Class-Action Suit Alleges Gender Bias in LAPD

Women in the Los Angeles Police Department are subject to pervasive harassment and discrimination, a dozen Police Department employees claimed in a federal class-action suit filed Wednesday.

Described by attorneys as the most ambitious gender-based lawsuit ever filed against a police department, the 47-page complaint alleges that women are unfairly treated throughout the department from the moment they are recruited until the day they leave.

Filed on behalf of 11 women and one man--all but one of whom still work for the department--the suit seeks widespread changes in department practices, including hiring, promotions and the manner in which sexual harassment and discrimination complaints are handled. It also seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

“Fourteen years ago, my career started with the Academy staff telling me to go back to teaching and be a good little girl,” the lead plaintiff, Detective Terry Tipton-Whittingham, said at a news conference.

“Over the last 14 years,” she continued, “I’ve suffered racial remarks, sexist comments, seen sexist posters on the walls. I’ve been a victim of pranks. I’ve had my butt grabbed by a fellow officer while other officers . . . watched and laughed. I’ve had false complaints filed against me. . . . It is clear to me that because I’m black and especially because I’m female, I will never be treated fairly (in) this department.”

An LAPD spokesman said the department would have no comment on the suit, filed by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the law firm Litt & Marquez.

But City Atty. James K. Hahn complained that it was part of an ACLU effort to run the Police Department by court order.

“I think the city is already making significant progress,” Hahn said. “I don’t think this lawsuit was necessary.”

Just one day before the suit was filed, Police Chief Willie L. Williams announced a number of proposed reforms, including the creation of a specialized unit to investigate harassment and discrimination complaints of all kinds, whether involving ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. He said he wants officers to receive harassment training and has ordered that every departing employee be questioned about bias and harassment problems.

The staffing of the West Los Angeles police station--which has a longstanding reputation for hostility to women--is also being reshuffled in the wake of a department review of the working conditions there.

The actions follow growing publicity about the filing of a number of individual lawsuits by female police officers who allege discrimination, harassment and even sexual assaults by fellow officers.

Although saying that they believe Williams is sincere in his efforts to reform the department, the plaintiffs’ attorneys contended that nothing short of a federal court order will rid the force of hostile and discriminatory practices against women, whether they are patrol officers or stenographers.

“Harassment in this department is ongoing,” ACLU attorney Carol Sobel said. “Whatever the chief thinks is being done, the word is not getting out beyond his office.”

Women’s advocates urged city officials to settle the suit quickly by agreeing to specific reforms rather than engaging in a long court battle.

“Not a single taxpayer dollar should be spent defending this,” said Katherine Spillar, national coordinator of the Feminist Majority. “Instead the city should view this as an opportunity to reach a workable agreement on how they’re going to get women closer to 50% (of the) force and put in place the process to eliminate discrimination.”

Hahn said any settlement would have to be at the direction of the City Council, but that if it were up to him, he would go to trial. “I feel this is just full of outrageous claims they can’t support,” he said.

For their part, the plaintiffs at the news conference tearfully described a working atmosphere in which they said they were belittled, sexually harassed and retaliated against if they dared complain.

Teresa Gonzalez, a clerk-typist, said she was repeatedly touched in a sexual manner by someone who has since been promoted to sergeant.

Stenographer Eleanor Santos said male employees frequently made suggestive comments and one pinched her breasts so hard they “turned blue. Management does not take care of the problem,” she said. “You are left alone by yourself and treated like a troublemaker.”

Sgt. Joseph M. Peyton, a plaintiff who has long worked in human resources, complained of “the swaggering arrogance” of some officers and Internal Affairs investigators, who he said violate the rights of female officers and attempt to discredit them.