Media Individual Reports and Press
Prostitution and Police Abuse
Below are press accounts and commentary regarding cases of police misconduct.
If you have any reports, please submit them to:
1. 9 Officers Accused in Brothel Sting Case (The New York Times, 5 October 1994, p. B5:)
Nine officers in a New York City police public morals unit, including two sergeants, face disciplinary action after breaking several Police Department rules, including one prohibiting undercover officers from having sex with prostitution suspects, the authorities said yesterday.
One of the sergeants and one officer pleaded guilty to administrative charges, said the department spokesman, John Miller. The results of the sting operation, first reported in The Daily News, were confirmed by Mr. Miller.
The spokesman refused to identify any of the officers or discuss what penalties they face.
The Internal Affairs Bureau set up the sting after several brothels complained that they were being shaken down for cash and robbed by undercover officers. With one madam's permission, Internal Affairs detectives installed hidden cameras in an undisclosed brothel.
2. FORT WORTH, Dec. 30 (UPI) (1994?)-- A Fort Worth police officer who allegedly made sexual requests of a prostitute was charged Friday with official oppression.
Ruben Rocha, 33, has been with the department for 18 months. If convicted, he could be sentenced to one year in jail and fined up to $4, 000.
An internal affairs investigation began in September after a prostitute reported Rocha for making sexual requests while on duty, police said. His arrest came after surveillance by internal affairs officers.
Rocha made several sexual requests of the woman while on the midnight shift, investigators said.
3. NEW ORLEANS' AUTHORITIES SEEK SERIAL KILLER (Chicago Tribune, August 12, 1995)
A serial killer-possibly a police officer-has murdered 24 people, mostly
prostitutes, since 1991 and dumped their bodies near swamps, law-enforcement
officials said Friday. Authorities have suspected for about a year that a
serial killer was on the loose in the New Orleans area but didn't announce
the investigation until Friday, when they appealed to the public for help.
Police Chief Richard Pennington said one of his officers is a suspect but he
refused to identify the officer or discuss details.
4. First person testimony
"When I was dancing in Texas, a dancer at Sugars was murdered...after 10
years the first suspects were two police officers...my sister, who danced
at Sugars, said she and the victim had danced privately for two officers
who sounded like the suspects. This was the second murder of a dancer
within the Sugar's chain."
5. From a press release issues by Yvonne Dotson October 11, 1994:
"On February 23-24, Yvonne Dotson, a registered nurse and health care administrator/consultant, was arrested, brutally handcuffed, threatened, terrorized and denied her constitutional and civil rights by police officers Yee and Schneider in San Francisco's downtown theater district. Ms. Dotson was subsequently informed that she was detained in conjunction with a prostitution abatement policy."
On September 27, 1994 Judge Marylin Hall Patel ruled that there was no reasonable suspicion to stop and detained Yvonne E. Dotson. Judge Patel said that she would instruct the U.S. attorney's office to investigate the officer's testimony as perjured. She instructed both sides to go into a settlement conference. (In 1995 Dotson was awarded $85,000.00 from the city of San Francisco)
Ms. Dotson states that "Although I am African American, it is crystal clear that I was the victim of this senseless brutality, violence and abuse because I am a woman, regardless of my ethnic background. Women must be able to feel safe to go to...out... without fearing police victimization if we are unescorted past sundown...."
