Police Sexual Misconduct

Introduction

        When studying policing, it may be beneficial to obtain an understanding of problems in the profession.  One of the primary areas of policing problems to be studied is that of police misconduct.  The focus of this paper will narrow police misconduct down to perhaps the most egregious forms of misconduct:  police-perpetrated sexual misconduct.  We can define police-perpetrated sexual misconduct as sexual harassment, rape, or other violent or nonviolent forms of inappropriate sexual conduct on the part of police personnel.  The intent of this paper is to provide a broad analysis of police misconduct perpetrated by the police; the findings of the archival research found within this text will be much more qualitative than quantitative.

        Police officer Kennish Moreno and his partner, officer Franklin Mata, went to trial in New York City for the rape of a woman in her apartment.  The woman had passed out from drinking when the two officers found her on her bed; they proceeded to rape the woman while she was unconscious (Hauser & Moynihan, 2009).

        In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an officer was convicted for inappropriate sexual conduct towards women (Rohde, 2009). Meanwhile, Fargen (2009) reports that “female recruits at the MBTA transit police academy were coerced into having sex with superiors.”  In St. Louis, officers on various police forces throughout the city admit to having witnessed sexual misconduct among their colleagues — to the extent that it may be labeled “common”, though the misconduct goes unregulated and thus unpunished (Maher, 2003).  Maher (2003) asserts that this misconduct becomes a part of the police subculture.

        As Langworthy and Travis III (2003) explain, the job of policing, along with six characteristics (“uniform” and “power” among them) leads to a set of personality traits that can be called a “police culture,” (p.236-238).  Even within this police culture, a subculture can form if cognitive dissonance forms from a mismatch of police organization and the individual officers within the organization (Langworthy & Travis III, 2003, p.220).  We can reasonably assume that sexual misconduct is not inherent in the mainstream police culture.  However, the “delinquent” (Langworthy & Travis III, 2003, p.220) subculture may serve as a place where unsavory behavior that might include sexual abuse is perpetrated by the police.

        Police-perpetrated sexual misconduct is not limited to large cities;  rather, it plagues the nation (Collins, 2004).  Collins (2004) notes:

Indicative of the significance of this problem are the increasing numbers of sexual harassment complaints filed by female officers against their male counterparts. Less apparent is whether the harassing officers are disciplined for these acts. The article concludes that, despite evidence of the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in Florida law enforcement agencies, the numbers of sexual harassment cases in which the Commission accepts jurisdiction are minimal and the discipline imposed is often insubstantial.

        In the small town of Creston, Iowa, police officer John Sickels and police chief Jamie Christensen were found guilty of second-degree sexual abuse toward a female bartender at the local country club (KCCI, March 13, 2009).  Officer John Sickels admitted to having sexual relations with the bartender, but he denied having raped her. The incident occurred while police chief Jamie Christensen looked on, holding her hand and hushing her during the assault (KCCI, March 11, 2009).

        Having been reported, the married Sickels — who admits to having lied in the initial investigative interviews — found that he had put his reputation in jeopardy:  “I was scared for myself.  I was a public official.  If it got out in a small town of 8,500 people that I’d had an adulterous affair, it would potentially damage me,” (KCCI, March 11, 2009).

        Having glossed over some examples from the news to get a sense of what sort of misconduct we are dealing with, we might ask why police misconduct occurs.  One way to answer this question is to look for commonalities in the various cases, but a question of higher priority before we too seriously consider the causes or nature of police sexual misconduct is the question of what the incidence of such misconduct is.

        Although precise numbers are hard to obtain, in large part to the fact that many police officers — 46 percent of survey respondents within a police department — “would not report another officer having sex on duty” if they witnessed such an act (Reiter). Reiter notes that a St. Louis study — the same study by Maher (2003) cited above — found that sexual misconduct “was common.” Even the 46 percent of officers who would not report the sex acts may be a low number as the study was based off self-report data, but the question pertained to “sex on duty” as opposed to sexual misconduct in particular, though any sex on duty should be considered misconduct.  Furthermore, Sapp (2002, p.158-159) also found sexual misconduct to be common among police.

        Palacios et al (2002, p.158-159) cite a study that notes “sexual misconduct was apparently pervasive in police departments from the smallest to the largest, in all areas of the United States.”  The study also suggests that for sexual misconduct rates to decline, police organizations must explicitly condemn the misconduct.

