A female Los Angeles police officer is suing the city, alleging she was told by a male supervisor to dress more provocatively when presenting cases to the District Attorney’s Office and also to have the “moral courage to lie.”
Officer Laura Jackman alleges she was denied promotions and subjected to other punishment when she complained about her treatment. She filed her lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging harassment, retaliation and discrimination based on her gender.
An LAPD spokesman declined to comment on the case.
According to the complaint, Jackman joined the LAPD in 1998 and has been praised internally within the department and by private citizens for her work.
However, in 2012 she began being subjected to “numerous acts of gender- based and sexual-based harassment,” the suit states.
While working in a gang task force at the Olympic Division, a male supervisor told her she reminded him of his ex-wife — of whom he always spoke negatively — that she was the “girlfriend of the unit” and that she needed to dress in a more feminine way when presenting cases and/or search warrants.
“One one occasion (Jackman) was told to dress provocatively because the (prosecutor) that was going to file the case was known as a womanizer and it would help ensure the case was filed,” according to the lawsuit.
The supervisor also assigned Jackman menial tasks and administrative work, explaining that she “needed special treatment because you are a mother,” the suit states.
When Jackman challenged the supervisor’s actions, he told her if she did not like what he was telling her “she could just leave,” the suit states.
Jackman’s boss also told her “on various occasions that she needed the moral courage to lie,” the suit states, without indicating about what Jackman was supposed to lie.
Jackman also alleges the supervisor reduced her overtime hours from 22 to nine without justification after she worked on a joint task force with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Jackman became the only female in her unit at the Olympic Division in August 2012 after the only other woman left, the suit states.
On another occasion, the supervisor told Jackman to take a search warrant to another judge after the first bench officer rejected it, the suit states. When Jackman said she was uneasy about doing such a thing without revising the warrant first, her boss allegedly said, “Don’t worry little girl, we won’t make you do anything that you are uncomfortable with.”
Although Jackman was transferred to the Wilshire Division in January 2013, she continued to be harassed, this time by female captains who denied her assignments and promotions to which she was entitled, according to the lawsuit.
She was transferred to the Rampart Division in May 2013, but earlier this year was demoted from the violent crime impact team and assigned to patrol duty, the suit states.
“Plaintiff’s career has been materially and adversely affected and irreparably harmed and damaged by the conduct of the defendants,” the suit states.
— City News Service