Let me it ask this way: a rape is reported to the school, and as far as we can tell, the report is more or less ignored and dismissed. There's no scenario where these guys can be called into court and asked to "show their work", so to speak, to explain what they did to investigate the claim?
Originally Posted by Tortilla
(Bolding theirs)The department provides 24-hour patrol services to the campus and University-owned properties year round. The University Police is governed by a state statute that gives our officers the same authority as municipal police officers.
University Police is also responsible for parking enforcement and traffic control. Officers have first-aid training as Emergency Responders and provide first rescue response and fire suppression services to the campus. To increase interaction with the public, the University Police maintains a bicycle patrol unitas well as a canine unit.
Mission Statement
University Police strives to establish a social and physical environment wherein people on the campus may be free from fear and, therby, contribute to the quality and excellence of The Pennsylvania State University.
This is not the same thing as having the same responsibilites or priorities as the rest of the police in the state beholden to the public.
http://www.police.psu.edu/statestatutes/
With Sandusky's crazy admissions already that he routinely showered with young boys I'm sure his defense will be that the boy dropped the soap, both he and the boy went to pick it up, they became momentarily entangled and that's when McQueary walked in. It's all just a big huge bad timing misunderstanding. He'll claim that, in retrospect, trying to retrieve the soap was a bad idea, and that in the future when showering with young boys he'll simply let them get it themselves.
Maybe. As Lloyd mentioned, PA may have waived its sovereign immunity wrt claims like this; the cursory Googling I've done reveals there is a PA Sovereign Immunity statute that has some exceptions. The stories I've read feature a bunch of lawyers throwing around theories, so I guess the only person whose opinion will matter is a judge's.
I think the state could be sued for purely injunctive relief in any case; it's the damages part of it that raises the immunity issue.
Their powers and scope are not materially different as to whether they are "real" police, and the linked statues explicitly give them the same powers as municipal law enforcement. Yes, given that their jurisdiction is a college campus they are less likely to have a SWAT team and more likely to have patrols dedicated to busting up rowdy parties and so forth, but they are still "real" police.
Campus police are not private security guards, they can and will arrest people and transport them to the local lockup, their reports will go to the local district or county attorney to see if there's been an offense that can be prosecuted, etc. They differ in some operational aspects from a municipal police force, but then so does a small town sheriffs office. Doesn't make them less real.
Believe what you want I suppose, but campus police are "real" police in every meaningful way.
You guys still have sovereign immunity? What a totally backwards country you have there.
Sure, for all intents and purposes they are the police. (Note that I'm not using the "real" quoting.) My comment is aimed more at the fact that they do differ from other police in one crucial way. Their first and foremost duty is to Penn State, not to taxpayers or the municipal government.
I'd say this is the type of hysteria that makes prosecuting real criminal behavior more difficult.
As a way to explain Penn St et al's behavior it is a cracker of a theory.
But, assuming Sandusky is guilty the closest parallel we have is the Catholic Church abuses, and those continued because the people in charge were more worried about the reputation of their institutions than stopping horrific child abuse. Seems unfortunately to be the case here.
Our campus police are required to go through a 6 month Basic Peace Officer's Academy followed by a Field Training Program.
On a semi-related note they also teach a one quarter class called "Community Police Academy" which includes an opportunity to learn police driving traffics (with first-hand, behind the wheel experience), a discussion on CSI vs. Reality with a visit to the Coroner's Office, and practice with a Firearms Simulation Trainer. I've always thought it sounded like an awful lot of fun, but I've never talked to anyone that's taken it.
And now Paterno has a (treatable) form of lung cancer.
Yowza, it just keeps getting worse and worse.
Also, you now have the situation at Syracuse where someone is accusing one of Jim Boeheim's key and long time coaches of doing something inappropriate with a young boy. Except this was already investigated 5 years ago, and Boeheim has actually come right out and claimed the claims are outright lies, and this is a cash grab from someone looking to cash in on the Penn State scandal.
I haven't actually looked into the details of the case, but it does kinda have that feeling to it. I believe this case had a second victim as well, but he was a relative of the first.
