Bias Lawsuit

I have been in law enforcement for more than 35 years. I have been the sheriff of Los Angeles County for the last 10 years. I generally refrain from making public statements about matters pending in the civil court. This letter constitutes an unavoidable exception.

The article that I reference features comments by plaintiff Susan Bouman (now Susan Paolino) and her attorney, Dennis Harley (Metro, Aug. 13). It alleges that the Sheriff’s Department has a deep and unchanged history of discriminating against female employees. Harley charges that the department is Neanderthal in its practices. Those allegations are false.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is a national leader in equal employment opportunities. We established full professional opportunities for women long before other departments followed our lead. Women in our department know that they are full and equal partners.

Despite our record, Harley continues to publicly charge the Sheriff’s Department with “adverse impact” discrimination against women (“adverse impact” is a legal term describing under-representation of females or minorities). He continues to take legal positions which impede our ability to complete a promotional examination for sergeant.

It is well documented that none of the sergeant’s examinations in the past 10 years have had an adverse impact on female candidates. Despite this excellent record Harley’s litigation has interrupted the administration of the last two scheduled sergeant’s examinations. Several thousand eligible candidates, many hundreds of whom are women, have had their career ambitions set back nearly three years.

We are anxious to complete the administration of yet another unbiased examination. We have a long record of doing so. We desperately need the best qualified supervisors available and our deputies have had to wait far too long to compete for promotion.

I am striving to develop the best-run, best-supervised law enforcement agency in the nation. I am striving to maintain a level field of professional opportunity for every member of the Sheriff’s Department.

SHERIFF SHERMAN BLOCK

Los Angeles County