Officer Suspended for Insubordination

A veteran Los Angeles police officer who complained about a “No Fat Cops” poster in her West Valley Division office has been suspended for 45 days by a police Board of Rights.

The board on Friday ordered the suspension for Officer Johnneen Jones and recommended that she be transferred to another division, Jones said. The officer said she expects to receive her new assignment in about three weeks.

In a 2-1 vote last month, the board found that Jones was insubordinate more than a year ago when she didn’t follow a detective’s orders to promptly leave a captain’s office where the poster was hung.

Despite the board’s action, Jones may be back at work soon, she said Saturday, because she has been suspended without pay since June--longer than the 45 days ordered.

Meanwhile, Jones said she plans to appeal the board’s findings in an effort to have the disciplinary action removed from her personnel record.

She also is part of a class-action suit by more than 40 current and former Los Angeles police officers alleging that LAPD officials support the department’s so-called “code of silence” by retaliating against those who report misconduct.

LAPD officials were unavailable for comment Saturday.

Jones said the insubordination charge stems from a June 1999 incident when she went into a captain’s office to take a picture of the poster, which she considered offensive. She said she complained about it to a sergeant in another division, who asked her for a picture of it.

Jones said she objected to the poster because she believes it represents discrimination against overweight people. The framed poster depicts an overweight man, wearing only a towel around his waist, breaking a scale. At 5 feet 6 and 180 pounds, Jones considers herself overweight.

Despite the apparent end of the case, the 12-year LAPD veteran said she is not optimistic about her future with the department. And she still believes she is a victim of retaliation.

“I know they won’t promote me now,” said Jones, who wants to become a detective.

“I really expected to be worrying about suspects on the street, more than about having the administration looking at me unfavorably because I reported one of their own,” she added.

The past year has exacted a mental and physical toll on her, said Jones, a 38-year-old single mother of four. Not receiving a salary for more than two months forced her to rely on help from relatives to pay bills, she said.

“I’ve always loved this job,” Jones said. “[But] I fear the command staff of this department now. I fear what they can do to me. I’ve got to work.”