A series of recent groundbreaking investigative reports unveiled what many advocates for police accountability have known for decades: Child sex abuse by law enforcement officials is far too common across our country. Systemic failures within policing—coupled with lax oversight by police departments, prosecutors, and judges—too often shield police officers from meaningful accountability.
Child sex abuse is chronic and widespread, yet justice for survivors is rare. Studies have found that nearly 25 percent of girls and roughly 8 percent of boys experience sexual abuse before turning 18. Numerous social and psychological factors including guilt, fear, and self-blame often prevent children from telling their families or others about their abuse, with a majority of incidents never known by anyone other than the survivor and their abuser until years after the abuse ended.
Every parent and family member should read this article (along with the WaPo article which ACSOL posted the link for: Read the responses from convicted police officers and their agencies 12 June 2024) to get a full understanding the registry does virtually nothing to protect their child and those who are in a position of trust are not on the registry (the stats show that). In the end, these people are human and fallible, not superhuman just because they wear a badge.
What the people want is appearing to be what the Congress has done with the military by taking the power out of the command structure to investigate and litigate sex offense charges and giving them to an outside office to do such to avoid command influence on the process in one way or another. I could see LE getting the same vein in some sort or another to stay above board and prove they are doing their best to keep the force and people safe when it comes to matters such as this.
There is a poster named “Beks ” on “X” (formerly Twitter) who regularly posts news articles about church-affiliated & law enforcement individuals charged with sexual offenses involving minors. Rarely a day goes by without a new post from her.
Neither the number of incidents of abuse nor the lax accountability should surprise anyone. It is well known that over 90 percent of sexual abuse of children is perpetrated by a person who is trusted or in a position of authority over the child: parents, relatives, coaches, teachers, family friends, clergy, and policemen. Prosecutors, who ultimately control outcomes, are considered as law enforcement (LE) officers. They are not peace officers, but they are LE. Prosecutors depend on police for their “raw materials” and support during prosecutions. If police officers were held to the same standard–not just for sex crimes–as everyone else, the comity between the two would be seriously strained.
This is nothing new or some groundbreaking revelation. The power structures and code of silences attract and harbor the real deviants that live double lives in the shadows..
How many times has a cop pulled a woman over only to let her off with a warning in exchange for her social or phone number?
COUNTLESS.