A Chicago cop was arrested this Tuesday on federal charges of child pornography and sex trafficking of a minor. Officer William Whitley, a 26-year veteran of the force, allegedly paid for sex with underage teens and took nude photos of them in his bed. The criminal complaint accused the cop of attending parties arranged by a sex trafficking ring, where older men would pay to have sex with teen runaways.
Whitley was stripped of his badge and gun and placed on desk duty in September 2015, when the investigation into the sex trafficking ring began. The cop has had at least 28 complaints filed against him since 1991, and the department has recommended suspending him seven times. Whitley could face a mandatory minimum of ten years, and up to life in prison if found guilty. Another Chicago cop is also reportedly being investigated for his involvement in the sex trafficking ring as well.
Whitley's sexual misconduct with underage girls is unfortunately not a unique occurrence. An investigation by the Associated Press found that out of almost 1,000 cops who lost their badges over sexual misconduct between 2009 and 2014, about a third of them were fired over sexual misconduct with children or underage teenagers. After investigating state police decertification records from that time period, AP found hundreds of cops who were fired for child molestation, rape, voyeurism, sexting with minors, possession of child pornography, among other crimes.
"Because of gaps in the information provided by the states, it was impossible to discern any other distinct patterns, other than a propensity for officers to use the power of their badge to prey on the vulnerable," the investigation concluded. "Some but not all of the decertified officers faced criminal charges; some offenders were able to avoid prosecution by agreeing to surrender their certifications."
The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics doesn't keep track of these crimes, and no nationwide system exists to keep track of cops who have been fired for sexual misconduct. Because of this, cops who get fired from a police department in one state can often become a police officer in another state, regardless of the crimes they may have committed.
