Two days ago, Joy Diaz of Austin's NPR member station, KUT, dropped a bombshell--an Austin police officer told her a week earlier that there are actually some instances where a woman deserves to get beaten up if she "acts like a whore." Diaz showed this to Austin police chief Art Acevedo, who said in no uncertain terms that an officer like that didn't belong on the force. By the time the story went to air, that officer had been all but forced to retire. For more details, check out my post on this at Liberal America.
It looks like the Austin Police Department has a cultural problem. Diaz was originally trying to get more information on cops being caught on tape making jokes about rape victims. Local attorney Drew Gibbs was investigating a car accident when he got an unexpected surprise in police dashcam footage. Two officers, apparently unaware that their dashcam was on, saw a woman walking by their car. One of them blew a whistle and said, "Go ahead and call the cops--they can't un-rape you." The lawyer was so shocked by what he heard that he uploaded it to YouTube. Watch here.
When KXAN-TV in Austin found out about the video, it asked police officials if this was real. The police subsequently confirmed it was indeed real and apologized. The officers, subsequently identified as David Lyttle and Michael Castillo, got a lengthy suspension.
Acevedo has spent his seven years as chief cleaning up the department's image. If these incidents are any indication, he's got more work to do.