Report: LA Paid Millions in LAPD Workplace Suits
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles paid out more than $18 million over five years to city police officers who filed lawsuits complaining of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, denied promotions and other workplace transgressions, according to a review of court records.
The Los Angeles Times reports Sunday that at least 17 officers have won jury verdicts or settlements totaling at least a million dollars, and dozens more received payments of five or six figures. In September, a former officer who alleged discrimination was awarded $4 million.
From 2005 to 2010, officers sued the Los Angeles Police Department over workplace issues more than 250 times. In 45 of those cases, the city paid settlements totaling more than $18 million and lost several other cases that are being appealed. The rest, representing tens of millions of dollars in potential liability, remain open.
"These cases irk the heck out of me," city councilman Greig Smith told the Times, adding the city's job-protection rules make it too difficult to fire officers who cause workplace problems.
"Somebody running a private company would never let this ...stand. Why do we let it happen here? And we see the same things happening over and over again."
A survey of large police departments across the country showed that LAPD officers file lawsuits more often than their counterparts in in other cities. Los Angeles police brought an average of about three times more lawsuits a year, per officer, than officers in Chicago or in the Los Angeles County sheriff's department, according to records obtained by the Times. There were about a
third fewer lawsuits from officers in Boston.
Greig and other officials, including the LAPD's independent watchdog, say the department should be doing more to deter workplace conflict and avoid the expensive litigation, especially in light of the city's worsening financial problems.
Patricia Fuller, one of the only women serving as a dog handler in the LAPD's canine unit, sued after accusing male colleagues of making vulgar sexual advances and comments, while also excluding her from training exercises. In 2009, city officials paid Fuller $2.25 million to settle her claims.
Then another canine officer, Donald Bender, filed a lawsuit alleging that he had been stripped of a rank and expelled from the unit as retaliation for defending Fuller.
He was followed by Blaine Blackstone, a sergeant who supervised Fuller. He claimed in court that he had been the target of retaliation by superiors after he refused their demands that he placate Fuller by changing her performance evaluation, according to the Times.
The city refused to settle with Bender and Blackstone, who both won their cases. Bender received $2.5 million, and Blackstone was awarded nearly $750,000 in damages, court records show.
Officials at the Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, say high-profile verdicts for officers underscore an unwillingness or inability of senior LAPD officials to deal with problems in the workplace -- a charge that department leaders deny.
"I've got a news flash for the 'leaders' who are tasked with ensuring the Department treats its people fairly. Look in the mirror to find out where the problems are," Sgt. John Mumma, the union's secretary, wrote recently in letter published in the union's magazine. "How many more officers are going to become millionaires over the botched handling of their cases?"
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