NEWS > 16 August 2006

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Centre Daily Times - Centre Co
16 August 2006

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Editorial | Abuse of badge and

Cops flashing their badges for sex makes a mockery of the police motto, "to protect and serve."

Faced with sordid revelations of officers in Philadelphia and other cities extorting sex and assaulting women, police departments across the nation are failing to rid their ranks of these attackers.

A two-part Inquirer series this week (http://go.philly.com/predators) reveals how much more police commanders have to do. They need to improve screening, training and on-the-job oversight of officers to prevent such abuses. When cops go wrong, they should be subject to swift and tough discipline for attacking women or soliciting sex while in uniform.

As troubling as the assaults themselves is the culture of secrecy that enables predators in blue to evade fitting punishment. This also fosters a climate that shields departments from accountability for wrongdoing in their ranks, however rare rogue officers may be.

This city's crime-ridden neighborhoods aren't the only places where a "Stop Snitchin' " ethos prevails. In a case uncovered by Inquirer reporters Nancy Phillips and Craig R. McCoy, two women claimed that a Philadelphia cop ordered them to put on a sex show in a Fishtown jail cell in 2003. Three years later, the case remains open - hampered by police officers' faulty memories of the event and bureaucratic delays caused by city prosecutors' foot-dragging.

The city's mishandling of police sexual misconduct cases risks creating the impression that these crimes are not taken seriously. That magnifies the cops' bad conduct.

It's certainly bad policy for Philadelphia and other cities to classify some cases only as "conduct unbecoming an officer." That further shields the problem from view. Little wonder it's difficult to get a clear picture of the extent of such abuse.

Few departments adequately inform citizens of the extent of police sexual misconduct. Given their past practice of classifying many sex crimes as lesser charges to boost crime-solving rates, Philadelphia police have no business being secretive about abuse claims.

Yet Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson refuses to discuss the department's handling of sexual assaults by cops, citing a federal lawsuit. He also refuses to disclose citizen complaints, despite a decade-old mayoral directive making such reports public.

Can't have it both ways: claiming few officers commit sexual assaults, then hiding the real numbers.

In this area and others, the Police Department appears to be backsliding on public disclosure. Mayor Street's misstep last year in eliminating the department's integrity officer position scuttled useful oversight that pointed up the need for better police discipline, training and ethical standards. Now Johnson is being coy about cops and sex.

Keeping these cases under wraps threatens to erode citizens' faith in the vast majority of police officers who enforce the law within the law.

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Article sourced from

Centre Daily Times - Centre Co16 August 2006

Editorial | Abuse of badge and

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Centre Daily Times - Centre Co
16 August 2006