In today's "People Are Awesome!" news, Victim One had to leave his high school due to bullying.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...ky_victim.htmlOfficials at Central Mountain High School in Clinton County weren’t providing guidance for fellow students, who were reacting badly about Joe Paterno’s firing and blaming the 17-year-old, said Mike Gillum, the psychologist helping his family. Those officials were unavailable for comment this weekend.
The name-calling and verbal threats were just too much, he said.
Jesus. Not a surprise, but at least it shines a spotlight on people who care about football more than about other human beings, so the rest of the world can be properly horrified. Fuck cult sports.
this shit is sounding more and more familiar
My contempt for sports freaks maxed out long ago.
KEEP TALKING YOU SICK FUCK
keep on talking
During a lengthy interview at his lawyer's home, Sandusky told the newspaper he and Paterno never spoke about the alleged 2002 incident or a 1998 child molestation complaint investigated by the Penn State campus police.
"I never talked to him about either one," Sandusky said. "That's all I can say. I mean, I don't know." He worked for Paterno for nearly 30 years.http://espn.go.com/college-football/...ons-penn-stateAsked about his physical interaction with children who were not his own, Sandusky said that aspect of the relationships "just happened that way."
"I think a lot of the kids really reached out" for wrestling and hugging, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/sp...y.html?_r=2&hp
Aaaaand Sandusky arrested on new allegations. No link yet, just the breaking news banner on CNN.
I saw this morning that supposedly there's two new victims, one of whom is his 5 year old grandson.
Good god, I don't know why molesting his own toddler grandson should seem any further over the line than any other small child, but that's just incredibly horrific.
I don't know why either, but I suspect it has to do with being betrayed by someone you know well and trust. Truly awful. This gentleman needs a horsewhipping, followed by a long stretch in prison.
Maybe the wife too.Victim nine, according to a story in the Harrisburg Patriot News, is now 18 and he alleges in a grand jury presentment released today that his cries for help from Sandusky’s basement went unanswered. “The victim testified that on at least one occasion he screamed for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but no one ever came to help him,” the presentment says.
Is there ever a point where you just go "Yeah, I'm a monster" or is that only in movies? Just seems like so many boundaries crossed to get where he is.
Sandusky will probably go to his grave not understanding what the fuck is happening to him. Lifelong powerful pedophiles like him only maintain their psychic integrity by completely redefining their actions as -- in their own mind -- consensual acts of love with happy kids. He will probably never see things any other way, even if he rots in jail for the rest of his life as he damn well should.
Edit: Meanwhile, Penn State's new president wants to put a stake through the football program's corpse, and a damn good thing too.
Last edited by RepoMan; 12-07-2011 at 01:08 PM.
When it comes to his grandson I can only wonder if the kid has been behaving strangely recently and these recent allegations have caused someone in the family to put the pieces together and realize what it is that grampa may have done or is it a family secret that was known and they only decided to go public when they realized there was nothing left to protect.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
To the majority of Americans, Football is more important than Science. If the new President follows thru he won't last long. College football fanaticsm knows no bounds and when things settle down the football alums will call for the President's blood if their precious football program receives those significant cuts and doesn't keep them near the top.
Or maybe they too are just big Penn State fans.
Hmm, I'm not seeing anyone else saying one of the victims is his grandson, but two more children from Second Mile.
That may have been unconfirmed, it's just what I was seeing this morning.
Hrm...looks like it might be old news? I don't know...here's an article from like 2 weeks ago:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/penn-state-...9#.TuAp-WNC9gI
I think this is the link I saw this morning:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_ne...ndson_could_be
Just the comments on that article are fairly disturbing.
I feel faint"People don't understand that we go to PSU because of football. These kids graduate from a great University that JoePa put on the map. I can see why someone from Colorado State University is upset because they only have academics. We are great in sports and academics graduating 80% of our players within 6 years and ranked #1 because of JoePa. Penn State is known for more than football, that is why we attract and only accept those football players that want to do more in life...we are the Stanford of the east."
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