Former Sheriff’s Deputy Files Suit Charging Racism

A former Ventura County sheriff’s deputy has filed a civil rights lawsuit charging that supervisors and peers in the department discriminated against him because he is black.

Greg Jones’ suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that department employees made racial remarks, that an internal investigation into a complaint was stalled and that he was ordered to be retrained to discourage his complaints.

Cmdr. Richard Seery, who heads the department’s personnel division, said he could not comment on the allegations. No other Sheriff’s Department official could be reached for comment.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of allegations of racism in the department. Last month, 11 of the department’s 15 black deputies filed claims against the county, complaining of racist and sexist behavior among peers and supervisors that ranged from derogatory jokes to a death threat. A black employee who works in the jail subsequently filed another claim against the county.

Meanwhile, Sheriff John V. Gillespie has organized a new minority relations committee to investigate allegations of racial discrimination, to evaluate racial sensitivity training and to consider the way the department recruits employees.

Jones’ suit, which asks for $1 million in damages, names the department, Gillespie and five sheriff’s deputies.

Jones, who was hired by the department in 1986, said that when he worked in the jail, people referred to him as “Mr. Brown.” His supervisors also harassed him about his haircut, which he took as a racial slur, the suit said.

In June of 1988, a “Wanted” poster with Jones’ picture on it was distributed throughout the jail, the suit said. The poster accused Jones of sex-related criminal offenses against employees of the Sheriff’s Department.

Jones said he complained to his supervisors about the poster and asked that they take disciplinary action against the employees who distributed it.

But the Sheriff’s Department failed to start an official internal investigation into the matter for two years and three months, the lawsuit said.

Jones also heard one Sheriff’s Department employee tell others that he would not back up any blacks, the suit said. The same officer asked Jones almost daily why he was present at a briefing, because the briefing was “a KKK meeting,” the suit said.

In November, 1989, Jones told a supervisor that he wanted a leave of absence because he was suffering from stress related to racial harassment and discrimination. The leave was denied, and Jones was subsequently ordered to undergo “retraining,” an action he alleges was used by the department to discourage employees from complaining, the suit said.

Jones, who also was stripped of his authority to carry a gun while still employed by the department, filed an appeal of the retraining with the Civil Service Commission last year.

He said at the time that he believed the retraining was a step leading to his termination. But sheriff’s officials said retraining is not unusual and is not a precursor to firing.

A county affirmative action investigator determined that the department was justified in retraining Jones but added that supervisors in the department needed sensitivity instruction.

Jones later resigned from the department and withdrew his appeal from the Civil Service Commission because he “thought it would be more fair” to pursue the matter in court, said his attorney, David J. Duchrow.

Duchrow said that the problems with the Sheriff’s Department seriously hurt Jones’ future career opportunities.

“For someone whose career is law enforcement, there’s a small community of potential employers, and it’s hard to go from one to another anonymously,” Duchrow said. “He has name recognition among potential employers, plus they do thorough background checks.”