I've read multiple stories where cops were arrested for rape. Sex scandals everywhere...

Hence my point that a badge or title does not automatically mean the person is trustworthy, and yet, to hear them talk, they are above reproach with integrity when the fact is, they are no less capable of committing sex (and other) crimes as the average Joe.

I don't know this (former) deputy. Reading the article, it appears he overcame a lot to get to where he was professionally and personally. He faces a very long, difficult, road to get back anything that might be considered a life. I hope above all that he is able to find the help and support he needs, as a human being, to overcome this and return to being a productive, valued, member of society.

I am not saying his personal story and hardship's are not disparaging, as clearly he has faced difficult times in his life. However, that is no excuse.

When someone slaps on a badge, the public has every right to know they have been properly screened and are of fit mind and body, and not engaging in or prone to engage in criminal activity. All too often we are finding out that those in law enforcement are not all they appear to be.

Hence, just because a person has a badge or government title does not mean they are inherently trustworthy.

Sad but true. It just goes to show that no one is immune from committing a crime. It does not matter your race, profession, gender, socioeconomics, or religious beliefs.

"To err is human; to forgive divine".

So where do we go from here?

What it comes down to is to trust no one. Hell...we can not even trust ourselves. Now what?

It comes down to how we deal with it. I choose to not live in a life filled with untrust and hatred. I choose to embrace we as humans can make mistakes. I choose to forgive those who have done misdeeds.

I am not perfect nor do i portray myself as perfect. I have seen and experienced so much doom and gloom. But i have also experienced the simple things in life.

Does it help to talk about the injustice of justice? Can i talk about some of my previous coworkers?

I can say that us in law enforcement are not immune. I can admit that. It hurts. What did i think when i found out that my fellow LE committed theft? Rape? Child porn? Domestic violence? Let us not forget my coworker who committed murder. He killed his wife and sister-in-law.

There you have it.

We cant even entrust our children from the teachers or clergy.

I guess that it where we are.

I tell people that most of us are felons that just haven't been caught. Because I am in Wisconsin I use drinking and driving as an easy example of how easy it is to become a felon and most of us should be but just haven't been caught.

Drinking isn't just a pastime here it is a culture, some would say it's a sport. Most people have gone out to dinner had a few drinks, finished dinner and had a few more and then drove home. The legal limit to be drunk here is .08 now I believe (westdenali, please correct me if I am wrong here, cause I know I might be...) That means that if you had ONE DRINK within the last hour you could very easily blow .08 on a breathalizer.

Ok, so you go out to dinner, once a month, same pattern. You drive home without incident, even though you are probably over the legal limit. That's 12 times a year. If you are caught with a DWI, I am pretty sure that after your third offence you get a felony and some prison time. Everytime after that is a felony also, which is why repeat offender in those DWI cases seem so flipping stupid... but when you think about the number of times that they are probably driving without getting caught you realize that they are just playing the odds, and losing... heh

My point I say at the end of my analogy is usually this, just because you don't get caught doesn't mean there hasn't been a crime committed. Same goes for shoplifting, breaking and entering, sexual assault, etc. they are all crimes, including the drunk driving, and they are still crimes and felonies even when you don't get caught. It is what we teach our children when teaching right and wrong, but seem to forget the lesson?

So when people get all high and mighty about how they have NEVER committed a crime because they have no criminal record, I ask them about their dining habits.

Great analogy Wisconsin. You can also use the reoffense rates for DUI/DWI as well. DUI/DWI have a higher reoffense rate than sex offenses, and people like to claim it's because not all sex offenses are reported. The same logic applies to DWI, they are not always caught when driving intoxicated....

Oh I have used that as a comparison as well. Most people like to just blow it off... but that is because drinking and driving is so common place, even the designated drivers are known to be above the 'legal limit' even though they are not 'feeling' any effects of drinking. Remember you could have ONE glass of wine within an hour of getting behind the wheel and be over the limit to the breathalyzer.

The recidivism rates of those that drink and drive are like 50% or better depending on the number of offenses a person has. Alcoholism is not considered a pariah type of thing either. Whereas all sex related addiction issues are considered 'bad' or 'devious' in some way.

We are a nation founded by a group of public prudes, because in private they were like any other human animal. We have grown and changed over the centuries but we still are conservative in many respects when it comes to sex than many of the other nations of the world. Not better or worse, just different and thus our laws and some of our cultural faux pas revolve around our thirst for sex on a country wide scale. As we are the largest consumers of porn in world. It is a billion dollar industry with thousands of titles coming out every year. If there wasn't money in it because people are buying it, it wouldn't be so readily available.

But it's not like we're going to be able to get rid of porn or the demand of it, the laws of economics prevent that from happening. So we try to control the content, which to an extent is possible but if there is demand there will be supply, so if there is demand for some frightening stuff, then it will be made, as horrible as it sounds. So then one must question why some of this material is being sought out? Is it because something happened to them? Is this something new that we must learn about human brain chemistry? None of us live in a bubble and are shaped by our experiences, be them good or bad. So why aren't we trying to figure out how and why people choose to view or create some of the stuff and begin the process of breaking the cycle. By removing the demand, the supply will dwindle because that is also the law of economics.

Because we have a reactionary system and politicians have more important things to spend tax revenue on than providing treatment, education, and support that very well would prevent the crime in the first place.

The underlining point I make in my original thread here is that this Deputy Sheriff was employed for two years and all during this time, he admitted he was engaging in child porn. The Sheriff was dumbfounded. Hence, the point is, there can be no stereotype applied to sex offenders because they come from all walks of life and penetrate all professions. Thus, in this context, the story is a positive thing because it draws attention to a prominent pubic official with a license to kill people, engaging in child porn, within a community that purports to have small town, family, and Christian values.

Such acts as raping adults and having sex with children have existed throughout all American history, and even world history. Most notably in the western era and the days when Oliver Twist presented the golden opportunities for pedophilia to exist. But with the technology to gain access to child porn also comes the ability to catch those doing so far easier.

History teaches us that in the roman days, sex with minors was revered as a status of nobility, as long as the adult was the top and the boy was the bottom. To do otherwise was seen as deviant. Same sex group rapes was meant to punish male roman's in the military who committed adultery. The early Greeks saw pedophilia as having a special social standing because with pedophilia came the duty of the adult to teach the child to be a positive member of his community. The French have long since been known for their romance and freedom of expression in nudity.

The fact porn is a billion dollar industry every year with the blessing of society and legislators who buy such, testifies to two points: First, people are sexually frustrated because they feel the lack of ability to freely express themselves sexually, and second, because we are an extremely judgmental society that others feel they have to explore and express their sexual appetites through pornography. I venture to say that "sex addition" does not account for the success of the porn industry near as much as people say, because to say other wise gives us less ground to judge those who watch pornography.

In America we teach children from an early age and demand the same of adults, to not respect their bodies, to look at nudity as a very shameful thing, and to judge others based on sexual behaviors (not necessarily sexual intercourse by itself). In this culture, we attempt to assert a moral superiority over other countries and cultures, on the premise that we alone will dictate what is and is not acceptable. When you have this culture and system of government, then natural and predictable result is to have a billion dollar pornographic industry and labeling all sorts of people as sex offenders.