The Invisible Institute (https://www.macfound.org/grantee/invisible-institute-10104074/) and ProPublica found a pattern of the Chicago Police Department failing to vigorously investigate accusations of sexual assault by police officers, whether those complaints were lodged by fellow cops or members of the public. The claims were often downplayed or ignored by the department, sometimes allowing officers to abuse again and again. They often closed cases without conducting full investigations.

https://www.propublica.org/article/chicago-police-officers-sexual-assault-allegations

Sexual predators who are Boy Scout troop leaders, priests, cops, university professors are often protected by their Big Institutions, who rarely do the right thing. Mostly because they rarely have to.

Eric Tabb was pulling this shit at the police academy. Imagine what happened once he got his badge.

So no. You don’t get to police yourselves. You suck at policing yourselves and cannot be trusted. Ever.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) was formed in 2017 as the latest iteration of the review board for Chicago PD. Never missing a trick, and always ready to use member dues to litigate, the Fraternal Order of Police (Chicago PD union) filed a lawsuit alleging that COPA exhibited an anti-police bias that unfairly affects investigations and how officers are disciplined. A federal judge dismissed the suit in April.

Let’s see. Gross, systemic failures to investigate allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and crimes committed by academy members and police officers; police unions; immunity laws–I don’t think the “unfairness scale” is working against them. Spend your money and energy on weeding out these POS, and those who enable/defend them, early and often.

We all know they are there–woven into the fabric of the organizations like the Boy Scouts, and professions like the priesthood, policing, teaching. And we know those who are victimized are the people who face the uphill battle, not someone with a union rep and built-in legal counsel at the ready. The criminals in uniform, cassocks, or suits and ties are rarely held to account.

See also the series 2024 Washington Post series, Abused by the Badge (A Washington Post investigation found hundreds of law enforcement officers in the United States have sexually exploited kids. Many avoid prison time.):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2024/police-officers-child-sexual-abuse-in-america

LANSING, Mich. —The difficulties in pursuing past cases of sex crimes that festered in large-scale institutions.
— Read on www.gazettextra.com/news/nation_world/ag-dana-nessels-office-closes-michigans-boy-scouts-sexual-abuse-investigation-with-one-conviction/article_aae0038d-a370-5d10-b798-6234b31cf94e.html

“I was thinking about the question you raised in response to a reader in your “Sterling Heights” post on 16-May:  “I don’t understand how these alleged public servants think sex crimes and CSAM are no big deal.”

I don’t either, but I thought I’d ruminate for a minute about language.  I’ve been collecting data on child abductions and attempted abductions in MI, 1965-1985, and I’m struck (not for the first time) by how the raw, brutal, demeaning act of child sexual assault is obfuscated by the language of the law, the media, and public discourse.  “Indecent liberties,” “debauchery,” “moral offenses,” “taking advantage,” “gross indecency,” “indecent assault”–the terms are Victorian, even Biblical.

Even after the passage of 1974 PA266 in 1975 that revamped Michigan’s sexual assault laws, including the language and classification of offenses related to sexual assault, the obfuscation continues.  In doing the research, I’ve read about kids who were “molested, but not raped,” “sexually assaulted, but not injured;” about kids who experienced “nonconsensual sex” or “had sex with the perpetrator,” as if young children can even give legal consent.

Language reflects the values and beliefs of culture, and our language about child sexual assault reflects a culture that does not want to make it easy to talk about sexual violence against children, let alone analyze it.  At the same time, culture reflects language by giving meaning to words through the actions of its institutions, laws, customs, and traditions.    So a change in one will result in a change in the other over time.

The change of the term “child pornography” into “child sexually abusive materials (CSAM)” is encouraging.  Perhaps over time CSAM will be understood and treated for what it is—sexual abuse.  But, sadly, it’s going to take more time than most of us have patience for.

I’ve attached a link to a thoughtful article on that issue by Mary Graw Leary, Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America.  She’s much smarter than I am, but then she’d charge you tuition costs for listening to her—you got to read my email for nothing!

https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/166/oa_edited_volume/chapter/1839691“