Sexual Harassment Found at West L.A. Police Station

Two veteran officers have been transferred and others may also be disciplined as a result of a sweeping investigation of sexual harassment inside the LAPD’s West Los Angeles station, which has a long-held but hotly disputed reputation for hostility toward women.

The internal inquiry, under way for four months and all but completed after interviews of more than 100 officers, has concluded that some male officers harassed female counterparts, while others covered for male officers or failed to take action to stem the problem, department sources said Thursday.

Administrative charges are being contemplated against the two officers who were transferred and perhaps against an unspecified number of others, sources said.

The investigation also has prompted LAPD leaders to review department training in order to determine whether additional measures are needed to supplement sexual harassment guidelines.

According to sources familiar with the inquiry, investigators concluded that some male officers from West Los Angeles derided the abilities of women, publicly complained that women officers were given preferential treatment and, in at least one instance, failed to come to the aid of a woman who was fighting off a suspect in the back of a police car. Investigators also found that supervisors either failed to detect sexism or that they tolerated it, creating an environment that made working at the station uncomfortable for some female officers.

Although the department has yet to release any official findings from the inquiry, City Councilman Marvin Braude and members of the Los Angeles Police Commission have been briefed about it privately. The commission briefing took place Tuesday, and sources said some members were slack-jawed with amazement at the breadth of the alleged problem.

On Thursday, several commissioners declined comment, saying the inquiry was continuing.

Commission President Gary Greenebaum said he could not comment on the status of the investigation. But he stressed that the inquiry was initiated by the department, and he credited LAPD officials with moving aggressively to root out sexual harassment.

Commissioners at first “were disconcerted,” Greenebaum said. “And we were also, at the same time, heartened by the fact that the department moved as quickly and as well as it did.”

Cmdr. David J. Gascon, a department spokesman, would not discuss the specific allegations but confirmed that there was an “inquiry into the work environmental conditions in one of our areas.”

Gascon added that the inquiry was “substantially complete and has led to some immediate management actions.”

The allegations of sexual harassment at the West Los Angeles station are far from the LAPD’s first brush with the issue. When the Christopher Commission reviewed the department in 1991, it found a “strongly felt gender bias” and widespread discrimination against female officers. Also, the commission uncovered a number of computer messages, some laced with profanities, that it labeled “blatantly sexist.”

Although the current investigation reportedly touches a number of areas, a Police Department source said “the focus primarily is on West L.A.”

The station’s reputation dates back more than a decade. In the early 1980s, a group of male officers there formed an informal group to protest what they considered the unfair promotions of female officers. They jokingly dubbed that group M.A.W., short for “Men Against Women.”

Since those days, rumors of sexism and racism have continued to dog the West Los Angeles station despite vehement denials by many officers who work there.

As a result of the current inquiry--formally known as an “audit”--two officers, Stephen M. McNicholas and Jay A. Varga, have been transferred and removed from the list of officers eligible for promotions, officials said. More action is expected soon, the sources added.

Braude, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he had been briefed about the progress of the investigation, but he declined to provide details. “It’s a personnel matter,” Braude said. “The charges are serious, and it’s inappropriate for me to comment.”

The audit has stirred deep anxiety within the West Los Angeles police station, where officers have been pulled aside and interviewed one at a time since fall.

“They’ve questioned at least half of the personnel at West L.A.,” said Gary Fullerton, a director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League who has represented officers involved in the inquiry. “The way they’re doing this is just incredible.”

According to Fullerton, three detectives and a lieutenant were assigned to conduct the investigation, which he and other critics derided as a “witch hunt.”

Department officials say the audit, which was not sparked by any specific complaint, was not intended to investigate individual officers, but rather was focused on how to improve working conditions for all police officers. Nevertheless, a team of investigators has been brought in to review the findings and to determine whether disciplinary action is warranted.

With the exception of the sexual harassment allegations, Varga, 44, and McNicholas, 33, are said to be outstanding officers with sterling personnel records. Varga, who has been with the department for nearly 20 years, is a “senior lead officer,” a supervisorial position that generally is given only to officers who have won high marks for their service. McNicholas, also a respected officer, recently marked his 10th anniversary with the department.

Last year, the department tried to transfer the two officers but was blocked after they objected in court. Gregory G. Petersen, an Orange County attorney who specializes in representing police officers, said the current investigation was an effort to punish his clients for arguing with the department brass.

“This is bogus,” Petersen said, who ii. “I know one thing: LAPD is not telling the truth about what it’s doing to its officers.”

The audit report is said to run several hundred pages and to detail a number of alleged instances of sexual harassment. The allegations range from the merely rude--one male officer was said to have worked an entire shift with barely a word to his female partner--to the potentially dangerous: Investigators maintained that McNicholas failed to come promptly to the aid of a female officer when a suspect overwhelmed her in the back seat of a police car.

McNicholas and other officers have denied those allegations, Fullerton said.

Most disturbing to some observers is the allegation that supervisors failed to detect, or tolerated, such behavior, in the process creating a working environment that made some female officers uncomfortable. Police officials stressed that officers who willingly allowed misconduct to take place could face discipline.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams has been monitoring the inquiry and will review any proposed changes in training, Gascon said. “The chief of police is committed to having a professional work environment where all employees--male and female, sworn and civilian--are treated properly, with respect and dignity, and are able to perform at an optimum level,” Gascon said.