Suit: Fairfax Police Officers Protected Sex Trafficking Ring

Sexual Abuse

A federal lawsuit filed by a prominent civil rights attorney alleges that police officers in Fairfax County protected a sex trafficking ring in Northern Virginia in exchange for free sex from the trafficked women.

The lawsuit also names former Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler as a defendant, alleging that he helped cover up for the officers when another detective’s work threatened to expose their wrongdoing.

The suit was filed on behalf of a Costa Rican woman identified in the lawsuit only as “Jane Doe.” It says the officers would tip off the trafficking ring to suspend its online advertisements in advance of sting operations run by police.

Female police officer wins $1.75 million settlement against CCSU in rape and sexual harassment lawsuit

Police Misconduct

Lawyers for a female police officer at Central Connecticut State University said she has obtained a settlement of $1.75 million against the University, claiming the university “fostered an environment in its police department where police sexual misconduct and even sexual assault was the norm, emboldening a fellow officer to rape her on three separate occasions.”

The lawsuit also claimed that members of the police department “sexually harassed female undergraduate students,” and that one officer who was later promoted to sergeant “openly pursued a sexual relationship with an undergraduate student.”

Predators Behind the Badge: Confronting Police Sexual Misconduct

Personal Injury

As more efforts to stem sexual abuse by powerful men come to light, there still remains a marginalized group that continues to suffer at the hands of the people who should be protecting them.

They are the victims of police sexual misconduct.

Interviews with police and other experts and a review of available data by The Crime Report indicated that police sexual misconduct (PSM) most affects young people and others who are the most vulnerable in society— amounting to a betrayal of trust of those who look to them the most for guidance, protection and safety.

“Police sexual misconduct is an issue that’s hidden in the shadows,” said Andrea Ritchie, author of “Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color,” in an interview with The Crime Report.

“Police have so much power, and they use that power in the same way that other people with power, such as [Harvey] Weinstein, politicians, and priests do.”

The problem has long been recognized—but it’s only beginning to receive attention from police training academies and state legislatures.

Read the records of 85,000 cops who were investigated for misconduct

Police Misconduct

At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found.

Officers have beaten members of the public, planted evidence and used their badges to harass women. They have lied, stolen, dealt drugs, driven drunk and abused their spouses.

Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds.

The records of their misconduct are filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments. Police unions and their political allies have worked to put special protections in place ensuring some records are shielded from public view, or even destroyed.

Reporters from USA TODAY, its affiliated newsrooms across the country and the nonprofit Invisible Institute in Chicago spent more than a year creating the biggest collection of police misconduct records.

Obtained from thousands of state agencies, prosecutors, police departments and sheriffs, the records detail at least 200,000 incidents of alleged misconduct, much of it previously unreported. The records obtained include more than 110,000 internal affairs investigations by hundreds of individual departments and more than 30,000 officers who were decertified by 44 state oversight agencies.