How Trustworthy is the Badge?

How+Trustworthy+is+the+Badge%3F

Brahamdeep Kaur (9th), Reporter

Under the badge, police officers are bound by oath to protect and serve the American public, but when an officer uses his power of the badge to commit criminal acts, how safe do women actually feel?

Right here in California, down south in Los Angeles, two LAPD officers have been arrested and charged with repeatedly raping four women over the course of several years.  They were on duty when they committed these sexual acts forcibly.

The veteran ex-officers are James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43.  They were partners assigned to the narcotics beat in Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles District Attorney, the partners “Began sexually assaulting women at various locations, including in their police vehicle.”

They are charged with oral copulation under color of authority, oral copulation by force, forcible rape, and rape under color of authority.

The assaults have been reported as occurring between December 2008 and March 2011.  They were finally charged on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

The victims were “vulnerable, desperate, exposed” and faced problems with drugs. They were arrested at different times by the ex-officers for drug related offenses.

The officers threatened the women with arrest and jail time. One of the ex-officers, Valenzuela, pointed and assaulted one of his victims by pointing a gun at her.

In one incident, one of the officers stayed on lookout while the other raped a victim in the backseat of the police vehicle.

The LA police department asked the first victim to stay quiet and allowed the officers to continue their duty.  They raped three more women.

The first victim was also attempted to be bribed by the ex-officer Valenzuela, with things like a medical marijuana card and a one-way flight to Las Vegas, telling her to not come back.  Valenzuela even asked her to come into a hotel room and smoke meth with him.  She refused all these offers.

Another case mirroring the abuse of power is the recent conviction of Oklahoma City police officer, Daniel Holtzclaw. He was convicted of threatening African- American women with arrest and raping them on duty.

Holtzclaw has been sentenced to 263 years in prison. It seems extreme but maybe not in this case. Holtzclaw targeted thirteen women and raped them against their will.

The ex-officer sexually victimized African-American women in a low income neighborhood in the years 2013-2014.  Thirteen victims testified against Holtzclaw. One of them was a teenager, while another was a woman in her 50s.

Last month, he was charged on eighteen counts which include forcible oral sodomy, sexual battery, procuring laws exhibition, second degree rape, and four first degree rape counts.

The question is why did it take so long for these criminals to be arrested? Both LAPD officers face life imprisonment if convicted as charged. The Oklahoma officer will be in jail for his whole life.

It is shocking that the police attempted to shush the first victim and cover up this scandal.  America’s safety should be a police officer’s main concern.  Instead, here we see two of many incidents where officers have done the exact opposites.

Is the badge there to remind us we’re safe or for us to be scared?