Posted by Gabbie Cailipan
Celeste Guap was 17 when she was being chased in Oakland and spotted an Oakland police car and approached for help. She met officer Brendan O’ Brien and she said they began to flirt. After seeing each other once more after the incident, they exchanged numbers and started “dating.” For the next six months she would be trafficked among other officers. At least 22 different law enforcement officials took advantage of her. Guap says that sometimes she slept with the cops for protection from arrest or prosecution. In addition, some officers would tell her about undercover sting operations that would put people’s lives in danger. This article is interesting to me because this was all happening in Oakland and I hadn’t really heard about it so it seems like people were trying to keep it on the down low. They probably didn’t want the reputation of Oakland police to be tarnished. She turned to the people that were supposed to protect her and the community, but instead they just used her. These law enforcement officers are trusted by all to keep people safe from other sexual predators, but instead they are the ones performing the acts. It makes me question how reliable any person with power is.