Police Sexual Assault: Legal Options for Victims

Albuquerque, New Mexico Civil Rights Lawyer

Video Transcript:

Shannon Kennedy: 

Sadly, there's been many, many, many cases across the country of police officers using their position of authority to sexually assault and harass vulnerable people.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So if you or someone you know are the victim of sexual assault by a police officer, do you know what your rights are and where you can turn for help? We're gonna find out right now because we're going to ask those questions and more on this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest is New Mexico attorney, Shannon Kennedy. And I would remind you right at the beginning, if you'd like to ask Shannon at any point some questions about your situation, go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top that says, "Ask a Lawyer," walk you through the process right there, or you can simply call the phone number that you'll see on the screen during our conversation. Shannon, thank you for answering questions with us today.

Shannon Kennedy: 

You're welcome. Nice to be here. Thank you.

Rob Rosenthal: 

It seems to be sexual assault by police officers isn't something we hear about very often in the news. In your experience, how common is this?

Shannon Kennedy: 

Unfortunately, it's far, far, far too common. All across the country, there are reports of police officers abusing their authority by sexually assaulting, whether it be during a traffic stop or... Sadly, we had a situation with a student intern for a police department where she was sexually assaulted by a sex crimes detective. Sadly, police departments across the country at times have failed to psychologically screen officers, and you have people seeking a position of authority so that they can abuse that position of authority within vulnerable communities. And sadly, there's been many, many, many cases across the country of police officers using their position of authority to sexually assault and harass vulnerable people.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Well, Shannon, it would seem to me in general, there's a hesitancy to report sexual assaults, and I gotta think when it's at the hands of a police officer, people are probably even more scared to report it. Is that what you find?

Shannon Kennedy: 

Yes, it's very, very difficult for anyone to report sexual assault. Sexual assault is probably the most under-reported crime there is, and it's even more difficult when the sexual assault is done by someone who community automatically trust, and that's the double betrayal of sexual assault by a police officer, is that they are supposed to protect and serve us, and so when it happens that they are actually sexually assaulting someone, say, during an alleged DWI investigation, for example, or picking up some woman who maybe for some reason, vulnerable on the streets... There have been many cases of officers who use their position to... When women are engaged in prostitution, for example, to exploit their vulnerability and sexually extort these women instead of protect them, because they are particularly vulnerable. And that has been a modus operandi of many police officers who use their position of power, is to use their knowledge of the vulnerabilities of people that they gain through background checks, to then predatorily select them for sexual abuse.

Shannon Kennedy: 

So it's truly evil behavior. The good news is if people have the courage to come forward, now with the MeToo movement, there is a change within the criminal justice system where people are less likely to be re-victimized, that detectives on the good side are learning how to do forensic interviews in which they are not re-traumatizing the survivors of sexual abuse, and so things are much, much better than they used to be even two or three years ago, because now there's a consciousness within the criminal justice system that, yes, this kind of abuse does happen, and we have to make sure we don't re-abuse the survivors who have the courage to speak up by treating them as if they're the criminals, instead of the perpetrators of the sexual assault.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So who do the victims report to, Shannon? To the police? That seems like a stacked deck.

Shannon Kennedy: 

Exactly, [chuckle] and often it is a stacked deck, sadly, but there are more and more female sex crimes detectives who have been trained in forensic interview techniques and who are working especially with the test results of backlogged rape kits. So there was a time in this country where women would subject themselves to an examination to provide DNA and samples from the perpetrator, and these rape kits were not tested. And now the backlogs have been tested, so not only is it that people who've come forward are being really heard for the first time because the scientific evidence is there to support and corroborate what they have said about being assaulted, but they are identifying serial sex offenders, because the other fact that's become so clear because of the science, is that a very, very, very small percentage of men are sex offenders, and the ones that are, do it again and again and again. So, we're using science and the courage of people now to come forward to arrest and prosecute serial sex offenders, and that will just make everyone safer.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So I think most people probably figure, "Okay, these are cases for the criminal courts." Are there also the possibility of civil cases involved in these situations?

Shannon Kennedy: 

Absolutely, and that's where our firm comes in, is representing in the Civil Courts, the survivors of sexual abuse. It is a violation of one's constitutional right to bodily integrity, when a public employee, whether it be a teacher or a jail guard or a police officer, abuses their authority to gratify themselves sexually. That is a clear-cut black letter violation of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Rob Rosenthal: 

So, who can you go after? And maybe there's all of the above, but is it the perpetrator or is it the institution, the government? Who do you go after in those situations?

Shannon Kennedy: 

You can go after the perpetrator as an individual under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act for both compensatory damages and punitive damages to punish him or her, so that they can't do it again. So there's enormous punitive damages awards, similar to those awards of coaches who violate their athlete's constitutional rights and bodily integrity. You can also go after the institutions as well, just like universities that knew or should have known that an individual was a danger, and posed a danger of sexual assault to whether it be students or people who could be suspected and arrested of crimes only to be punished by the police officer by being sexually abused in the course of an arrest. And that people know, people know who the bad apples are, and so when there's a cover up and a protection and institutional indifference to the abuse and the degradation of citizens of the United States, then there is a lawsuit not only against a perpetrator, but against those institutions that are complicit in the exploitation of power and in sexual abusing vulnerable populations.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Finally, Shannon, what do you say to help alleviate some of that fear that people may have for coming forward in these situations?

Shannon Kennedy: 

What I say is that the people that have the courage to come forward need to shift the shame that they feel from being victimized, from themselves, onto the perpetrators and onto the institutions that have failed them, and that the first step in doing that is call an attorney, call an advocate, tell someone. You should not suffer in silence. There are so many people now in our community willing to fight for you, and all you have to do is give voice to your pain, that there are good people out there within the system, within the civil justice system, the criminal justice system, who wanna help and fight for justice.

Rob Rosenthal: 

To shift the balance of power, so to speak.

Shannon Kennedy: 

Yes, yes, yes. To put the power where it should be, with the people who are survivors and who are courageous. And they wanna connect really, really the love of their community with justice. So many of the survivors that come forward do it because they don't want anyone else to suffer the way they have suffered. And truly, the only way to stop abuse is to confront it.

Rob Rosenthal: 

Very, very interesting information, Shannon. Thank you for making some time to help us out today. I do appreciate it.

Shannon Kennedy: 

You're welcome, thank you.

Rob Rosenthal: 

And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest has been New Mexico attorney, Shannon Kennedy. Remember, if you have any questions for Shannon of your own, you can go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top that says "Ask a lawyer," and it'll walk you right through the very simple process there. Thank you for watching, everybody. I'm Rob Rosenthal for Ask the Lawyers.

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