Second in a series
Re “Will Today’s Probe Turn Out the Same Way the Last One Did in 1997?”
One of the two women in the Culver City Police Dept. who filed complaints that sparked the current sexual discrimination investigation was hired by retired Chief Ted Cooke and became a favored person in the department, according to a woman who has known her since her first day.
“She knows a lot of information from the old days,” said her friend. “But the leadership of the department has passed through many generations since Chief Cooke retired. Despite what you may have heard, these are not the good old days. She knows so much of what went on in those years when everything here was not quite the same as it night have seemed on the outside.
“With Chief Cooke and Chief (John) Montanio both long gone, though, her day-to-day life changed a great deal. Ergo, her complaints.”
A sympathetic upper rank officer said that several well-known Police Dept. personalities are alleged to be targets of her filing. In explaining the forms that harassment takes, he said it often surfaces in safety settings where veteran cops perceived to be “talkative chauvinists” have an opportunity to flap their manly muscles.
“They will purposely maneuver women into dangerous situations. They will risk their safety to prove that they are incapable and inferior to men. Like schoolyard bullies, they will deliberately do something provocative to cause a suspect to react physically. Then they will stand back and watch to see how they handle it.
“If the woman’s reaction isn’t up to standards, then they are written up for not being able to satisfactorily handle a suspect.”
These assertions were buttressed by retired Lt. Greg Smith.
“Harassment is an old story in the Police Dept.,” he said. “One reason it may have lasted so long is that it consistently is more subtle than overt.
“Here is an example of something that applies to female officers and female civilian employees. They give them duties and have them do things that normally wouldn’t be asked of men.”
(To be continued)
