America’s state religion, [is] patriotism, a phenomenon which has convinced many of the citizenry that “treason” is morally worse than murder or rape. – William Blum
Prohibitionists pretend that sex workers live in terror of our clients, co-workers and partners, and that criminalization is intended to “protect” us from them. They write glowingly of how the police “rescue” whores and get us “help” at gunpoint (as long as we “co-operate”). But as I’ve stated many times before, sex workers are far more afraid of police than of clients or “pimps”, and with good reason: cops are, for the most part, violently brutal thugs who can generally rape us with impunity (and indeed, are often paid to do so as part of what used to be called “stings” but are now being re-branded as “rescues”). But in recent years, cops have grown ever bolder, and now they often don’t even bother to limit their raping to sex workers. You may have noticed that the tags “License to Rape” and “Above the Law” have become much more common in this blog over the years; it’s now rare for a news column not to contain one of them (and sometimes both). But in the past two months there has been such an explosion of rapist cop reports I’ve been forced to feature them in separate columns because there isn’t enough room in the news columns. “Morality Lessons” contained several reports of cops raping people or otherwise victimizing them via sex; “The Public Morals” contained five more.
And this week there were so many that they literally would’ve filled half of a news column had I published them as separate items. Does this mean cops are raping more often, that they’re being reported more often, or that the media used to bury such stories but are publishing them more often now? There’s no way to tell; perhaps it’s all three.
The title of today’s article is not merely intended to mock that common and self-aggrandizing cop motto; I also wanted to acknowledge the fact that not all sexual misbehavior by cops descends to the level of rape. But it’s telling how often sex is somehow a factor when a cop wants to harm or control a woman:
A Scotland Yard detective distributed fake leaflets advertising his former partner’s services as a prostitute after she dumped him by text message…Ian Mangham…put adverts in pub lavatories and phone boxes with…massage therapist Agnes Collowey’s phone number and address after she moved out of their home. The mother of two said she received phone calls and knocks on the door at her flat…at “all hours”…She was also bombarded with junk mail catalogues and brochures…the couple began a relationship after Ms Collowey was forced to attend Hornsey police station after her “troublesome” ex-husband reported her missing. She and Mangham lived together for four years until she moved out…Mangham denied there was anything inappropriate about having a relationship with a woman who had gone to the police…
The last bit there is still more evidence for my maxim, “Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever”. Because it’s absolutely terrifying how often cops target women who came into their notice because they were victims of some crime:
A former Seattle police officer who was fired for stalking women he met on duty is now being investigated for kidnapping a woman he met while working as an Uber driver…Peter Leutz…was fired from the Seattle Police Department in March 2015 after three women complained about unwanted advances, including showing up to the home of a woman he had pulled over earlier in the evening…He then texted the woman 109 times over a 39-day period. He also responded to a domestic abuse incident and began making moves on the victim, texting her to inform her he wanted to “hug and comfort” her. Seattle police fired him, acting surprised…[and] conveniently forgetting that his wife filed an order of protection against him in 2009 after threatening to leave her and her 4-year-old son homeless. In 2007, he shot and wounded a 13-year-old boy who had pulled out a cell phone, claiming he was in fear for his life…By December of 2015, he was working as an Uber driver when he picked up a woman and informed her how angry women made him
…”he…drove around the neighborhood for an hour, despite the victim’s pleas to return her home…when…he…finally dropped her off, he kissed her on the lips and asked for her phone number, ‘stating…that if she lied he would know from her Uber information’…over the next several months the victim received several ‘strange’ texts from [Leutz and]…on April 13…[Leutz] was able to get into the locked courtyard of her building and left a handwritten note for her to call him…“
As this story clearly demonstrates, police departments’ abominable habit of defending cop misbehavior inevitably leads to escalation: “a…San Mateo [California cop named Noah Winchester] is under investigation for possible sexual assaults while on duty…investigators are looking at five incidents…of…rape and sexual assault…” Why was nothing done the first four times? It’s rare that action is taken this quickly:
A Mount Pleasant [Pennsylvania cop]…accused of assaulting a woman who rejected his sexual advances was ordered…to stand trial. John Brown…attempted to rape the woman in December…When the woman rejected his advances, he choked and hit her…
More often, it goes to civil court because the “authorities” refuse to do anything:
She’d called the police to report her teenage daughter missing and hours later Maleatra Montanez was being [raped] by the responding officer…Chester Thompson…he…initially [raped her orally]…then ordered her to get a condom…[and] raped her from behind…[the next day] she went to the hospital and reported it to Syracuse police. Thompson…pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct…he claimed it was consensual [but] Montanez pointed out that she had never met him before the encounter and was ordered by her doctor to abstain from sex because she had recently given birth…
Nor is this pattern of allowing cops to run amok limited to the US:
…Between 2010 and 2015…there were 185 allegations of sexual assault associated with 186 officers and civilian employees [in Northern Ireland]…eleven of the…accused have been questioned about complaints of sexual assault at least once before. One has been accused of sexual assault four times; another was accused three times…Only one complaint, out of 185, was upheld…
And as one might expect, once cops learns they can get away with rape…
…the Oakland [California] Police Department placed three of its officers on leave while investigating them for alleged sexual relations with an underage girl…the investigation also involves a potential homicide…the allegations of sexual misconduct stem from the suicide of Oakland [cop] Brendan O’Brien in September of last year. O’Brien’s wife, Irma Huerta Lopez, died June 16, 2014. Her death was ruled a suicide, but was briefly classified by homicide detectives as a potential criminal investigation. Her family believes that O’Brien shot her
….[but] the police ignored her family…Huerta Lopez’s coroner’s report…called her death suspicious. The coroner’s report on O’Brien’s suicide also noted that his wife’s death the year before was suspicious…
But hey, I’m sure all the hundreds, possibly thousands, of women raped by cops are lying, or perhaps they had it coming and were “no angels”. Maybe they were all dirty whores who didn’t appreciate their heroic protectors’ attempts to “protect”, “rescue”, “comfort” and “help” them. Feel free to ignore rapes committed by cops on an epidemic scale, and then wonder why they also feel free to maim and murder. I’m sure it’s all the fault of immigrants, “pimps”, and transgender people who need to pee.
