constitution. But you are correct in your point (as I understand it) and I almost added that statistically, cops as a group are bound to violate the rights of citizens more often due to their job description. Ideally, cops should uphold the law and thereby the Constitution, in practice ... ummm, not so much. And when crimes are done under 'color of authority' it is much more egregious. We can, and should, expect more from cops than citizens. After all, they have powers that aren't afforded to a citizen.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#13)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Sailor, A private citizen is not bound by the 4th or 5th amendments, which I'm absolutely positive will amount to the greatest percentage of violations to which you speak. Most of which I might also add are procedural.
    We can, and should, expect more from cops than citizens. After all, they have powers that aren't afforded to a citizen.
    Please forgive my ignorance, but with the exception to cite for an infraction of the law, which powers do the cops have that citizens don't? But since this thread is about abuses by the police, I will say, investigate them thoroghly and hang it in their a$$ if they did it. They are no better than a rapist.

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#14)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:47 PM EST
    Police will commit perjury more than the general population.
    I couldn't disagree more. Have you ever been to family court? Or seen a defense witness on the stand?

    Re: Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police (none / 0) (#15)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:48 PM EST
    Police are not the only perjurers, but considering the vast majority of citizens never testify under oath, and police due so routinely, I think it's a fair assumption.

    Accusations of Sexual Abuse by NY Police | 15 comments (15 topical)