Anti-Semitic Harassment Alleged : Police: Jewish detective sues Huntington Park, charging that he has been the target of repeated religious slurs from fellow officers.

A Jewish Huntington Park police detective, saying he is “sickened and disheartened” by repeated anti-Semitic harassment on the job, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the city, alleging that he has been the target of numerous religious slurs, including a newspaper article left on his desk with “BURN THEM ALL” written on it.

Detective Alan Tavelman, 32, a nine-year-veteran of the small department, said the harassment began during a pre-hiring interview in 1983 when he was asked if he “wore a funny hat; if his religion would interfere with his ability to take a life,” the suit alleges.

Over the years, the suit states, Tavelman has found countless numbers of pennies taped to his desk, locker and car, an apparent reference to an offensive stereotype of Jews as penny-pinchers.

The harassment escalated in the late 1980s when he found a yarmulke with a swastika drawn on it and a New Testament with a Jewish religious symbol, the Star of David, scribbled on the cover, the suit says.

Also named in the lawsuit are Police Chief Francis Sullivan, former Police Chief Patrick Connolly, Capt. Daniel Leili and Sgt. Ronald Beason--authorities Tavelman claims either participated in the harassment or did nothing to stop it after formal complaints were submitted.

“The reason I’m coming forward now is that I believe that I have completely exhausted all inter-departmental remedies,” he said during a news conference in his attorney’s office. “I feel my career has been stifled and I will not be able to advance.”

In May, 1991, he was passed over for a promotion to sergeant because of what he said was religious discrimination. Beason, against whom Tavelman has filed Internal Affairs complaints alleging harassment, was one of the higher-ups who participated in the promotion evaluation, he said.

Tavelman said he believes that a “small clique” of officers are responsible for the harassment, which he said he has heard extended to the department’s one African-American and one other Jewish officer. He declined to name any officers.

He also said that he has heard officers verbally harass minority residents in the field and hopes that publicity over his case will force the city to launch a probe into racism in the 67-officer department.

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined as co-counsel in Tavelman’s suit and the Anti-Defamation League is lending support.

“We view this as a great example of what we think goes on in police departments,” said attorney Robin Toma of the ACLU. “We all know that police departments are supposed to protect our rights, not violate them.”

Top Huntington Park city officials--including Mayor Raul Perez and Police Chief Sullivan--either refused to comment on the lawsuit or would not return repeated phone calls. Inquiries were referred to City Atty. Steven N. Skolnik, who also refused to discuss the issue.

“But I will say that this came as a complete surprise to me,” Skolnik said. “There was a claim filed a few months ago and I obtained some superficial allegations. . . . I won’t say that we completely ignored it, but one tends to put some things aside. . . . This is the only suit of this nature against the Police Department that I am aware of.”

Councilman Richard Loya said he first learned of the suit Wednesday morning when the city’s chief administrative officer, Donald Jeffers, called to tell him not to comment on it.

“I certainly have an opinion on this and would love to comment,” an irritated Loya said. “But for now I have to play it safe.” It also appears that police officers in the department have been instructed by their superiors not to publicly discuss the suit or racial issues in the department. When reached by phone, Beason said he and other officers were told not to talk about it.

The allegations come after several tumultuous years in the mid- and late 1980s for the Huntington Park force, which serves 56,000 residents in a middle-class town that is 90% Latino.

A 1986 Times investigation showed the department’s officers were accused of brutality more frequently than officers of any other municipal police force in the Southeast Los Angeles County area.

In a high-profile case in 1987, two officers were convicted of torturing a Latino teen-ager with an electric stun gun. The police chief at the time, Geano Contessotto, was fired.

Tavelman said Wednesday he believes the majority of his colleagues are “good officers” and he intends to go back to work next week, although he is apprehensive about the reaction from fellow officers. He said he has spoken to many officers who covertly expressed their support.

“But no one has come outright to be openly supportive or (say), ‘Let’s stand together against this,’ ” Tavelman said. “They know what is going on, but they are afraid for their own careers. They know because it’s not just anti-Semitism, it’s widespread.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, cultural sensitivity training for officers and a promotion for Tavelman to sergeant.

“My thrust in this is to create a workforce that is free of discrimination,” he said, describing himself as an “outspoken” officer on issues dealing with racial and religious bigotry, a stance that may have irked some officers.

According to the suit, the burglary detective has been subjected to numerous derogatory remarks from various officers, “including comments about Jews and Nazis being the same; the supposed stinginess of Jews . . . about Jews eating funny food or Kosher food.”

At his attorney’s office Wednesday, Taveleman showed several newspaper articles about Jewish traditions that had been defaced with offensive comments and stuck in his mailbox. Tavelman showed a cartoon poster--which had been hung in the officer’s roll call room--in which his name and a Star of David were scrawled on the large noses of a character.

The suit states that in December, 1988, an unnamed officer, when speaking to Tavelman and a black officer “referred to a Cadillac as a Jew Canoe and a Nigger mobile.” In a March, 1989, incident, Beason, while eating, “picked up a piece of ham, made a hissing sound, put the ham in Tavelman’s face and said it was not Kosher.”

Tavelman filed a formal grievance in June, 1989, on these and other incidents, including remarks by Beason. The suits states that former chief Connolly told Tavelman that Beason “had been disciplined in a manner deemed appropriate” and similar conduct in the department would not be tolerated.

But the anonymously placed articles and comments continued, the suit alleges.