Police Shootings / Possible Abuse Threads [merged]

They served in police departments big and small. They were new recruits and seasoned veterans, patrol officers and chiefs of police. They understood the power of their guns and badges. In many cases, they used that very power to find and silence their victims.

A Washington Post investigation has found that over the past two decades, hundreds of law enforcement officers in the United States have sexually abused children while officials at every level of the criminal justice system have failed to protect kids, punish abusers and prevent additional crimes.

Police and sheriff’s departments have enabled predators by botching background checks, ignoring red flags and mishandling investigations. Accused cops have used their knowledge of the legal system to stall cases, get charges lowered or evade convictions.

Prosecutors have given generous plea deals to officers who admitted to raping and groping minors. Judges have allowed many convicted officers to avoid prison time.

All the while, children in every state and the District of Columbia have continued to be targeted, groomed and violated by officers sworn to keep them safe.

Cases like these are not unique. The Post identified at least 1,800 state and local law enforcement officers who were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022.

Reporters spent more than a year unearthing thousands of court filings, police records and other documents to understand who these officers are, how they gain access to children and what is — and isn’t — being done to stop them.

The Post also conducted an exclusive analysis of the nation’s most comprehensive database of police arrests.

This database, managed by Bowling Green State University, tracks news reports of arrests of law enforcement. Of the hundreds of thousands of sworn officers in the United States, only a small fraction are ever charged with crimes.

And not all arrests are reported in the news media. But from 2005 through 2022, Bowling Green identified about 17,700 state and local officers who were charged with crimes, including physical assault, drunken driving and drug offenses.

The Post found that 1 in 10 of those officers were charged with a crime involving child sexual abuse.

This type of police misconduct has gone largely unrecognized by the public and unaddressed within the criminal justice system. When pressed by The Post, some police officials, prosecutors and judges admitted that they could have done more to hold officers accountable in the cases they handled.

But nationwide, there has been little reckoning over child abusers within the ranks of law enforcement.............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...e7e8a6816fb1940/8/53/6669c65fe8741f3f591aca84