ColoradoProblem
Junior Member
Colorado Municipal police department. Seven years, several as a supervisor.
A female in training. I stopped to eat with her and her FTO (Field Training Officer). Said Chief (my direct supervisor) asked her if officers were "looking at my boobs". She said Chief looked right at her chest while he said it. She said it made her uncomfortable and she didn't know what to think.
Chief her only supervisor.
No department sexual harassment training.
If I said nothing, she could say she complained to a supervisor and it was ignored. If I talked to her, I would be disobeying a direct order from my Chief.
After shift her FTO called saying she was talking to a lawyer said she was a "protected class" and department need to be sued.
I documented everything in a letter, not saying the female had made a complaint, but reporting what she said and that I was unsure if she was making a complaint.
Policy gives complaint to both Manager & Chief.
The Chief caught me first and demanded to know what was going on. He saw the letter and was going to investigate himself until I objected.
He ordered me to investigate the female in an inappropriate way.
He told me not to talk to the Manager, and we would "take care of this ourselves".
I ended up talking to the Manager, but didn't have the letter with me. Her FTO also sent him a brief email detailing some of what had been said.
Manager talked to me about 5 minutes, and declined offer to get the letter. He said he would see if chief came to him and get the letter form him. He ordered me not to interview the female and said he would talk to Chief the following day.
Chief berated me for not doing the interview that night. Went on several days before I told him Manager's orders.
The Manager never spoke to him, leaving me the face Chief wrath for inaction.
For days this went on and Chief said I was up to something.
Chief told officers not to talk to me or call me. He physically threatens some over it. Manager never acknowledged their complaint.
The female got an unheard of mid-year pay raise from Chief with Manager's approval.
Chief developed a new schedule just for me to work graveyard, according to the memo so I wouldn't see him anymore. This effected my family. He later told me this was because he was upset over the complaint.
Eleven days later, ready to quit and started a letter of resignation. No sleep and totally isolated. Manager was GOA since our only brief talk.
The next day Chief was let go, and Manager told staff there was a problem in the department. He appeared hostile to myself the reporting FTO. He said the female had denied everything.
Later my letter started showing up in public places within the department.
Anonymous letters and notes started arriving saying pushing me to quit and supposedly quoting Manager and his lack of faith in me.
Employees from other town departments were told I was a back stabber by PD staff. Other police agencies began hearing the same things.
Chief admitted what she told me he said but said it was out of context. I had that in writing (email) and recording but no one ever talked to me.
The HR person who investigated never talked to either myself or the FTO. To this day, still no one has.
November/December brought an intrim Chief. I reported what had happened and was told to keep copies of the anonymous hate mail but never looked at them. Months later someone took most of them from my office.
Lots of rumors spread to other agencies I had hoped to work at.
End of December and the Interim Chief said to report to a hotel for interview. Told it was about my complaint and nothing more. I asked what the allegations were and he said he didn't know or couldn’t tell me.
Department policies on Investigations, interviews, employees rights none followed. I objected and was told the Intrim Chief had disbanded all department the policies. Policies were set in ordinance by government.
The Manager later proposed a new ordinance allowing the new Chief to make his own policies. The established policies already adopted by ordinance of the Town Board were never addressed. I believe they are still in effect but not being followed.
A new Chief started this April. He said I must admit I made mistakes in handling her comments and writing the letter in order to move forward. I asked him what I should do different, and he said I should figure it out.
I said I really didn't know and wanted his advice. He told me not to question him or I would be fired on the spot. He eventually said he wasn't allowed to see my letter and didn’t know it's contents. He said he was going off Manager's statements. My FTO got the same treatment.
Things were better, and then a few months ago an anonymous complaint was received about the female investigator. It had information she was doing private investigations on the side and possible conflicts. Chief announced the letter on multiple occasions to everyone on the department. He said it was directly tied to the initial letter I wrote to document to the comments by the female.
He also said it was tied to two people having affairs and an unknown cold case issue. Everyone in the department knew I wrote the initial letter documenting what I had been told, despite the requirements to keep it a confidential personnel issue.
Each time Chief said they two were linked together, he was basically saying I was involved. He even told me several people were sure it was from me because of the similarity to my letter. He told me he saw the similarities himself and I would myself when he interrogated me.
I was treated differently, and each meeting Chief repeated the letters were tried together like a hard and fast fact. The first letter everyone knew was from me, and he said they were tied together as fact. He told all staff the were both similar in writing and both misleading but he had never seen my letter.
I have been about to quit numerous times. I now have physical issues as well.
I talked to Chief explaining the stress caused by him linking me to what he was describing as a terrible deceptive misleading document. I explained everyone knew I had reported what I was told by the female in the first letter, and he was linking the new allegations directly to me.
He told me he never used my name, but admitted everyone knew who wrote the letter, and which one he was talking about. I said I believed this was continuing harassment and retaliation for my reporting a possible sexual harassment complaint in the first place. He said to be careful talking about retaliation because I didn't want to go down that path.
