XPost: alt.culture.alaska, alt.politics.miserable-failure, alt.disasters.misc XPost: alt.support.srs

Jasmine Abuslin aka Celeste Guap

The city of Oakland, Calif., will pay a 19-year-old woman
$989,000 to settle her claim that city police officers sexually
abused her while she was an underage prostitute.

The woman has said she had sex with more than a dozen Oakland
police officers, according to the Los Angeles Times. She also
alleged that officers tipped her off to prostitution stings in
exchange for sex.

"The settlement occurred with no admission of liability, but
obviously, if you pay $1 million, you figure you got some
responsibility," the woman's attorney, John Burris, said. NPR
generally does not name individuals who are the alleged victims
of sexual assault.

The Oakland City Council voted 7-1 to approve the settlement,
according to the Times. Council member Desley Brooks cast the
dissenting vote, saying the city should pay more.

"Think about this young girl, who was victimized under the color
of authority," Brooks said, according to the East Bay Express.
"There is something wrong with this."

The scandal dates to September 2015, when an Oakland police
officer left a suicide note indicating he had been having a
sexual relationship with a young prostitute, the Times reports.
An investigation led to criminal charges against seven officers
in the Bay Area. Several officers at other nearby departments
were fired.

"It was in the best interest of the city to settle this matter
quickly and fairly," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said, according
to The Associated Press. "We remain focused on rebuilding the
public trust that was so damaged by this incident."

The woman said Wednesday she was satisfied with the settlement
and felt relief, according to the East Bay Times. "It's taken
its toll on me," she said.

Her attorney described the police officers as a "cabal."

"People were passing her around as if she was a kickball or
something," Burris said, according to the Times.

Last June, Schaaf placed the police department under civilian
control, after the department cycled through three police chiefs
in nine days. "I'm here to run a police department, not a frat
house," Schaaf said at the time.

In January, Schaaf named a new chief of police, Anne
Kirkpatrick, to "deliver on fair and just policing, prevent
violence and increase accountability, and of course, most
importantly, build community trust." Kirkpatrick came from the
Chicago Police Department and had previously been police chief
in Spokane, Wash.

Council member Rebecca Kaplan attributed the scandal in part to
a lack of diversity in the Oakland police force, according to
the Express.

"We need to ensure that we are building the conditions that make
it possible to have trust and healing between the community and
our law enforcement officers, and cut sexual misconduct and
other forms of abuse," she said. "This includes recruiting more
women, LGBT people, African Americans and more people from
Oakland."

The AP says the woman continues to pursue her case against other
law enforcement agencies in the area, including the police
departments in San Francisco, Richmond and Livermore, and the
sheriff's offices in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo- way/2017/06/01/531056653/oakland-to-pay-19-year-old-nearly-1- million-in-police-scandal-settlement
 

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