I read of a case where a police officer routinely stopped young female drivers and asked them for dates before he killed one who threatened a complaint against him.
In another hypothetical scenario, a police officer walks into a bar and demands that a girl accede to his request for a date (or a prolonged relationship) or else he will arrest her with a bogus charge.
If you are the girl or a male friend accompanying the girl, what recourse is there other than leaving (assuming the police officer prevents the girl from leaving, despite not having formally arrested/detained her). I recall an L&O episode where the IAB said that an officer cannot use unsanctioned police power to bully other gamblers out of the arena.
Has this type of misconduct been known to occur; if yes, how prevalent, and what recourse is there? Is there a statute that forbids this? Does ordinary official misconduct cover this?
Just shy of 30 years on the job here. Sure it happens. There are assholes and others on the lunatic fringe that slip through the cracks and get hired. Doing such things is a good way to get fired if not charged with harassment, misconduct in public office, or even sexual assault.
And it’s really stupid to do such things. I’ve never known a cop who had a hard time getting dates. In fact, a guy can screw himself to death if he wants to on this job. Whether it’s the attraction of the uniform, the decent paying job with good benefits or just the extra confidence that people in law enforcement exhibit, there are tons of men and women that will go for someone who is a cop. No stupid, illegal tricks are needed. It’s almost too easy. Someone who does such things mentioned in the OP have a mental problem.
I haven’t encountered those so-aggresive cases, but I once went on a date with a cop who’d approached me from his parked car as I was walking back home with the shopping (in Miami - you just don’t walk, in Miami), with the excuse of being worried about my safety. His pal was another cop who chided him for having such an ancient mummy for a date: they were mid-thirties, I was late twenties, the pal’s two companions weren’t old enough to get a learner’s license, which I understand was more their usual. We went to a club in Miami Beach where the bouncer got his usual from the pal but not his expected usual from my date, as I actually was old enough to enter legally.
So, they were routinely breaking the law as part of their dating, but it certainly wasn’t because they couldn’t have gotten dates that didn’t require bribes to enter nightclubs. In my case I’d decided before even meeting the pal that there wasn’t going to be a second date, since Mr. “I’m single, single, single” was unmarried but had three different children by three different women (we’d met the pal at my date’s house: pictures on the fridge) and I had no interest in becoming Mommy Number Four… but heck, even the existence of those three kids proves pkbites’ point. My date was better looking, but both were fit without being overdone, they were able to ask a woman out without taking a deep breath, blushing or stammering and they had stable jobs. Apparently the pal got a kick out of being with little girls who were more interested in his ownership of a car than in any other trait, but that’s a kind of moron you can find in any profession.
I had an interesting conversation once with my LAPD buddy that you might find enlightening. We were talking about a local LEO whom we both knew was planting drugs on people. I made a derogatory comment to the effect that he should be at least out on his ass, or better yet, doing lap dances for the North Block Glee Club. It just kind of rolled off of my LAPD buddy—he gave me sort of an apathetic shrug and said “what are getting so bent out of shape about? What’s he doing that’s so bad?” I said something like “well, basically, he’s distributing controlled substances.” LAPD buddy came back with “so what—I do exactly the same thing. Look—if I know you’re selling drugs to high school kids, especially when I’ve got informants that are telling me that you’re selling drugs to kids, and I’ve been trying for months to nail your ass but you keep snaking out of it somehow, then yeah—I’m gonna toss a rock in your car.” Eventually he almost had me agreeing with him. But then I changed it up and said to him “OK—how about this scenario—you’re cruising along when you see Soccer Mom in the minivan with a busted taillight. You pull her over with her two little rugrats strapped into their baby seats. Suddenly you realize that Soccer Mom is the girl who rejected your sexual advances in high school…” LAPD buddy wouldn’t even let me finish the sentence. He practically got apoplectic and started screaming “Dude, that’s BULLSHIT! If my partner ever tried that I’d kick his fucking ass into the middle of next week.” The veins were practically sticking out of his neck. So there’s definitely a line cops draw, and that’s pretty much the margins of it.
One thing I’ve noticed about cops though, is that they get weird when you break it off with them. I know a lot of women who felt the need to change the locks on their house or look over their shoulders for a while after the breakup. Not that he’s gonna get violent or anything, but some of these guys can’t take no for an answer. They’ll just keep coming over and pestering you at work or at your house until your threaten to go to their boss, and only then will they tuck tail and sulk off into the corner. Women tell me that it’s usually the big pretty boys who have the hardest time handling rejection.
I’ll leave the rest of the replies to continue the usual bashing of police officers. To answer the OP if a police officer uses his authority to coerce sex then that is rape. If he uses his authority to force someone into conduct they would not do otherwise that is official misconduct. Has it happened? I guess you could find examples somewhere. I have no direct knowledge of any. Have I seen cops use their work time to attempt to pick up or set themselves up with willing partners? Yes. Is it against the law? No, but their bosses would not be happy with how they are wasting work time.
BTW I don’t know what you mean by “ordinary official misconduct.” That is what such statutes are for although they usually cover more than just police officers. In my state a conviction comes with a hefty manditory jail sentence.
