RE:Alarming Sexual Assault By American Police Officers

A police car drives into the Springlake Police Station in Oklahoma City. Former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who worked in the department's Springlake Division, is accused of sexual offenses against 13 women he encountered while on patrol. 

In a yearlong investigation of sexual misconduct by U.S. law enforcement, The Associated Press uncovered about 1,000 officers who lost their badges in a six-year period for rape, sodomy and other sexual assault; sex crimes that included possession of child pornography; or sexual misconduct such as propositioning citizens or having consensual but prohibited on-duty intercourse.

According to Chief Bernadette DiPino of the Sarasota Police Department in Florida, who helped study the problem for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, "It's happening probably in every law enforcement agency across the country,"..."It's so underreported and people are scared that if they call and complain about a police officer, they think every other police officer is going to be then out to get them." 

JL is one of 13 women who say they were victimized by the officer, a former college football standout named Daniel Holtzclaw. The fired cop, 28, has pleaded not guilty to a host of charges, and his family posted online that "the truth of his innocence will be shown in court." Each of his accusers is expected to testify in the trial that begins Monday, including one who was 17 when she said the officer pulled down her pink cotton shorts and raped her on her mother's front porch.