Do neighbors have a right to know?

Last week, The Guardian called it “lifting the lid on a sexual abuse scandal”. A former Kansas City, Kansas police department detective Roger Golubski, who had spent 35 years with the police force, had spent decades sexually assaulting women in the community he served. Using his badge as a weapon, he intimidated and threatened his victims with arrest if they didn’t perform sexual acts on him and then told them nobody would believe them if they reported him.

It’s a scandal that didn’t need any lid-lifting, since it’s one that plays out repeatedly across the nation. Even here in Florida. Just last week, a former police chief was arrested after he had sexually battered a 14-year-old girl in Sumter County while using a deadly weapon. Also last week, a prison transport officer was arrested for possession of child pornography, A couple of months ago a Palm Bay police officer was arrested after he had on-duty sexual contact with a teenage girl. Also, an Opa-locka police officer was charged with sexual battery in, ironically, the parking lot of a donut shop. This past September a corporal with the New Port Richey Police sexually assaulted 17-year-old teenage runaway as he was transporting her to a juvenile assessment center. And earlier this year, a former Hialeah police Sergent was sentenced for sex crimes against three women, which were just a fraction of his alleged victims.

In a press release concerning another corrections officer who had sexually abused an inmate, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a press release in which the U.S. Attorney was quoted as saying, the perpetrator “is a predator who used his authority and position to control and violate the victim. He abandoned his ethical responsibilities and has been held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Clinton J. Johnson for the Northern District of Oklahoma. “The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the nation are committed to upholding the Constitutional rights of all citizens. Civil rights abuses will be fully investigated and perpetrators will be brought to justice.”

Because of the unique power they exert, especially over vulnerable victims, such as children and people apprehended by them and in their custody, police are in a unique position to commit these crimes. Out of fear of retaliation or not being believed, these individuals are believed to have many more victims than are previously reported, which makes the harm from these individuals incalculable.

While the overwhelming majority of those in law enforcement will not offend, police officers are the perpetrators of sexual offenses in a concerning number of cases. All this begs the question, should neighbors be warned if a police officer lives in their community? Some could say yes and the sex offender registry already exists for this purpose. The image, home address, description, vehicles owned and other identifying information can be made available and publicly broadcast for communities to be able to search. The availability of such information helps members of the public take common sense measures for the protection of themselves and their families.

Opponents of the measure might argue that it’s one thing to use the public registry for law enforcement and completely different to use it for people with past convictions, but not so. This is not a punishment for the past conviction. In fact, it’s not supposed to be punishment at all! The “sex offender registration is civil measure reasonably designed to protect public safety, not a punishment” according to the US Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe. In fact, according to (now) Chief Justice John Roberts (who argued on behalf of the government at the time), the registry is no more burdensome than “filling out a Price Club application.”

So why should we not require registration of law enforcement officers under this additional safety tool? If it saves one child isn’t it worth it?