Thursday, March 28, 2013

Cops gone wild: sexual harassment by police officers...

When 20-year-old Sarah Smith got into an accident with a motorcyclist in 2008, it was nothing but bad new—she was driving with a suspended license. It got worse. When police showed up, officer Adam Skweres took Smith aside and implied that he could either make it look like the accident was her fault or give the other party a ticket. It depended on whether she’d agree to perform unspecified sexual favors. Skweres also threatened that if she told anyone, he’d “make sure you never walk, talk, or speak again,” and looked at his gun. That scared her enough that she immediately reported what he’d done to the police, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Another four years passed before the department arrested Skweres and suspended him without pay, and then only because he tried to rape a woman while on duty. By that time, Smith had moved out of the city for fear of running into him again. Three other women told stories similar to Smith’s, and on March 11 Skewers pled guilty to bribery, indecent assault, and other charges.

Stories of cops propositioning, harassing, and sexually assaulting women turn up every week around the country. February 18 saw the arrest of Houston officer Victor Chris for allegedly telling two women he would tear up their traffic tickets in exchange for sexual favors, according to the Houston Chronicle. On February 25, police charged Sergio Alvarez, an officer from West Sacramento, California with allegedly kidnapping and raping six women while on duty between October 2011 and September 2012. And March 1, Denver cop Hector Paez got eight years in prison for driving a woman he’d arrested to a secluded spot and forcing her to perform oral sex on him. “Police sexual misconduct is common, and anyone who maintains it isn’t doesn’t get it,” says retired Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, author of the book Breaking Rank. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Hundreds of staff testify to bullying and sexual harassment at the BBC...
  2. A rape a minute, a thousand corpses a year...
  3. Airport security manager facing indecency charges...
  4. Former Miss USA : "TSA agent touched my vagina 4 times..."
  5. Australian military officers accused of widespread sexual assault...
  6. Rape in the US military: America's dirty little secret...

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