That may as well be the lesson learned now that 41-year-old Detective William Welch from the Baltimore City Police Department escaped all jail time for raping a 16-year-old girl in the Southeastern District Station House in July 2006.
Two summers ago I, along with many other young activists, were enraged by this news and held a rally outside of the Baltimore City Police Department Headquarters with very specific demands.
Welch escaped all jail time by entering an Alford Plea. The plea does not admit guilt, but maintains that the state has enough evidence to convict him. Reeking of foul play, that evidence which was under watch and key by the Baltimore City Police Department went “lost”. Now the Maryland Police will control evidence in cases involving city officers.
Welch was forced to resign from the Police Department, but was allowed to return to his Timonium home on Quiet Stream Court.
So I asked myself the question why didn’t the state’s attorney’s on this case prosecute? It seemed like a slam dunk case to me. 41-year-old detective rapes a 16-year-old girl at a police station. He should be in jail for a long long time right?! According to them – wrong! Why? They say she wanted it! She wanted to have sex with him…the 16 year old who was being held by a police officer WANTED to be bent over a chair by someone old enough to be her father. Well if that was the case – what about statutory rape?
I called the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault and they confirmed that the age of sexual consent in Maryland is 16. This chart on their website lays out Maryland law as it stands. In the state of Maryland it is lawful for an adult to have sex with a 16 year old…that is as long as it is consensual. This is disgusting.
But this situation raises another question. Can someone under arrest even consent to have sex with an officer? Someone under the name Chainsaw on the Baltimore Crime blog makes a great point:
Chainsaw said:
“There is NO “age of consent” involving an officer of the law and a member of the public. The presumption is that the power is SO EXTREMELY UNBALANCED that no “consent” is BELIEVABLE. Someone under arrest or detention can no more “consent” to sex with an officer than a child, a retarded person, or someone asleep or in a coma. It’s that simple. DON’T GO THERE or you don’t deserve the public trust it requires to be a police officer. No sympathy. No respect. Just DON’T GO THERE – and I haven’t a LOT of respect for the “fellow officers” who wouldn’t just lose this bastard in a firefight with crack dealers.”
Brown University supports “Chainsaw’s” position on the question of consent:
The decision to be sexually intimate must be without coercion. Both partners must have the option to choose to be intimate or not. Both partners should be free to change “yes” to “no” at any time. Factors such as body size, previous victimization, threats to “out” someone, and other fears can prevent an individual from freely consenting.
Police Officers enjoy extremely high levels of interpersonal power in order to execute the mandates of their job. When that authority is abused, especially in cases of rape – a crime that centers on control and power (not sexual desire) – the officer should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I don’t know the prosecutors who handled this case and I’m no lawyer, but it seems that they should have been able to prosecute on the fact that power and coercion was used by Detective William Welch to force her into a position to compromise her will. Just like this coward used a knife to rape this 16-year-old girl who was walking to school near Greenmount and 33rd yesterday.
One used the badge the other used a knife – both deserve to be locked away for a long time.
When will RAPE be treated as the serious crime that it is in this country?
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A child in Dafur or Rwanda has just about the same survival rate as the kids here in Baltimore. Little girls are being raped by policemen and music directors of prominent black churches. Children are being given methadone and are dying from an overdose. Children are not being taught in schools. Children are being shot, burned and maimed here in Charm City. Where is the love and nurturing for our children?? Who will save the children? Who will save the babies? God please hear this post.