The Columbus Police Department’s vice squad is currently under review after two high profile fuckups scandals. One that made national headlines was the July arrest of Stormy Daniels, set up as a sting operation, and was clearly politically motivated. You probably have not heard much about the other scandal if you don’t have ties to either Ohio or the sex work community.
On Aug. 23, Donna Dalton (police and news reports often refer to her by her married name, Castleberry) was shot and killed by a police officer. Details are sketchy, but what is known is that she was in a police cruiser with an undercover officer, without handcuffs, in the front seat. The car was parked against a building so that the front seat passenger had no means of escape. In the deadly altercation, Officer Andrew Mitchell was stabbed in the hand, and he shot 23-year-old Dalton eight times, killing her.
Tweets from Dalton’s vigil indicate that her family believes the officer attempted to force her into sex acts, and when the mother of two attempted to defend herself, he killed her. Dalton's reaction, by all accounts, was that of a woman who feared for her life.
Columbus Police also initially told Dalton’s family that there were no audio or video recordings of the incident, but the ongoing investigation has revealed that an audio recording does, in fact, exist, though it has not yet been released to the public. It has also come to light that Mitchell, a 30-year veteran of the force, was already the subject of a criminal internal affairs investigation at the time of Dalton’s shooting.
"If he was being investigated for a complaint, and it's a criminal investigation, why was he even allowed on the street?" said Mary Laile, (Dalton's) cousin.
Laile’s right. It’s hard not to believe that this problematic officer, who already had multiple previous complaints on record—at least eight since 2006—could have trapped a woman like Dalton in his car with sexual intent.
Which brings us to this week’s news.
Laile told reporters a review of the vice squad is a “step in the right direction.” But is it enough? Dalton’s death is only the most blatant example of cops leading to the deaths of sex workers.
The continued criminalization of sex work will only lead to more deaths. In some cases, it will be at the swift and violent hands of law enforcement. In other cases, it will be the slow death of all marginalized people who are denied resources by the American police state.
Even with the increased attention paid to wrongful deaths at the hands of the police, the officers involved are never held accountable for their actions. Until we as a nation truly commit to changing our detrimental criminal justice system, incidents like this will be commonplace. Internal reviews like the one underway in Columbus will only yield change if we make it clear to those in charge that we won’t stand for how we are being policed.