Then police.
In some regions, this is a bit unrealistic.
I grew up in a neighborhood where the bully's dad was the police captain. The bully would target brown kids and property of their parents (e.g. M80 down the chimney, among other atrocities). Everyone in town new the son acted with impunity. Kids our age knew it was worse: the dad actively encouraged his son, and gave him the M80s. No one would talk about it in public, less they be targeted as well.
> Everyone is accountable to someone. Escalate where needed.
Frankly, this isn't really true-- and shows our immense privilege that we can often act with this assumption and have it come true. Most people don't have this experience.
And especially a couple decades ago this was much less true for the type of circumstances we're discussing.
I take this to mean that you don't believe people are capable of understanding the system in which they live, nor advocating for systemic changes.
This said, I don't see how this tangent ties to addressing the fact that a community leader abuses their presumed power to protect a bullying child. Outside of doing nothing and letting bad behavior happen, one can address tears in the social contract through a variety of escalation approaches. But the key word is to act. I don't think any human system will protect you without your initiative.
For example, going to the press is an option.
