Police in La Vergne, Tennessee, arrested an unsuspecting man accused of child rape on Tuesday.
Twenty-three-year-old Joshua Murrey had requested a ride-along with police when officers ran a routine background check on him, the La Vergne Police Department said in a Wednesday post on Facebook.
The results from the background check showed that Murrey had two sealed indictments related to child rape.
Officers then called Murrey to meet with K9 officer Justin Darby at the police station. When Murrey showed up for his meeting that day, Darby arrested Murrey.
The arrest occurred without incident, the La Vergne Police Department said.
Murrey has been booked into the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, police said.
Police ride-along programs are public education programs designed to help inform the public about the experiences and daily challenges of police officers in their area.
Several police departments offer such programs to local residents within their jurisdiction.
The goal of such programs is to “enhance transparency between police and members of the community,” the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police said.
Should there be stricter punishments for child rape?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys in the United States are victims of child sexual abuse.
In around 91 percent of child sex abuse cases, the perpetrator is a person the child trusts or is a member of the child’s family, the CDC said.
Child sex abuse in the country comes with a total lifetime economic burden of $9.3 billion, the CDC said.
Child sex abuse victims are at risk of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted illnesses, and chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity and cancer, according to the CDC.
“Children who had an experience of rape or attempted rape in their adolescent years were 13.7 times more likely to experience rape or attempted rape in their first year of college,” the National Center for the Victims of Crime said.
“A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex.”
“The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults, and can become suicidal.”
“Children who do not live with both parents as well as children living in homes marked by parental discord, divorce or domestic violence, have a higher risk of being sexually abused,” the organization said.
