By Cathy Mendonça
The San Diego police
department’s scandal involving officers accused of preying on women who they
came in contact with while in uniform and on duty needs to be addressed.
First, former officer Anthony
Arevalos is serving an eight year sentence for molesting female drivers during
traffic stops in the Gaslamp quarter from 2009 to 2011. As a result, Chief
William Lansdowne implemented changes within the department to help uncover the
potential for other rogue officers to go unnoticed.
Then, on Feb. 9, Officer
Christopher Hays was booked on criminal charges in connection with
inappropriate pat downs that prosecutors allege were done for his sexual
gratification.
In the process of the Hays
investigation, another unidentified officer was accused of exposing himself and
inappropriately touching a female in custody.
The department launched a new
policy requiring TWO officers to accompany females in custody.
The timeline of events are as
follows:
• Oct. 30, 2013: Woman identified as “Jane Doe 1? was
frisked by Officer Hays. She is later named in a criminal complaint alleging
false imprisonment and sexual battery.
• Nov. 10, 2013: Hays allegedly committed sexual battery
in an incident involving a woman identified as “Jane Doe 2”, according to a
criminal complaint filed against Hays on February 18.
• Dec. 23, 2013: Hays is accused of sexual battery
involving a woman identified as Jane Doe 3 according to a criminal complaint
filed following his arrest.
• Dec. 24, 2013: A fourth incident allegedly occurred this
time involving false imprisonment of a woman identified as Jane Doe 4,
prosecutors allege.
• December 2013: After a woman contacted SDPD complaining
about Hays’ behavior during a “pat down,” an internal affairs investigation was
launched.
• January 2014: Case was handed over to the San Diego
District Attorney’s Office for investigation.
• Feb. 6: Chief Lansdowne confirms an officer is under
investigation for sexual misconduct involving four women.
• Feb. 7: Attorney Dan Gilleon claims a fifth woman has
come forward with allegations that are more severe than what the victims before
her may have alleged. His client claims she was coerced into giving Hays oral
sex in exchange for her freedom in October 2012. She claims she contacted SDPD
but did not receive a call back.
• Feb 9: Officer Hays was booked into San Diego County
Jail on charges of false imprisonment and sexual battery.
• Feb. 9: Chief Lansdowne confirms five alleged victims
had contacted the police to accuse Hays of improper pat downs and the sixth
woman had gone to Gilleon.
• Feb. 14: Attorney Brian Watkins said he represents a
seventh alleged victim who claims Hays touched her breasts, “caressed her
crotch, caressed her buttocks and then grabbed her wrist and put her hand on
his crotch” during a pat down in October 2013. His client did not report the
incident to police.
• Feb. 18: District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announces two
charges of felony false imprisonment and three counts of misdemeanor sexual
battery were filed against Hays on behalf of four women.
• Feb. 19: Hays officially resigns from the department.
His attorney said Hays felt betrayed by his colleagues.
• Feb. 19: San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne
announces another officer has been accused of touching a female detainee
arrested on suspicion of auto theft. The unidentified officer has not been
charged. The alleged victim called to report the incident because she believed
he was Hays.
• Feb. 19: The department also announced a new policy that
two officers would accompany every female detainee or arrestee going forward.
In addition, a series of
sexually suggestive posters hung in the San Diego Police Department’s sex
crimes unit in 2011, as Officer Anthony Arevalos patrolled the streets trading
tickets for sexual favors.” Former officer Arevalos is now serving an eight
year sentence for molesting female drivers during traffic stops in the Gaslamp
quarter from 2009 to 2011. This year, ABC 10 news discovered the posters while
investigating San Diego police culture now that another San Diego police
officer is under investigation for sexually assaulting women while on duty. The
posters’ existence had been reported, but they had never been seen by the
public until now.
In addition “NBC 7 learned the
identity of a second San Diego Police officer accused of misconduct. Multiple
police sources confirm that Officer Donald Moncrief, 39, is accused of touching
the woman he was arresting and exposing himself to her.”
We deserve to be safe. The
recurrences of sexual assault committed by the above named officers as well as
the investigation of San Diego police department’s facility concluded that we
are not. Putting a woman or anyone in a position where they are LEGALLY
sexually violated UNDER ANY THREAT should never happen. These THREATS are also
in the form of entrapment by undercover police officers who are ALLOWED to lie,
engage in sexual and illegal activities in an attempt to further incriminate
the victim by either to face jail or deportation. The same applies to strip
searches, stop and frisk procedures as well as intimate partner violence
committed at a rate HIGHER than that of the general public, all while under the
impunity protected by law enforcement’s blue code of silence; a brotherhood
they hold protecting their own perpetrators who serve in the force.
The SDPD needs to be vigilant in
training its officers and ensuring that there are consequences for breaking the
law and violating basic ethical rules.
As members of United Against
Police Terror and other allied organizations, we demand The Police Chief and
other leadership:
1. Institute sustained and comprehensive training for EVERY
incoming class of officers on rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and
proper police conduct. A single training session, or a simplistic lecture not
to rape, is NOT acceptable.
2. Institute a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault,
sexual harassment and sexualized behavior while on the job. While the media has
only uncovered some severe cases, it illustrates an extreme example of police
officers using their power to abuse women and too many of us have witnessed
officers behaving in sexually inappropriate ways while on the job. There is no
excuse for that behavior, and the police force must take it seriously. We want
an easily-accessible reporting mechanism for sexual assault and harassment at
the hands of police officers, and a demonstrated commitment to punishing
officers who exploit their position to harass and assault the people they are
supposed to protect.
3. Be accountable to the community of San Diego in a
transparent process by hiring an independent community appointed auditor of law
enforcement as well as implementing the above two demands. They must keep
community leaders and San Diego County residents informed about the initiatives
they institute, as well as keeping local politicians accountable and how they
are working to make sure this victims shaming culture is not allowed and these
uniformed perpetrators are NOT above the law!