Hispanic Police claim bias in suit against Denver Police Department

Friday, July 18, 2008

From The Rocky Mountain News, July 16
DENVER, CO – Sixteen current or former officers, all of them Latino, are filing a class-action lawsuit alleging longtime discrimination patterns against the Denver Police Department.
The lawsuit, announced today at a news conference by the National Latino Peace Officers Association, claims minorities have not been promoted like whites, have been pushed out of the training academy and have been forced into a hostile work environment. Those who complain have had a fake bomb placed in their desk, been called traitors and have found themselves getting slower backup, it states.
Sgt. Leonard Mares played the audio of a training tape from 1979 in which an officer yelled a series of racist, sexist and homophobic statements at recruits. Some of those who were trained then are now in leadership at the force, and the pattern of discrimination has become systemic, Mares said.
“When does the training stop for non-white officers? Ten years? Twenty years? Thirty years?” Mares said. “These hurtful behaviors have always been accepted by many in the Denver Police Department.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages for unpaid income, retroactive pay and unpaid severance, among other things. It also demands that the department eradicate its “unlawful employment practices” and reinstate the plaintiffs to jobs they would have held if not for the discrimination.