        My thesis for this writing is that police sexual misconduct is based on police authority and the police demographics.  I further contend that we can gain some understanding by looking at biological and social forces.

        By “police demographics,” I mean to find out what sorts of people constitute police officers; that is, what gender and racial groups comprise the police force?  “Authority” refers to the power — real or perceived — that the police have over the general public or certain portions of the general public.

        In this sense of the word, officers who use their authority are corrupt if we define police corruption in the way that Langworthy & Travis III (2003, p.414) do, as “the intentional misuse of police force.”  According to Neiderhoffer (1967, as cited in Langworthy & Travis III, 2003, p.430), officers become corrupt — in whatever form of corruption — as they become cynical from, and adapt to, recognizing that their job is not as they imagined before joining the force.

        To begin with the demographics of police officers, approximately 90 percent of police officers are male and nearly 80 percent are white (Langworthy & Travis III, 2003).  These statistics may be very helpful in understanding why police sexual misconduct is “common” (Reiter).  Statistics suggest that white males are more likely than any other demographic to be serial rapists (Siegel, 2005, p.241-242).

        Granted, rape is just one form of sexual misconduct, but it is a major one and arguably the most pernicious.  Seeing as police, such as Officer Sickels in one of the opening examples, sometimes commit rape while on duty, it may be instructive to our understanding of police-perpetrated rape to look at explanations for rape in general.

        Evolutionary biologists often explain rape as being a biological remnant of prehistory, perhaps from the Pleistocene (Siegel, 2005, p.243).  Under this view, “forcible physical contact may have helped spread genes. . .” (Siegel, 2005, p.243).  This view is consistent with selfish gene theory posited by Dawkins (1976/2006).  The selfish gene theory holds that the primary unit of selection is the gene, which uses higher units (such as cells, tissues, etc. up to the level of organism or species) to spread themselves into potential immortality.

        Others disagree.  Eldredge (2004, p.119-120) asserts that human evolution continues into modern times.  As such, dysfunctional (in respect to civilization) traits from prehistory like rape would no longer be selected for and thus be eliminated from the population.

        Another perspective to take is that of “male socialization,” (Siegel, 2005, p.243).  Society expects “men to be aggressive with women,” (Siegel, 2005, p.243).  One need not strain his imagination too hard to imagine a police subculture that would further socialize men with power or authority to force themselves upon women.  If this happens to be the case, we could label this a form of “power rape,” (Siegel, 2005, p.242).  

Additionally, the factors of policing being male and white may be explanatory in the sense that males have more testosterone (responsible for the sex drive) than females and that whites (in general) are commonly considered to wield more power in society.

        Regardless of the origins of police rape, if we broaden our perspective to police sexual misconduct in particular, we can see how the gender of the police officers could potentially affect the incidence of misconduct.  Supposing that more women than men made up the police force, would misconduct be as common?  In absence of good data, this question is all but impossible to answer conclusively, but it may be one worth pondering.

        Due to the nature of his job, a police “officer expects obedience and acts in a domineering way” in his social interactions (Langworthy & Travis III).  Might these expectations promote sexual misconduct?

        Some instances of sexual misconduct by police are cases in which the victims are groups of people who are especially vulnerable.  This is the sort of interaction we saw in the news story on Moreno and Mata (Hauser & Moynihan, 2009).

        For further examples, DuBose (2007) reports on staff members in the Texas juvenile detention facilities using their authority to coerce minors into sexual acts.  A study out of the University of Nebraska at Omaha describes the sexual predation on young females, some of whom “are enrolled in department-sponsored Explorers programs designed to give teens an understanding of police work,” (Walker & Dawn, 2003).  Additionally, Serbian police use their authority — primarily through the threat of violence — to coerce women into sexual relations (Rhodes, Milena, Baros, Platt, Zikic, 2008).

        Consider, also, police using their authority and power of discretion to accept sexual favors from those looking to avoid prosecution.  An example is the case out of the Folsom Police Department of officers allegedly receiving “sexual favors” from prostitutes (CBS13), or similar actions on the part of a U.S. military police squad in South Korea (Fisher).  If these allegations are true, they exemplify police abusing their power and discretion.

