Posted Aug 01, 2010 @ 10:00 AM
Last update Aug 01, 2010 @ 09:04 PM
COMMENTARY BY WENDY J. MURPHY —Patriot Ledger
Do you remember anything about May 1991?
I do.
I was working as a child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor; and I gave birth to my first daughter.
Guess what else happened in May 1991.
Scott Flanagan was working as a Wareham police officer; and he strip-searched and sexually assaulted a 14 year-old girl.
Flanagan’s boss, Jeff Perry, was a sergeant on the force at the time. A witness told state police Perry watched from only a few yards away as Flanagan violated the teen. The girl was screaming and crying but Perry did nothing to help, the witness said.
After that incident, Flanagan did the same thing to a 16 year-old girl, and though Perry didn’t watch this time, reports make it appear that he tried to cover it up. When Perry’s handling of the case was challenged, those accounts indicate he lied.
In May 1993, Scott Flanagan was indicted for sexual assault. In June 1993, Jeff Perry resigned from the force.
Now he’s running for Congress.
I’m glad Perry’s in the race because so many more people now know about the strip-search scandal. Only we don’t exactly know all the facts – even after all these years – because Perry has yet to provide them.
Maybe it’s because there are too many things he simply cannot explain.
For example, as duty sergeant on the night the 16 year-old was violated, Perry was supposed to file an incident report with his superiors. Instead of filing a report, however, Perry made an “unauthorized” visit to the girl’s home.
Perry told the girl’s parents their daughter could go to jail. Then he tried to blame the girl for what happened, saying “she pulled her pants down for US.” He claimed in 2010 that he was only repeating what Flanagan had told him and that the girl’s parents were grateful that he stopped by. The parents scoffed, insisting emphatically that they were being intimidated – and that Perry’s visit was an attempt to keep them quiet about the strip-search.
Perry told a reporter in 2010 that going to the girl’s house is what a “good police officer” was supposed to do because a report on such an incident would need to be written “before the end of the shift.”
Yet, Perry’s visit produced no such report.
In fact, according to court documents submitted by lawyers for the town of Wareham (who were effectively defending Perry), he had to be ordered to file an incident report by his captain – the day after the incident, and only after the captain was notified about the strip-search by a police officer from a neighboring town.
Perry told another reporter in 2010, that he has been “very open and honest” with the media and that he did “everything by the book” that night – yet he reportedly asserted his right to remain silent in response to questions during legal proceedings. If everything he did was “by the book,” what “incriminating” information had to be shielded by the Fifth Amendment?
Jeff Perry isn’t saying.
And now he wants to be a congressman.
Does he deserve the public’s trust?
My daughter, now 19, had this to say:
“Cops are supposed to protect people. They were kids. Who were they supposed to call for help?”
What’s that saying about the mouths of babes?
Here’s something a bit more blunt out of the mouth of an adult:
Cops who abuse their power to sexually exploit kids are like fathers who commit incest, only worse. At least an incest victim can call 911 and be rescued.
So should you vote for Jeff Perry?
Ask my daughter.
Wendy Murphy is a leading victims rights advocate and nationally recognized television legal analyst. She is an adjunct professor at New England Law in Boston. She can be reached at wmurphy@nesl.edu.
Read more of her columns at The Daily Beast .
READ MORE about this issue.
I do.
I was working as a child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor; and I gave birth to my first daughter.
Guess what else happened in May 1991.
Scott Flanagan was working as a Wareham police officer; and he strip-searched and sexually assaulted a 14 year-old girl.
Flanagan’s boss, Jeff Perry, was a sergeant on the force at the time. A witness told state police Perry watched from only a few yards away as Flanagan violated the teen. The girl was screaming and crying but Perry did nothing to help, the witness said.
After that incident, Flanagan did the same thing to a 16 year-old girl, and though Perry didn’t watch this time, reports make it appear that he tried to cover it up. When Perry’s handling of the case was challenged, those accounts indicate he lied.
In May 1993, Scott Flanagan was indicted for sexual assault. In June 1993, Jeff Perry resigned from the force.
Now he’s running for Congress.
I’m glad Perry’s in the race because so many more people now know about the strip-search scandal. Only we don’t exactly know all the facts – even after all these years – because Perry has yet to provide them.
Maybe it’s because there are too many things he simply cannot explain.
For example, as duty sergeant on the night the 16 year-old was violated, Perry was supposed to file an incident report with his superiors. Instead of filing a report, however, Perry made an “unauthorized” visit to the girl’s home.
Perry told the girl’s parents their daughter could go to jail. Then he tried to blame the girl for what happened, saying “she pulled her pants down for US.” He claimed in 2010 that he was only repeating what Flanagan had told him and that the girl’s parents were grateful that he stopped by. The parents scoffed, insisting emphatically that they were being intimidated – and that Perry’s visit was an attempt to keep them quiet about the strip-search.
Perry told a reporter in 2010 that going to the girl’s house is what a “good police officer” was supposed to do because a report on such an incident would need to be written “before the end of the shift.”
Yet, Perry’s visit produced no such report.
In fact, according to court documents submitted by lawyers for the town of Wareham (who were effectively defending Perry), he had to be ordered to file an incident report by his captain – the day after the incident, and only after the captain was notified about the strip-search by a police officer from a neighboring town.
Perry told another reporter in 2010, that he has been “very open and honest” with the media and that he did “everything by the book” that night – yet he reportedly asserted his right to remain silent in response to questions during legal proceedings. If everything he did was “by the book,” what “incriminating” information had to be shielded by the Fifth Amendment?
Jeff Perry isn’t saying.
And now he wants to be a congressman.
Does he deserve the public’s trust?
My daughter, now 19, had this to say:
“Cops are supposed to protect people. They were kids. Who were they supposed to call for help?”
What’s that saying about the mouths of babes?
Here’s something a bit more blunt out of the mouth of an adult:
Cops who abuse their power to sexually exploit kids are like fathers who commit incest, only worse. At least an incest victim can call 911 and be rescued.
So should you vote for Jeff Perry?
Ask my daughter.
Wendy Murphy is a leading victims rights advocate and nationally recognized television legal analyst. She is an adjunct professor at New England Law in Boston. She can be reached at wmurphy@nesl.edu.
Read more of her columns at The Daily Beast .
READ MORE about this issue.
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