The AP came out with a story reporting the results of a year long investigation of AP Story Police Sexual Misconduct.  The results are recounted at the link. I am not making excuses for the rotten bastards that crossed the line.  I offer no excuses for the cowards posing as Police Chiefs and Sheriffs who took no action other than to show these guys the door, rather than prosecute.

With that being said there are a number of flaws in the AP study that need correcting.  First and foremost AP treats law enforcement as a monolith, a cop, is a cop, is a cop no matter where you go.  Along that line all police agencies are the same.  If you believe that I know this cop bar in Los Angeles.  Just go in and shout out that LAPD and LASO are one and the same. Call me if you make it out alive.  

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics there are 765,000 sworn peace officers at the state and local level.  They represent approximately 18,000 agencies. Almost half the police agencies in the United States (49%) are staffed by less than ten officers.  

While well written policy and procedure is focused, 18,000 potential policy manuals still allows for a wide variation.  What works for NYPD may not work in Beaver Falls, New Hampshire.  

AP relied on the state commissions that licenses peace officers for data regarding discipline.  This despite the fact that not all police agencies are subject to that type of oversight.  Even those oversight agencies that have the authority to suspend or revoke licenses do not always follow up.  I sent a police officer to Federal prison for 12 1/2 years.  He was incarcerated for over 2 years before the State of Texas sent him a letter asking him if he wouldn’t mind surrendering his peace officer license. So as a source of discipline AP could have done better.   

Pointed out in the article is that police chiefs and command staffs are aware of the problem and were directly involved in the research and policy development in this area.  

One cannot help wondering how widespread the problem is, my guess is that police officers are not over or under represented as workers who, given the opportunity will take advantage of a situation.  If porn films are to be believed pool boys, landscapers, tennis pros, and yoga teachers have a leg up on the cops.

I was able to find one report, Sexual Misconduct in Schools 2002 that compared the incidence of sexual misconduct directed at students by public school students verses catholic priests.  It wasn’t even close the report described the incidence of abuse 100 times worse in public schools.  The report wa suppressed and not widely circulated.

Titled, “Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature,” the report says the mistreatment of students ranges from sexual comments to rape.

In fact, says the studies author, Carol Shakeshaft, professor of educational administration at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York, the scope of the school sex problem appears to far exceed the clergy abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church.

Comparing the incidence of sexual misconduct in schools with the Catholic Church scandal, Shakeshift notes that a study by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops concluded that 10,667 young people were sexually mistreated by priests between 1950 and 2002.

In contrast, the extrapolates from a national survey conducted for the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation in 2000 that roughly 290,000 students experienced some sort of physical sexual abuse by a public school employee between 1991 and 2000.

The figures suggest “the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests,” said Shakeshaft, according to Education Week.

Indeed, more than 4.5 million students are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarden and 12th grade, says the report.

It is important to the police to point out that law enforcement in not monolithic and it is made up of  18,000 different agencies  with different rules and regulations and varying experience levels. This does not excuse police officers, agencies, or administrators but merely points out that the underlying premise is not correct.

Not all allegations against officers have merit.  Every male officer who has ever conducted a traffic stop has at, one time or another, experienced the unbuttoned blouse, the hiked up skirt and the come hither smile that comes just prior to the time he says,”Sign here, bear down hard you are making five copies.” From past experience, responding with, “Aw gee lady, ain’t you got anything smaller?” will get you in the Chief’s office just as quick as if you had accepted.