After that meeting, he continued to make the link in front of staff. I asked to have another meeting, and made the same statement. I told him I didn't want to make a complaint, but needed him to quit linking my reporting of possible sexual harassment to something the rest of the staff has been told to hate.
He told me there were links between the letters and I would find out about them soon enough. He initially told me to use my discretion on a retaliation complaint, but he advised against it. When I continued to say I would consider it unless something changed, he became more upset telling me even Walmart wouldn’t hire me if I made a complaint.
Each time he said I was fixated on the letter from the past, I pointed out I was just asking him to stop what was going on now. He started becoming upset himself and said I was out of control and sent me home. I recorded the exchange and I was not out of control. He was more upset than I was.
I went back again the next day (tonight) and he interviewed me about the anonymous letter. He told me he had warned me “not to go down that road" but that I did against his directions anyway.
His whole link that justified vilifying me was that the anonymous letter starts out talking about meeting in a restaurant, and I met the investigator and her FTO in a restaurant. That was it! I was not given Garity as policy states, nor were any of the other procedures relating to internal investigations followed per the adopted ordinance.
After the interview, he said people no longer trusted me. No examples, just take his word for it. He said this went back to my first reporting on the sexual harassment comments. He said my initial reporting was underhanded and misleading and that destroyed “everyone’s” trust in me. I wonder about everyone being effected by a letter they were required to keep confidential.
I don't believe in the lack of trust, but when questioned, he said the conversation is over. If the town says the contents of my letter caused a breach of trust with all employees, it indicates to me they are at fault for the damage due to their breach in allowing it to ever make it to one single person outside of the investigation. I did record Chief telling me the lack of trust effecting me now went back to my misleading and underhandedness when I brought forward the sexual harassment comments.
He became angry when asked, but he eventually admitted he still has never seen or read even portions of my letter. He learned about the restaurant setting from another officer.
He said because no one can trust me due to the sexual harassment reporting I did, I no longer have trust of any officers and can't be a supervisor. He said he doesn’t have anywhere else to put me, and sent me home on paid leave until I call him tomorrow for the next step.
My life is upside down. Four generations of my family lived here, but I'll likely have to move elsewhere for work. My earning potential and job options just tanked because of this retaliation, and I am experiencing health issues caused by this that can keep me out of this field if I go for help.
I have no doubt he plans to fire me.
Much is missing but any thoughts
A female in training. I stopped to eat with her and her FTO (Field Training Officer). Said Chief (my direct supervisor) asked her if officers were "looking at my boobs". She said Chief looked right at her chest while he said it. She said it made her uncomfortable and she didn't know what to think.
Chief her only supervisor.
No department sexual harassment training.
If I said nothing, she could say she complained to a supervisor and it was ignored. If I talked to her, I would be disobeying a direct order from my Chief.
After shift her FTO called saying she was talking to a lawyer said she was a "protected class" and department need to be sued.
I documented everything in a letter, not saying the female had made a complaint, but reporting what she said and that I was unsure if she was making a complaint.
Policy gives complaint to both Manager & Chief.
The Chief caught me first and demanded to know what was going on. He saw the letter and was going to investigate himself until I objected.
He ordered me to investigate the female in an inappropriate way.
He told me not to talk to the Manager, and we would "take care of this ourselves".
I ended up talking to the Manager, but didn't have the letter with me. Her FTO also sent him a brief email detailing some of what had been said.
Manager talked to me about 5 minutes, and declined offer to get the letter. He said he would see if chief came to him and get the letter form him. He ordered me not to interview the female and said he would talk to Chief the following day.
Chief berated me for not doing the interview that night. Went on several days before I told him Manager's orders.
The Manager never spoke to him, leaving me the face Chief wrath for inaction.
For days this went on and Chief said I was up to something.
Chief told officers not to talk to me or call me. He physically threatens some over it. Manager never acknowledged their complaint.
The female got an unheard of mid-year pay raise from Chief with Manager's approval.
Chief developed a new schedule just for me to work graveyard, according to the memo so I wouldn't see him anymore. This effected my family. He later told me this was because he was upset over the complaint.
Eleven days later, ready to quit and started a letter of resignation. No sleep and totally isolated. Manager was GOA since our only brief talk.
The next day Chief was let go, and Manager told staff there was a problem in the department. He appeared hostile to myself the reporting FTO. He said the female had denied everything.
Later my letter started showing up in public places within the department.
Anonymous letters and notes started arriving saying pushing me to quit and supposedly quoting Manager and his lack of faith in me.
Employees from other town departments were told I was a back stabber by PD staff. Other police agencies began hearing the same things.
Chief admitted what she told me he said but said it was out of context. I had that in writing (email) and recording but no one ever talked to me.
