I learned that the officer had been engaging in this illegal activity for months. It took several brave women to 
contact our Internal Affairs Division and tell their stories, to stop it. I racked my brain as to what I could have done 
to prevent the officer. Did I miss the signs? Should I have been sterner? What could I have done? Even years later 
it tears at my soul. What those women had to endure. How scared they must have been. It must have been their 
worst nightmare come true. I have played many scenarios in my head as to what I could have done or should have 
done to stop this officer’s actions. And I finally learned that some people are just ethically and morally corrupt. No 
matter how hard we, in supervision, try to identify them through the L.E.T. Process or keep tabs on them when 
they engage in such acts, sometimes they slip through the cracks and are allowed to spread their evilness. This is 
what happened with this officer. The officer was smart enough to engage in this activity while alone on patrol, 
knowing that he could stop this action if another officer or supervisor assisted on the traffic stop. His actions were 
scary and should send a message to every police department and every supervisor that they must always be on the 
look-out for those officers that are corrupt and will use their power to engage in illegal and horrendous crimes. This 
was a hard lesson for me to learn, but an eye-opening one that would forever change the way I supervised those 
officers in my command. 
Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System
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