The County (Kern Cty, CA): sexual assault and the price of silence (trigger warnings)
(part three of a five-part series. you can read the first two by clicking on the links in the article)
The County: sexual assault and the price of silence
How law enforcement officers in Kern County, California, secretly tried to ‘buy off’ victims in sexual misconduct cases against the men sworn to protect them
Part three of a five-part series from The Counted
by Oliver Laughland and Jon Swaine in Bakersfield, California. Video by Mae Ryan and Alex Parker. Design by the Guardian US interactive team
More in this series:
Part 1Shootings in the city
Part 2Deputies’ rough justice
Part 3The price of silence
Part 4Coming soon
Part 5Coming soon
. . . .
Frye, a longtime drug user awaiting trial in Kern County’s notorious Lerdo jail, alleged she had been repeatedly abused by deputy Anthony Lavis, her jailer. She had initially kept quiet, terrified of the repercussions for reporting him. Fearing for the safety of other vulnerable inmates, however, she finally told another deputy of the attacks during a hospital visit. The sting was supposed to put a stop to it all. But investigating officers did not reach her in time. “He came inside and pushed me against the wall and pulled down my pants, and that’s when they pulled some kind of alarm,” Frye said, struggling as she recalled the details. “He got out quick, but not until I was assaulted again.” The next day, Frye was taken to the sheriff’s office in Bakersfield and offered a $1,500 cash payment in return for waiving her right to sue.
Karen Frye
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At least eight vulnerable victims were offered – and in some cases accepted – cash payoffs by the sheriff’s office shortly after the alleged abuse occurred. These payments, in some cases as low as $200, absolved the department of civil liability and were made without the presence of lawyers, according to a review of depositions, internal sheriff’s office memos and victims’ accounts. Lavis was one of two Kern County deputies convicted in the past five years for assaulting multiple women.
. . . .
Meanwhile the police department in Bakersfield, Kern County’s biggest city, is facing allegations from a former female trainee officer that she was fired and placed on a national blacklist barring her from becoming a police officer elsewhere after complaining about sexual harassment from male officers.
Among other claims, the former officer accuses colleagues of calling her a whore, telling her that she was expected to have sex with them, and bullying her about her physical appearance. The department employs 27 women out of a total of 355 sworn officers, well below the national average for large departments.
“There’s no question in my mind that law enforcement in Kern County have a problem with gender,” said Penny Harrington, a California-based co-founder of the National Center for Women and Policing (NCWP) and the former chief of the Portland, Oregon police bureau. “They have this outlaw mentality: ‘We can do whatever we want to do, we’re the police.’ And they don’t feel accountable,” Harrington added, after learning of the findings of this investigation, which includes interviews with women, including Frye, who have never spoken in public about their experiences before.
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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/08/the-county-kern-county-california-sexual-assault-secret-payoffs?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Version+A&utm_term=142310&subid=15991034&CMP=ema_565a
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