        Authority may factor into police perpetrated sexual assault in a different way;  Butler, Gluch, & Mitchell (2007) suggest that lax organizational regulations may help lead to sexual abuse by police.  Furthermore, debate has ensued throughout the bureaucracy in Texas over whether to reach out to gays and lesbians  (Lyons Jr., Devalve; & Garner, 2008).

        This is an important consideration because, as noted by Langworthy & Travis III (2003, p.190), police officers work under organizational hierarchies.  Controlling police behavior through bureaucratic “rules and regulations” is the basis for the bureaucratic model, which is rife with problems (Langworthy & Travis III, 2003, p.437).

        Using one’s power or authority for sexual privileges is not a novel occurrence.  Genghis Khan, leader of the Mongol Empire, purportedly held a concubine of some 20,000 women (Wade, 2006, p.237).  Regardless of whether this number is literally true, we can be certain that Khan did have a large harem, as his genes have been very (biologically) successful.  Studies show that his variation of the Y chromosome (the chromosome carried only through male lineage) is carried by “16 million men” in the former Mongol Empire, comprising 0.5 percent of the world population (Wade, 2006, p.237).

        Wade (2006, p.236-240) further cites other historical figures from the Middle East and elsewhere who have used their authority to pass on their genes to a remarkable number of the contemporary population.

        To give a couple more examples, let us look to slavery.  Harriet Jacobs (p.776-780), in “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” describes the sexual misconduct on the part of her master, Dr. Flint.  His unsavory behavior led her to become pregnant with another white man’s children in an attempt to retaliate against his mistreatment.

        One of the most famous sexual relationships between a white man and a slave is that of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.  Jefferson had allegedly fathered five of Hemings’ children.  James Callendar, a newspaper editor, wrote a letter urging Jefferson to improve his conduct in regard to Hemings (McLaughlin, 1991).  However, those loyal to Jefferson and protective of his reputation managed to leave the true paternity of Hemings’ children unclear for decades (Wade, 2006, p.257-259).  Pathologist Eugene Foster finally put an end to the speculation by using data from the Y chromosome to confirm that Jefferson was, in fact, the father (Wade, 2006, p.260).

        I offer these examples from history to illustrate how authority can indeed be linked to sexual misconduct.  By doing so, we can draw parallels to the authority that police wield.

Furthermore, a December 2008 article from the Ghana Times reports that a survey of the West African country’s police personnel regarding their interactions with at-risk women shows that 15.5% of police “involved  in swoops” on prostitutes, rather than enforcing the law on the prostitutes, instead received sexual services from them.  Granted, this article is only indirectly relevant to our discussion because the police in Ghana are neither predominantly white nor American, but we do see a strong indication of power abuse.  Police officers derive discretion from their authority, by which they may conduct themselves as they did in Ghana; or, as an historical example, Mary Hastings, the head of a Chicago Brothel in the late 1800s, bribed a patrolling officer with favors — including of the sexual kind — to keep her brothel from being busted (Asbury, 1940, p.117-188).

        The issue of sexual misconduct on the part of police personnel is worthy of research and contemplation because one of the principal tasks assigned to the police force is that of social control (Langworthy & Travis III, 2003, p.14-16); however, if the police perpetrate inappropriate sexual conduct, they are breaking with social order themselves.  Lonsway (2004) suggests the police hierarchy can help solve this problem with firm policies.

        Throughout this text, we have considered various perspectives to describe and explain police-perpetrated sexual misconduct.  First, stories from the news were offered to give a sense of the sort of conduct this paper was concerned with.  The incidence of such misconduct was briefly considered, but the best this author was able to deduce through his research was that sexual misconduct by police was a common occurrence, though how common is not entirely uncertain.  Having established what was happening and getting a rough idea of how much, we were in position to consider possible causes, or at least factors, leading to the misconduct.

        I posit that sexual misconduct among police is predicated by the fact that most police are white and male, and by the authority invested in police officers.  These two factors do not necessarily work independently.  Whiteness and maleness in conjunction with invested authority make sexual misconduct by the police more likely.  Furthermore, lack of control by the regulating bureaucracies, evolutionary biology, police subculture, and other sociological factors are integral to our understanding of police sexual misconduct.

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