12 Deputies Sue Department, Cite Sexual, Racial Discrimination

A dozen present and former deputies have filed suit against the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department over sexual and racial discrimination complaints originally lodged five years ago.

Three women and nine men, all black, contend they were subjected to an “ongoing pattern” of sexual and racial harassment at the Sheriff’s Department between 1982 and 1991. The charges include jokes, pranks, and discriminatory hiring and promotion practices.

A lawyer for the Sheriff’s Department said the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles, follows extensive efforts to improve policies and discipline employees involved in scattered racial incidents that came to light with the original accusations in 1991.

“The department feels it has done everything that it can be reasonably expected to do,” lawyer David Epstein said. “Once the department acted on the information it was given as far as these claimants are concerned, the incidents stopped.”

The Sheriff’s Department has also released the conclusions of a previously unpublished, independent report written in 1992 that said black deputies were not discriminated against and even fared better than their white counterparts in promotions and other areas.

Attorneys representing the 12 plaintiffs, nine of whom still work for the department, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The case began in 1991 when 13 deputies made the sexual and racial discrimination complaints to state and federal authorities.

A county investigation confirmed isolated acts of offensive conduct, but also showed other complaints to be unfounded, Epstein said. Some employees were disciplined, he said, and the department instituted sensitivity training for all workers, and stricter rules for identifying and dealing with harassment.

Protracted negotiations to avoid a lawsuit broke down after the plaintiffs demanded compensation, including between $300,000 and $400,000 for attorneys’ fees, Epstein said.

“The sheriff has always been firm he is not willing to pay large sums of money into the pockets of the individual claimants,” he said. “I’m not aware there’s any instance in which any of these claimants has lost any work or pay in connection with any of the incidents they talk about.”

A U. S. District Court jury in 1993 rejected a lawsuit filed by the 13th original complainant, Deputy Greg Jones. Jones maintained that racial harassment by two white deputies caused him to quit the department, but jurors disagreed. The judge ordered Jones to pay the county’s court costs.

Epstein said the department has resisted paying damages to any complainants because of the 1992 study that found no basis for reports of rampant discrimination.

A private consultant recommended by attorneys representing the plaintiffs issued the 60-page report after examining the department’s treatment of minorities, he said.

The report cost $100,000 and took six months to prepare. It found no evidence of systematic discrimination or managerial support for racially hostile speech, Epstein said. In fact, the report said black deputies were more likely to be promoted and receive special assignments than white officers, he said.

The report was kept confidential as part of an agreement with the complainants, he said.

Correspondent Scott Hadly contributed to this story.