The Big Story at AP: Betrayed By The Badge

The Associated Press recently wrapped up a year-long investigation into the sexual misconduct of US police officers. Triggered in part by the arrest of an Oklahoma City police officer on multiple counts of sexual assault, the investigation looked at over 9,000 cases from 2009 through 2014. They tried to look at all 50 states but were stymied in some cases by a lack of records, or a lack of any kind of certification.

This is a stunning investigation, not only for the crimes detailed, but for the revelation that some states don’t even certify officers at all! I’m rarely one to suggest federal interference in state activities, but that might be an appropriate use of federal power. I’m not suggesting there should be a national standard for police certification. States still need to have that authority, because Wyoming is different from Florida, and they’re both different from Ohio. But maybe the Feds need to say, “If you’re going to get federal dollars for law enforcement, you need to meet these standards,” and those standards should include a certification process.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ur_GZxLHKcw

Merchant makes the point that this is a very small number of officers, and it really is. It’s something like one-tenth of one percent, depending on what total figure of law enforcement officers you’re using. But department leaders, both official and unofficial need to understand how lethal these cases are to an agency’s morale and reputation. The bad apple analogy is appropriate here.