A different tack on this is to ask the question, “do badge bunnies (chicks who dig cops) exist.” The answer is yes.
I used to go out to bars pretty regularly with cops I worked with. All of them were undercovers, so to speak (although some of the local LEOs still had uniform duties when assigned to their originating agency). On the job, everyone hid their badges (and guns, handcuffs, etc), but there were a few who would make their shields much more conspicuous when socializing.
Frankly, if the guy in question isn’t screwing around on his SO but just trolling for badge bunnies, I never saw a problem with it. It’s no different than a woman wearing a flattering push-up bra or whatever.
Hell, I knew a (let’s say “not conventionally attractive”) lesbian cop who had guys hit on her all the time when she was in uniform or they found out she was a cop. If they didn’t know what she did for a living, she was pretty much ignored.
Could be worse. They could be using their position to recruit women for the governor.
Seriously, I’m sure there are guys who are this stupid; but what others are saying about “badge bunnies” and what the media has said all along, it’s easy enough without throwing your weight around.
Whether some guys go all “Crash” and use their position of power when they actually catch women in situations to exploit them? Well, similarly they could help themselves to some of the evidence too; evidence comes in unmaked bills and doesn’t file sexual harrassment charges. I don’t know about police disciplinary procedures, but I suspect by the time the third or fourth similar complaint comes along, the guy may as well think about quitting the force.
There are a bunch of rotten apples in every barrel; the sad thing is how often you read about the good ones trying to protect the bad ones, under the misapprehension that they are basically good guys too. If it is a force that tolerates crap, there will be crap. If it is a force that enforces the rules all the way down, then that sort of behaviour will not last long.
Stalking an ex is a form of possessive obsessive (mis)behaviour you will find in any walk of life… Cops just have ammunition.
I wrote that after reading the post I quoted above yours. Which is what these threads often devolve into. All cops plant drugs and all cops harass their exes. I apologize for reading all of the posts.
It certainly does happen with more regularity than you’d hope, but still probably represents a small fraction of officers. It seems I see an article about it once or twice a year in the local paper. Here’s the latest from a couple weeks ago:
If the guy had just waited until his shift was over to trot over there and get a BJ, then in my opinion he would have done nothing wrong. Some guys just can’t keep it in their pants. :rolleyes:
so that woman responded with a lawsuit against the cop who put the note on her windshield, but if she’s pressed for an answer on the spot, in person, what relief is there if the officer is bent on arresting her if she refuses?
False arrest, abuse of power, possibly sexual harassment. That’s if the cop has nothing to arrest her on. If he does, I’m not sure that telling someone you’ll enforce a legitimate sanction against them unless they bribe you constitutes forcing someone. It’d be a bribe offer.
In many legal systems, rape or sexual assault commited by someone in a position of authority is a different, more serious crime; the English name for rape under those conditions is “statutory rape”. In other systems, if the attacker was in a position of authority it’s not a different crime but it may still carry more serious penalties, as it is considered “aggravating circumstances”. The concept applies whether the person in a position of authority was a cop, a doctor, a teacher, a relative… or a zillion other possible variants; which ones are considered worse under a specific legal system will, as usual, vary from legal system to legal system.
In some, abusing a position as “an agent of authority” in any way (be it requesting sexual favors, bribes, or ‘tit for tat’) is a separate crime from whatever the offence was. For example, requesting a bribe could be a crime (or felony, or whichever the specific system calls it) for anybody, but if the person requesting a bribe was a cop, a judge or a meter maid there would be a separate charge of “abuse of power”.
(IANAL, and yes, I’m trying to be as general as possible while actually thinking of several specific legal systems, some of which aren’t written in English)
Well, I remember a SPECIFIC story almost identical to the OP. SCal, about 30 years ago, CHP on duty in the High Desert called in a report of a DB. Investigation showed him to be the cause.
He had a habit of picking up women and screwing in the back seat of his patrol car. You can call it “dating” if you want to–but with no dinner, no movie, no niceties, I call it screwing. Anyway, it was theorized that he stopped the young lady for whatever reason, and bargained a quickie to cancel the ticket. After said quickie, she heard him on the radio and got upset he had reneged on the bargain. He solved the situation with his service gun.
A trial by the DA of San Bernardino County ended in a mistrial, I believe. When the county decided not to retry the case, the feds stepped in with the ubiquitous “depriving of civil rights” charge. The service weapon had been dismantled and identifying parts had been conveniently reported as stolen. The feds had the money to do a radioactive assay test of the bullet in the victim and the remaining bullets in the officer’s possession, and concluded that they were of the same batch. The federal jury bought the argument, and the officer was convicted.
His last name was Gwaltney. That name is unusual enough to have carved a niche in my memory.
I vote with the poster who said that relationships should be cultured and maintained in off-duty time. This business of using the back seat of a patrol vehicle for sexual purposes is wrong on many levels.
~VOW
Heh. I had a bunch of people think I was dating a lesbian cop… and she played it up every time we were out with friends. Too bad she wasn’t one of those awesome lipstick lesbians who only exist in NC17 movies…