How over a dozen Oakland cops met statutory definition of trafficking in passing 17-year-old girl around for sex

Discussion
1

One of the most ironic things about this scandal is that from the victim's point of view, what happened may have been better than what normally happens to sex workers at the hands of police officers. Getting some insurance against arrest, including tip-offs about police sting operations, in exchange for some sex with a man she'd been flirting with and his buddies (who happened to be cops) was probably less of a traumatic experience for the 17-year-old girl than being arrested and dragged through the criminal "justice" system would have been. But of course the powers that be can't admit this. All they can do is secretly think it wouldn't have been a problem, if only the cops hadn't gotten caught. But they did get caught, and now all kinds of government officials are red-faced.

  Some of you have probably read this, but for those who haven't, hear it is:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/badge-of-dishonor-top-oakland-police-department-officials-looked-away-as-east-bay-cops-sexually-exploited-and-trafficked-a-teenagerdepartmen/Content?oid=4832543

Love & Liberty,
                              ((( starchild )))

"Guap's case shows how social-control agents, including cops, can abuse their power, especially in environments where sex work is highly criminalized and law-enforcement agencies emphasize cracking down on the activity."
– East Bay Express

"It's like one less officer that's gonna arrest me."
– "Guap" on how she started sleeping with members of the OPD at age 17 while working as a prostitute, as reported by the Express

"Some of these cops might not be predatory, but the criminalization of sex work, and the sting operations against sex workers, creates a system that promotes these kinds of inherently exploitative relationships."
– Katherine Koster of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, on how it's difficult to define a sexual relationship between a cop and a sex worker as consensual even if both parties say it is

2

There are many disturbing things about this article, for example:
"Guap, now eighteen years old, said she sometimes slept with cops as a form
of protection from arrest or prosecution. Experts in human trafficking told
the *Express* this amounts to coercion."
Now, who are these "Experts in human trafficking"? What qualifies them as
experts?
In most states of the United States the legal age for sex is either 16 or
17. In New York it is 17. In New Jersey it is 16. Traditionally, New
Yorkers with a 16-year-old girlfriend would take her in the PATH train over
to New Jersey and have sex with her over there.
But in California it is 18. The girl says Police officers are "cute" and
she likes having sex with them in the back seat of the patrol car.
So, now police officers are losing their jobs and the public are losing
their protections for doing something that is perfectly legal in most
states.
Sam Sloan

3

We should revisit lowering the age of consent to 16. California's sex-offender registry is bloated with statutory rape offenders who pose no danger to society. It seems silly San Francisco would consider lowering the voting agent to 16 in this context and the state would raise the smoking age to 21. Girls are reaching puberty at an ever-earlier age for reasons scientists cannot fully explain. Moreover, the age of consent in Latin countries is usually lower than 16, so the current age of consent disproportionally impacts this huge segment of the electorate.