Hearings Set on LAPD Sex Harassment : Police: Councilwoman Goldberg says she has heard complaints from many officers. She will launch a public inquiry into allegations March 16.

Alarmed by reports of extensive and entrenched sexual harassment in the Los Angeles Police Department, City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said Thursday that she will launch public hearings later this month to assess the scope of a problem that LAPD officials acknowledge is serious.

“I am holding these hearings because anecdotally, the number of women officers and male officers who have called this office, who have complained, is sufficient for me to be absolutely convinced there is a problem,” said Goldberg, who heads the council’s Personnel Committee. “That and the fact that the leadership of the department doesn’t deny that a problem exists.”

Goldberg’s comments came a day after The Times--citing court records, internal police documents and interviews with police officers and others--reported that sexual harassment has until recently received little attention from department management. Among other things, The Times reported that in the last five years, there have been at least eight cases of female LAPD employees alleging sexual assaults by co-workers. The Times also reported that the LAPD only began last year to compile records of sexual harassment cases, logging 43 complaints, five of them for alleged assaults.

Goldberg said she expects to begin the hearings March 16, adding that she believes Police Chief Willie L. Williams and leaders of the Los Angeles Police Protective League will testify. She also expects current and former officers to describe alleged incidents of harassment.

Goldberg and her staff already have conducted a number of preliminary interviews. During those sessions, Goldberg said, she had been told “that there is an extensive and entrenched problem with sexual harassment, that large numbers of women officers believe it is not useful to complain because the people they complain to are buddies of the people they complain about, that an environment hostile to women is tolerated in the department (and) that Internal Affairs investigations frequently are simply a whitewash.”

“These are the things we are being told,” Goldberg said. “Can I tell you I know this all to be true? No. That is why we are having the hearings.”

Despite widespread complaints of a department culture that has tolerated harassment, a number of officers--men and women alike--say that it is partly due to a collision of old ways and changing cultural expectations. One management expert said some friction could be expected when women assume larger roles in a once-predominantly male institution such as the LAPD.

Of the department’s 7,600 officers, about 1,200 are women.

“PrimeTime Live,” an ABC News program, aired interviews Thursday night with two of the female LAPD officers who allege that they were raped by male officers. “I tried to do everything I could,” one of the female officers said on the program. “But he was much bigger and stronger than me. . . . Never did I think another officer would hurt me, but he did.”

Meanwhile, two members of the Los Angeles Police Commission said they would support Williams’ call for a special unit to investigate harassment and discrimination complaints.

“I’d like to see it up and running yesterday,” said Gary Greenebaum, president of the five-member civilian commission, adding that he believed the proposal would be approved by the entire commission. “I’ve learned that everything in a department such as this takes time . . . but I would hope that within a few months we could have this in place.”

In an interview Wednesday, Williams said he would recommend that the unit be given the authority to investigate complaints of harassment, discrimination or bias. It would conduct its inquiries separately from the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division, which has traditionally handled such complaints.

“I’m extremely supportive of the concept,” said Art Mattox, another member of the commission. “I certainly think that it would be a very positive way to send a message that no harassment based on gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation will be tolerated in this department.”

Based on research and interviews conducted by the councilwoman and her staff, Goldberg said she does not believe the 43 LAPD cases--or the six settlements of sexual harassment lawsuits reported by the city attorney in the last several years--reflect what is occurring in the department.

“I am telling you that the number of cases does not represent the depth of the problem,” Goldberg said. “First of all there are many cases in the wings waiting to be filed. We know that from law firms contacting this office.”

Further, Goldberg said, interviews suggest that officers, male and female, are discouraged from filing complaints of harassment. “So I would say they (the 43 cases) represent a much larger number of (incidents) . . . because these are women who know what happens to women who complain and are still willing to complain.”

By comparison, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which has about 20% more employees than the LAPD, reported 32 complaints of sexual harassment last year. Sheriff’s officials said none of the cases involved rape or sexual assault.

Commending the LAPD for its recent audit of the West Los Angeles station, Goldberg on Tuesday urged the council to authorize similar sexual harassment audits of every city department. That proposal will come before the council Tuesday. And regardless of its fate, Goldberg said, she will hold hearings on sexual harassment within the LAPD.

“We want to make clear to everybody that sexual harassment is not acceptable in the LAPD,” she said.