Sexual abuse and bullying. They are two terms America came to associate with Hollywood, where the powerful preyed on vulnerable women and men. Greenville County could teach Hollywood some lessons.
The problem with sexual abuse is that most of us believe that it is confined to certain pockets of society. Hollywood people are different, we are told, isolated within their own reality. We would not expect abuse to occur in the south, for example, and if so certainly not by those involved in law enforcement. Apparently, Greenville Sheriff Will Lewis did not get that memo.
14 Charges and Growing
The Sherriff of Greenville County is facing up to 14 charges ranging from perjury to misconduct with all stops in-between.
Kevin Brackett, the prosecutor responded to questions by The Greenville News as to charges in this statement:
“Instead of one broad misconduct in office charge, which could indicate a variety of things, you’ll see that each count specifies an act of misconduct. It adds a little specificity to the charging documents.”
The sheriff has been suspended since April 2018 stemming from charges of sexual assault. His former assistant filed charges of sexual assault and sexual harassment while they were away on a business trip in March 2017. As the case against him was uncovered, charges began to pile up.
He apparently used his power and authority to cover up a long term “adulterous” relationship along with fraud, disposing of evidence, giving an unqualified employee a shield, intimidating Sheriff’s Office employees who knew of his behaviors.
His behaviors were remarkably similar to men of power such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. Though on a more local level, Will Lewis also used his power to steamroll over employees who knew of his affair or to try to intimidate the woman with whom he had the affair. He used his power to “lose” important evidence, to give credentials to people who were not qualified to have them and to base his decisions on personal bias rather than credentials.
In the Hollywood cases people of power perpetuated sexual abuse for decades, they covered up wrong-doing (or it was overlooked), gave roles to those of lesser abilities in return for sexual favors and overall, frequently based casting decisions on personal bias.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Will Lewis and Harvey Weinstein is that “the casting couch” had long been an “accepted” Hollywood joke. Law enforcement, somehow, was considered to be on a different plane. Lewis coerced, lied and intimidated his victims or conversely elevated those who played along with him. The two situations were the same.
Of Power, Sexual Abuse, and Ethics
Sexual abuse, harassment, and intimidation are about power. This type of power does not know a certain industry or region. Both Weinstein and Will Lewis used their power because they felt they could without repercussion. It was an opportunity they could not pass up. They saw their victims as weak.
In both situations, they may have had the basic need of sex, but far more they got away with it because they knew they could.
Rationalization is easy for unethical people of power. When the victims have a problem saying “no,” the unethical don’t see it as something they’ve done as being wrong.
When Hollywood erodes its integrity, it is a problem to be sure, but no one is all that surprised. When law enforcement erodes its integrity, it should be a cause of grave concern. The same people charged with upholding the law are breaking it.
No one is immune to poor ethics, which is why law enforcement should receive ethical training before everyone else. Greenville County could teach Hollywood some lessons.
