An NYPD cruiser in New York City. ( Giacomo Barbaro) / Flickr )
The court case of an 18-year-old Brooklyn woman who says two on-duty police officers raped her while she was in their custody is shining a light on a legal loophole in New York.
The officers have been indicted for allegedly handcuffing the woman one Friday night in September, putting her in the back of a police van, and repeatedly assaulting her. They claim the sex was consensual. They can make that defense, because New York has no law that specifically makes it illegal for police officers to have consensual sex with somebody they have arrested.
Albert Samaha wrote about this for Buzzfeed. He says there are laws in place about this for probation officers and prison and jail guards, but 35 states lack them for police.
"As a society, we've applied a different standard to police officers than we have for other forms of law enforcement," Samaha told WNYC, "because we trust them and because they operate in public. The things that they do on the street and in cars, theoretically we can see, and we can hold them accountable. You throw in the powers of the police union, and that just all goes together to maintain this loophole."
Samaha spoke with WNYC's Richard Hake.
The officers have been indicted for allegedly handcuffing the woman one Friday night in September, putting her in the back of a police van, and repeatedly assaulting her. They claim the sex was consensual. They can make that defense, because New York has no law that specifically makes it illegal for police officers to have consensual sex with somebody they have arrested.
Albert Samaha wrote about this for Buzzfeed. He says there are laws in place about this for probation officers and prison and jail guards, but 35 states lack them for police.
"As a society, we've applied a different standard to police officers than we have for other forms of law enforcement," Samaha told WNYC, "because we trust them and because they operate in public. The things that they do on the street and in cars, theoretically we can see, and we can hold them accountable. You throw in the powers of the police union, and that just all goes together to maintain this loophole."
Samaha spoke with WNYC's Richard Hake.
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