Sexual assault from police is not uncommon, but it’s underreported
While the shocking details of Holtzclaw’s case has captured some national attention, a searing Associated Press investigation found that 550 police officers lost their certification from 2009 to 2014 for sexual assault, rape, groping, and forced sexual favors to avoid arrest. Another 440 officers were decertified for other sexual offenses including child pornography voyeurism and consensual sex on the job, which is prohibited.
But as Vox’s Dara Lind pointed out last month, these 990 police officers were the ones who were caught and then punished for their actions. There’s no account of how many have gotten away with these acts. As Sarasota, Florida, Police Chief Bernadette DiPino told the AP, officers across the country engage with citizens in sexually violent manners. “It’s so underreported,” she said, “and people are scared that if they call and complain about a police officer, they think every other police officer is going to be then out to get them.”
While officer-involved shootings involving black victims do get a lot of attention, sexual assault is the second most common form of police misconduct, according to the African American Policy Forum, citing a 2010 Cato Institute study. Of the 618 officers with sexual misconduct complaints that year, 354 of them were accused of sexual assault or sexual battery. For black women, advocates say the situation is particularly dire.
“Black women are particularly vulnerable to sexual assault by police due to historically entrenched presumptions of promiscuity and sexual availability,” the AAPF wrote in its 2015 report “Say Her Name.” “Historically, the American legal system has not protected Black women from sexual assault, thereby creating opportunities for law enforcement officials to sexually abuse them with the knowledge that they are unlikely to suffer any penalties for their actions.”
Some were skeptical that an all-white jury with eight men and four women would necessarily find Holtzclaw, who is white and Japanese, guilty. Despite all this — the officer distrust, the use of sexual force, the status of the women Holtzclaw abused, and the makeup of the jury — he was brought to justice Thursday night. And because of J., the other women who finally spoke up, and the police department that listened to the accusers, Holtzclaw won’t be able to abuse his power as a police officer again.
Article Appeared @http://www.vox.com/2015/12/11/9891934/daniel-holtzclaw-guilty