A police youth program is plagued by sexual abuse allegations across the U.S.
www.nbcnews.com
Explorer posts, overseen by the Boy Scouts, are supposed to foster an interest in policing. They have faced nearly 200 allegations of misconduct.

Birchmore’s case is among at least 194 allegations that law enforcement personnel, mostly policemen, have groomed, sexually abused or engaged in inappropriate behavior with Explorers since 1974, an ongoing investigation by The Marshall Project has found. The vast majority of those affected were teenage girls — some as young as 13.

…

The officers accused of abusing teenagers spanned the ranks, from patrolmen to police chiefs. Some were department veterans cited in news articles for their community work. A handful had served their agencies for barely a year. And some were married men with families of their own.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
      0·
      6 months ago

      Actually, it was only (jfc) one third. But many of those that were reprimanded got off light or even reoffended. One was abusing a child family member after a light punishment.

      If I had kids, I wouldn’t let them near anything sponsored by or affiliated with the Boy Scouts.

      • infinitevalence@discuss.onlineEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        I won’t try to convince you otherwise but I had to make this decision. I decided that the only way I was comfortable was by joining the pack leadership. BSA has had problems and will again not because of the organization but because the people looking for targets will go where the pray is.

        The organization trains every pack leader and each year there are courses that are required for both kids and parents to help educate, and protect kids.

        If my pack has a pedophile they hide it amazingly well. We enforce the buddy system for both adults and kids. The only time a kid is able to be alone with an adult is in their own tent and when they are a family unit.

        But if my kids going to a meeting so am I or another family member I can trust. Hopefully vigilance am me education will be enough.

        • Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world
          0·
          6 months ago

          BSA has had problems and will again not because of the organization but because the people looking for targets will go where the pray is.

          Don’t predators join because BSA has a history of hiding pedophiles? We’re only just finding out about this after decades of abuse. You can’t claim it’s not the organizations fault

  • djsoren19@yiffit.net
    0·
    6 months ago

    Say it isn’t so, American cops abusing their power to abuse the weak and defenseless? Thankfully it’s just several thousand bad apples, no sense working towards anything resembling police reform.