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| NEWS > 31 October 2007 |
Other related articles:
Officers suspended by ethics c
Two white officers have been suspended by the Quebec Police Ethics Committee for making inappropriate comments to black people in Dollard des Ormeaux.
The ethics committee decided last Thursday to suspend officers Isabelle Nault (for three days without pay) and Roger Charbonneau (for one day without pay), for making inappropriate and inconvenient remarks in Dollard on Nov. 11, 2004. Police were responding to a 911 call by a neighbour who mistakenly thought two men, in their 50s and 60s, were burglars. It turned out the men are friends of the homeowner, Gemma Raeburn, and were helpin... Read more
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Aspen Times - Aspen,CO,USA
31 October 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Aspen Police Department, CO
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Lawsuit: City ignored miscondu
A former Aspen police officer has filed court documents alleging that the city manager ignored her claims of sexual harassment in the department and did nothing to correct it.
That’s the latest allegation from Melinda Calvano, who was fired in July 2006 for violating the police department’s use-of-force policy after she used a Taser on a homeless woman who Calvano said acted aggressively toward her.
Calvano in August filed a lawsuit against Aspen and City Manager Steve Barwick claiming wrongful termination. She amended her complaint on Oct. 17, which includes claims of gender bias, a hostile work environment and sexual harassment while she was with the police department.
The amended complaint came two weeks after Aspen’s risk-management agency placed Aspen Police Chief Loren Ryerson on administrative leave amid allegations of sexual harassment from police department ex-employees. This week marks nearly a month that Ryerson has been on administrative leave with pay.
When Calvano filed a complaint with the city’s human resources department in early 2006 alleging gender bias and sexual harassment, human resources director Rebecca Doane recommended to Barwick a list of actions for the APD to implement to prevent further complaints.
“Defendant Barwick ignored these recommendations and in his capacity as the final policy maker for the city of Aspen on employment matters, took steps to insure that few, if any of the human resources director’s recommendations were implemented,” the complaint reads.
The Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency (CIRSA) — the city of Aspen’s insurance and risk-management carrier — is heading the investigation of Ryerson, which could be complete this week, Barwick said, adding that he will make an announcement regarding Ryerson’s employment once CIRSA delivers its findings.
Barwick declined to comment on Calvano’s amended complaint because it’s pending litigation.
There have been claims of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment in the police department for years. But it wasn’t until recently that those claims prompted city officials to investigate the allegations.
The impetus for the probe apparently was borne out of a common theme in exit interviews from former police department employees, who were critical of Ryerson’s style and claimed sexual harassment.
Calvano didn’t have an exit interview because she was fired. But she had plenty to say in the recently filed amendment about her experiences in the APD and what happened after she filed a complaint with the city’s human resources department.
“This complaint was referred to the Rocky Mountain Employer’s Council for investigation by the director of human resources,” the complaint reads. “Plaintiff’s complaints … [were that] that she was subjected to sexual harassment by male Aspen police officers who repeatedly gossiped about her personal life, subjected her to unwanted and inappropriate scrutiny regarding her personal off-duty activities, made inappropriate comments about her clothing and her body and made up and circulated stories about an alleged relationship with a supervisor at the agency ....
“Plaintiff first raised these concerns with the offending employees and thereafter with her chain of command of the Aspen Police Department,” the complaint reads. “Rather than correcting these behaviors, plaintiff’s co-workers became vindictive toward her and in retaliation of her complaints began subjecting her to further harassment and an increasingly hostile working environment.”
That’s when Calvano took her complaints to the human resources department, which has the authority to investigate and act upon her complaints. As a result, Barwick received 11 recommendations to implement within the police department.
Calvano claims that those policy recommendations were never implemented, based on her experience as an employee, as well as testimony from city officials in a name-clearing hearing in January, said Marc Colin, Calvano’s Denver-based attorney.
“Human resources conducts these investigations for a reason and makes recommendations to bring agencies in compliance with state and federal laws,” Colin said Monday. “One has to question why the city manager would disregard the recommendations by the human resources director.”
Colin said the timing of the amendment is coincidental to the CIRSA investigation. By statute, the amendment had to be filed within 90 days of Calvano’s filing a charge of discrimination, which the Colorado Civil Rights Division received July 19.
The complaint alleges that Calvano’s experiences show a pattern of city management ignoring an ongoing problem.
“Defendants have engaged in a repeated practice and custom of subjecting female employees, including the plaintiff, to disparate treatment due to their gender, sexually harassing female employees and acquiescing in such behaviors by supervisory employees despite being placed on formal notice …” the complaint reads. “Thus, defendants have adopted a custom, practice and defacto policy of ignoring the sexual harassment of female employees by their male co-workers and supervisors and by retaliating against female employees … who initiate complaints …”
Ryerson issued a public statement two weeks ago denying any wrongdoing, and said the allegations are “malicious hearsay and cruel gossip.”
Contacted at his home Monday, Ryerson declined to comment except to say, “I want to be back at work, but I would really rather not talk about anything else.”
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