Exposing Police Sexual Misconduct Tom Barker School of Justice Studies Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, KY, USA
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Exposing Police Sexual Misconduct To m B a r k e r Aggressors in Blue Tom Barker Aggressors in Blue Exposing Police Sexual Misconduct Tom Barker School of Justice Studies Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, KY, USA ISBN 978-3-030-28440-4 ISBN 978-3-030-28441-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28441-1 © Te Editor(s) (if applicable) and Te Author(s) 2020 Tis work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Cover credit: zef art/shutterstock.com Tis Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG Te registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Contents 1 Overview 1 Part I Police Sex Related Criminal Homicides 2 Police Sex-Related Criminal Homicides: Sexually Motivated Police Serial Killers 79 3 Sex-Related Criminal Homicides: Rape Plus Murder 97 Part I Concluding Remarks Part II Sexual Predators in Blue: Rapists, Extortionists, and Harasshers 4 Type 2: Violent Rapists and Sexual Predators 117 5 Type 3: Sexual Extortion aka Sexual Shakedowns 159 v vi Contents 6 Type 4: Betrayal of Trust 181 7 Type 5: Consensual On-Duty Sex 201 8 Type 6: Custodial Sexual Misconduct 219 9 Type 7: Harassment Discrimination in the Police Workplace 233 Part III Police Child Molesters & Pornographers 10 Type 8: Child Molestation 251 11 Type 9: Child Pornography 269 12 Type 10: Sexual Exploitation in Joint School Police and Community-Sponsored Programs 289 13 Final Toughts 307 Index 319 List of Tables Table 1.1 Sexual harassment and sexual misconduct by federal law enforcement agencies (2008–2012) 8 Table 1.2 Alleged sexual harassment and sexual misconduct by ofense type 9 vii List of Boxes Box 1.1 Why Police Sexual Abuse Is Not Reported 19 Box 1.2 Sapp’s Seven Categories of Police Sexually Motivated or Sexual Harassment Behaviors 24 Box 1.3 Recommendations for Better Oversight of Explorer Programs 32 Box 1.4 Empirical Typology of Police Sexual Misconduct 46 Box 9.1 RCMP Sexual Harassment Apology 234 Box 13.1 UK Police Barred List 312 ix 1 Overview Introduction Sexual misconduct—any form of proscribed sexual contact—by workers in the criminal justice system—courts, law enforcement, and corrections— is pervasive and has a long history in the various occupations that make up the formal systems of social control. Tat focus is too broad for this inquiry. Our focus is on the policework occupation (Barker 2011. Italics used whenever referring to the policework occupation). Te nature of the duties makes policework a morally dangerous occupation wherever it has been established. Virtually every US police agency has a history of police misconduct and that includes police sexual misconduct (Klockers et al. 2000). Why? Te workers, policework occupation, perform their discretionary duties in private settings without supervision or witness, and their coworkers are reluctant to report misconduct. Te book will closely examine PSM in the United States; however, police misconduct including police sexual misconduct is not just an American problem. Police misconduct is an occupational deviance problem throughout the world. In 1915, the noted police authority Raymond Fosdick said the following, © Te Author(s) 2020 1 T. Barker, Aggressors in Blue, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28441-1_1 2 T. Barker Everywhere [he was commenting on European Police Systems] there are special pitfalls for the policeman, peculiar temptations to which he is con- tinually exposed. Te prostitute who walks the street, the bookmaker who plies his trade on the sidewalk, the public-house proprietor who would keep open after hours, the prisoner on his way to a cell, in short every man or woman who would escape the operation of the penalty of law and is ready to pay [favors, money, or sex] for immunity constitutes a menace to the integrity of the policeman. (Fosdick 1915: 369–370) Police sexual misconduct and other forms of police misconduct are present to some extent in all police agencies globally. To present a global analysis of police sexual misconduct is beyond the scope of this book. However, when possible I present evidence from other countries to make a point or demonstrate the occupational nature of police sexual misconduct. I use American and UK examples as my main sources of information. PSM in the UK Police sexual misconduct examples in the UK are used repeatedly because: (1) the studies are in English, (2) there are numerous ofcial and social media PSM accounts, (3) the London Metropolitan Public Paid Police Model is the basis for the American police model. Furthermore, police sexual misconduct in the UK police systems has a long history and is pervasive (Critchley 1967; Waddington 1999). An Observer study based on the UK Freedom of Information Act published in the Guardian found 1491 sexual misconduct complaints against police ofcers in England and Wales from 2012 to 2018 (Chaminda, May 18, 2019). Ten of the 33 police forces in England and Wales did not respond to the inquiry. Te common police agency response in the United States and other countries is to not respond to media requests for damaging information. Te results of the Observer found that 371 complaints were upheld and resulted in the resignations of 197 police ofcers, special ofcers or community support ofcers. Te largest number of complaints came 1 Overview 3 from the London Metropolitan Police force with 594 complaints—119 were upheld. Among the overall complaints were: developing intimate sexual relationships with vulnerable members of the public—victims and suspects, child sexual abuse, producing and distributing child pornography, sexual harassment, and rape. Te study concluded that there was a sexist culture among some ofcers leading to numerous complaints by colleagues of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Tere is a need for more empirical study of PSM in the UK and other global police agencies. Te police sexual misconduct typology developed in this work will stimulate more interest and lead to more research and analysis. PSM in the United States Police sexual misconduct has a long history in American police agen- cies (see Eschholz and Vaughn 2001). Police sexual assaults by police ofcers were reported in 19% of the brutality cases in New York City from 1863 to 1894 (Johnson 2003). Reiss (1971) in his study of patrol- men in three American cities concluded that in any year a substantial minority of police ofcers engage in behavior that violates the criminal law, misbehaves toward citizens, and violates department rules and regu- lations. Tose criminal violations include police sexual misconduct. * * * We examine police sexual misconduct (PSM) as a form of occupational deviance and present a heuristic model—PSM Causal Equation—to explain PSM. Te PSM Causal Equation is based on rational choice theory and has three dimensions: inclination, opportunity, and real or perceived low risk. Te PSM Causal Equation Model is supported by data and theory—deterrence, self-control, social learning theories and a modifed routine activities model—applied to police sexual miscon- duct. Finally, we develop an Empirical Typology of PSM and present Illustrative Examples of each type. Each PSM type is examined accord- ing to its “best ft” to the PSM Causal Equation. 4 T. Barker Occupational Deviance Occupational deviance is deviant (rule or norm-violating) behaviors— criminal and non-criminal—that occur because of the nature of the worker’s occupation (Bryant 1974). A worker with the inclination to engage in behavior proscribed by law, rules, or prescribed pro- fessional codes is presented with the opportunity because of their work duties. When the intersection of inclination and opportunity occurs under a perceived low-risk environment, the likelihood of occupational deviance is increased. Tis nexus—inclination, oppor- tunity, and low risk—is impacted in police work settings by the une- qual power relationship between the worker and his or her “client” (Barker 1977). Policework is a unique occupation because law enforcement ofcers as representatives of the state engage in patterns of behavior not available to other citizens. Law enforcement ofcers (LEOs) by law stop and search other citizens and interfere with their free move- ment including making arrests with or without a warrant. Citizens are always in an extortionate relationship when confronted by law enforcement ofcers because law enforcement ofcers may use force, including deadly force to compel their legitimate objectives. Furthermore, the occupational subculture of police work contains a set of shared understandings—norms—as to when, why, and against whom deadly force can be used (Waegel 1984; Barker, forthcoming). In the US procedural laws restrict these powers, but these limitations do little good on the street in police-citizen encounters with illegal intentions on the part of the ofcer.