WaPo - (archived: https://archive.ph/lpr7R ) The Post investigated cops accused of sexually abusing kids. Here’s what we learned.

The Post spent two years reporting on kids exploited by police officers. Here’s what we learned about the systemic failures that allow these crimes to occur.

Today at 6:30 a.m. EST



/snip/

Predatory police officers are using their positions to find, groom and abuse children.
In cases across the country, abusive officers regularly met their victims through their work. Some were assigned to youth-focused jobs, like at schools or in cadet programs. But many officers found kids while responding to calls for help or investigating crimes.

Through an exclusive analysis of the nation’s most comprehensive database of police arrests, which is managed by Bowling Green State University, we found that nearly all of the officers charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse were men. They worked in departments of all sizes and in every state. Some even held leadership positions; 47 of those charged were chiefs, sheriffs or heads of their agencies. Though the specific names of charges can vary, the majority of officers were accused of crimes involving the direct abuse of children, including rape and forcible fondling. The kids most frequently targeted were teenage girls.

Law enforcement agencies are failing to take steps to protect kids and prevent additional crimes.
Some police officials, prosecutors and judges we spoke with admitted that they could have done more to hold officers accountable in the cases they handled. But nationwide, child sexual abuse by law enforcement has gone largely unrecognized by the public and unaddressed within the criminal justice system. There is no national tracking system for officers accused of preying on kids. There is no requirement to train police on how to spot signs of grooming in their colleagues’ behavior. There is no universal mandate to screen for potential perpetrators. Police unions and professional organizations have not dedicated resources and attention to large-scale prevention efforts.

Most law enforcement agencies don’t have clear rules about when officers can be alone with or privately message minors. Abusive cops used those loopholes to repeatedly meet with and have inappropriate conversations with children, without violating policies. Predatory officers are also taking advantage of a lack of supervision, including some who repeatedly visited minors’ homes while on duty. In Iowa, an officer assaulted a 15-year-old girl in an empty police station and choked her until she passed out. In Indiana, an officer sent hundreds of messages from his work laptop to a teen he was abusing in his police cruiser. Both of these convicted officers told The Post that if they had been more closely supervised, they might have been stopped.

/snip