S.D. Police Employee Sues City : Workplace: Community service officer, formerly at downtown headquarters, claims she was transferred after complaining of sexual harassment from a co-worker.

For nearly a year, San Diego police community service officer Terri Ann Draham says, she was sexually harassed by an officer who spoke repeatedly of his exploits with women, flashed a picture of a nude female and told offensive jokes.

When she complained, Draham says in a lawsuit she filed this week against the city of San Diego, she was transferred to “one of the least desirable” areas of the department in Logan Heights.

Draham says she was punished for filing a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing and that she wants to be returned to her job at the front counter of the downtown headquarters.

She wants Officer John Russell, 36, who has spent the past 10 years with the Police Department, transferred instead.

Russell’s attorney, Everett Bobbitt, said Draham’s complaint is baseless.

“I can respond that there is absolutely no merit to her claim,” Bobbitt said. “She’s got a tremendous imagination, but there’s not a scintilla of truth to what she says.”

Community service officers are civilians who are empowered to write parking citations, take crime reports and generally help sworn officers on the police force. Many do so with the hope that they one day will become officers.

Draham, 34, who has worked for the department since 1985, had received favorable job performance reviews, according to the lawsuit, and was described in one evaluation as “a courteous and professional employee who makes every effort to work as a team player . . . “

According to the suit, Russell began working with Draham at the front counter in May, 1990, at which time he allegedly began detailing his sexual encounters with several women, including one whose nude picture he showed another officer in front of Draham.

Last November, after Draham complained about the incidents, Russell drew an obscene picture with Draham’s name and face on it, showed it to her, crumpled it, and popped it in his mouth, the suit alleges.

Ann M. Smith, Draham’s attorney, said her client never asked for a transfer and was not asked where she would like to work.

In fact, Smith said, another community service officer was moved out of Logan Heights to make room for Draham, even though other openings were available in areas of the department Draham would have preferred.

Despite several complaints to superiors, Russell received no punishment.

Draham quoted Russell as saying her complaints would do no good because “he had 10 years in the department, that he was the officer, she was just a CSO and nobody would believe her.”

“This kind of conduct was intolerable, and nobody should be forced to accept it,” Smith said. “In terms of having to work with someone who is constantly offending you and taunting you because you complained, it’s very serious and undermines someone’s work productivity.”

Smith said she is seeking monetary damages for Draham’s emotional distress, adding that it is now likely that her career with the department will be stalled.

Russell’s attorney, Bobbitt, said Draham “is trying to win the lottery without buying a ticket.”