The HR person who investigated never talked to either myself or the FTO. To this day, still no one has.
November/December brought an intrim Chief. I reported what had happened and was told to keep copies of the anonymous hate mail but never looked at them. Months later someone took most of them from my office.
Lots of rumors spread to other agencies I had hoped to work at.
End of December and the Interim Chief said to report to a hotel for interview. Told it was about my complaint and nothing more. I asked what the allegations were and he said he didn't know or couldn’t tell me.
Department policies on Investigations, interviews, employees rights none followed. I objected and was told the Intrim Chief had disbanded all department the policies. Policies were set in ordinance by government.
The Manager later proposed a new ordinance allowing the new Chief to make his own policies. The established policies already adopted by ordinance of the Town Board were never addressed. I believe they are still in effect but not being followed.
A new Chief started this April. He said I must admit I made mistakes in handling her comments and writing the letter in order to move forward. I asked him what I should do different, and he said I should figure it out.
I said I really didn't know and wanted his advice. He told me not to question him or I would be fired on the spot. He eventually said he wasn't allowed to see my letter and didn’t know it's contents. He said he was going off Manager's statements. My FTO got the same treatment.
Things were better, and then a few months ago an anonymous complaint was received about the female investigator. It had information she was doing private investigations on the side and possible conflicts. Chief announced the letter on multiple occasions to everyone on the department. He said it was directly tied to the initial letter I wrote to document to the comments by the female.
He also said it was tied to two people having affairs and an unknown cold case issue. Everyone in the department knew I wrote the initial letter documenting what I had been told, despite the requirements to keep it a confidential personnel issue.
Each time Chief said they two were linked together, he was basically saying I was involved. He even told me several people were sure it was from me because of the similarity to my letter. He told me he saw the similarities himself and I would myself when he interrogated me.
I was treated differently, and each meeting Chief repeated the letters were tried together like a hard and fast fact. The first letter everyone knew was from me, and he said they were tied together as fact. He told all staff the were both similar in writing and both misleading but he had never seen my letter.
I have been about to quit numerous times. I now have physical issues as well.
I talked to Chief explaining the stress caused by him linking me to what he was describing as a terrible deceptive misleading document. I explained everyone knew I had reported what I was told by the female in the first letter, and he was linking the new allegations directly to me.
He told me he never used my name, but admitted everyone knew who wrote the letter, and which one he was talking about. I said I believed this was continuing harassment and retaliation for my reporting a possible sexual harassment complaint in the first place. He said to be careful talking about retaliation because I didn't want to go down that path.
After that meeting, he continued to make the link in front of staff. I asked to have another meeting, and made the same statement. I told him I didn't want to make a complaint, but needed him to quit linking my reporting of possible sexual harassment to something the rest of the staff has been told to hate.
He told me there were links between the letters and I would find out about them soon enough. He initially told me to use my discretion on a retaliation complaint, but he advised against it. When I continued to say I would consider it unless something changed, he became more upset telling me even Walmart wouldn’t hire me if I made a complaint.
Each time he said I was fixated on the letter from the past, I pointed out I was just asking him to stop what was going on now. He started becoming upset himself and said I was out of control and sent me home. I recorded the exchange and I was not out of control. He was more upset than I was.
I went back again the next day (tonight) and he interviewed me about the anonymous letter. He told me he had warned me “not to go down that road" but that I did against his directions anyway.
His whole link that justified vilifying me was that the anonymous letter starts out talking about meeting in a restaurant, and I met the investigator and her FTO in a restaurant. That was it! I was not given Garity as policy states, nor were any of the other procedures relating to internal investigations followed per the adopted ordinance.
After the interview, he said people no longer trusted me. No examples, just take his word for it. He said this went back to my first reporting on the sexual harassment comments. He said my initial reporting was underhanded and misleading and that destroyed “everyone’s” trust in me. I wonder about everyone being effected by a letter they were required to keep confidential.
I don't believe in the lack of trust, but when questioned, he said the conversation is over. If the town says the contents of my letter caused a breach of trust with all employees, it indicates to me they are at fault for the damage due to their breach in allowing it to ever make it to one single person outside of the investigation. I did record Chief telling me the lack of trust effecting me now went back to my misleading and underhandedness when I brought forward the sexual harassment comments.
He became angry when asked, but he eventually admitted he still has never seen or read even portions of my letter. He learned about the restaurant setting from another officer.
He said because no one can trust me due to the sexual harassment reporting I did, I no longer have trust of any officers and can't be a supervisor. He said he doesn’t have anywhere else to put me, and sent me home on paid leave until I call him tomorrow for the next step.
My life is upside down. Four generations of my family lived here, but I'll likely have to move elsewhere for work. My earning potential and job options just tanked because of this retaliation, and I am experiencing health issues caused by this that can keep me out of this field if I go for help.
I have no doubt he plans to fire me.
Much is missing but any thoughts
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