I wonder if someone had reported to you suspicions of child rape ( or child molestation of some type) if you would merely ‘report it to the next level’.
I am not a required reporter. I am merely a parent and if I had heard of any of the activity going on in the PSU locker room ( I mean really grown mean shower with prepubescent boys???) I would have been screaming my head off. What kind of community d you live in that thinks it is okay for some adult to shower with children?? I don;t get that at al
For the record, I have reported numerous incidents of sketchy behavior, in my private capacity as parent and volunteer, and in my public capacity as representative of my employer. At the time, proof of crime was not available, but the reports led to investigation, people coming forward and eventual prosecutions in some cases. A notable conviction was of the apparently loved and respected police department youth officer assigned to the school district. Do you think that was easy? I also investigated sexual harassment claims brought before my employer. Sometimes people lie and have ulterior motives, and sometimes they tell the truth. It is complicated, and I put my own employment on the line each time.
My original point remains the same as it did with “Grandpa”. If you want to report a crime or suspicious incident that occurred on the campus of Penn State, University Park, PA, with its own area code and zip code, and five times larger than the city in which I live, the only jurisdiction is the campus police. Paterno could have gone to the desk clerk, a patrolman, or the
head administrator. He chose the latter, plus that man’s boss.
If he did so to plot a cover up, I hope that will come out in his supervisors’ trials or in Louis Freeh’s report. I am disappointed that Joe didn’t do the many things he could have done, but changing the realities of jurisdiction wasn’t one of them.