An NBC News review of more than 60 lawsuits costing taxpayers more than $40 million found disturbing accounts of sexual misconduct against female cops in big-city departments.
Get more news Live Dec. 9, 2022, 11:00 AM UTCThey came forward with stories of abuse that are varied and vile.
A female police officer in Chicago says a supervisor forced her to perform oral sex on him inside a car. A female officer in Philadelphia says a sergeant grabbed her hand and placed it on the crotch of his pants. And a female officer in New York says one of her superiors hacked into her Snapchat account and showed off her intimate photos to a male commander.
The #MeToo movement sparked a societal reckoning against sexual misconduct, ushering in reforms designed to reduce workplace harassment and prompting the firing of abusive men in a variety of industries.
But many women in law enforcement say the movement has yet to arrive.
Sexual harassment and gender discrimination remain rife in some of the country’s largest police departments, and many of those accused of them don’t face significant punishment, according to an NBC News review of more than 60 lawsuits that were settled or won at trial, interviews with more than 15 female officers and an analysis of internal police documents.
The lawsuits stem from complaints against the sheriff’s office in Los Angeles County and police departments in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago, where taxpayer-funded payouts over the past five years totaled more than $40 million in officer-on-officer abuse cases.
The problems appear to be systemic. Female victims’ lives are often upended after they come forward because of flawed internal reporting systems that result in accusers’ identities getting out and a culture of retaliation, according to officers who sued.
Many officers who are accused of sexual abuse and harassment aren’t fired or even demoted, according to a review of department rosters in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
Some end up getting promoted.
Take, for example, Capt. Salvatore Marchese of the New York Police Department.
In 2013, a female officer filed a lawsuit alleging that Marchese, then a lieutenant, had pressured her to perform oral sex on him — twice — and then punished her when she rebuffed his further advances. The city settled the suit for $100,000, according to previously unreported court documents.
And yet, Marchese was still promoted to captain and placed in charge of a stationhouse in the Bronx, where he was accused of mistreating a second female underling last year.
The officer, Anajess Alvarez, says in a lawsuit that she was pregnant with her second child and struggling with crippling morning sickness when she asked Marchese to move her off the overnight shift.
“You were one of my best cops,” he told her, according to Alvarez. “Who told you to go get pregnant?”
Alvarez, whose lawsuit alleging that Marchese presided over a toxic work environment continues, no longer sees a future for herself in the NYPD. Marchese, meanwhile, still has a senior position in the department: He’s now the commanding officer of a stationhouse in Upper Manhattan.
“You get sued for sexual stuff and you get a whole precinct?” Alvarez said. “How can you be in charge of male and female officers with the record that you have?”
Marchese didn’t respond to requests for comment. In court papers, he denied the allegations.
Of the 87 NYPD officers accused in court papers of abusing female officers, 27 have since moved up in rank, according to an NBC News review.
Nine have stayed at the same rank, and only one was demoted. Forty-nine have left the force, but only one is known to have been fired.
The NYPD didn’t respond to detailed questions about its sexual harassment reporting system, the statuses of the officers or whether those who are no longer with the department were fired.
An NYPD spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “does not tolerate discrimination in any form,” investigates all complaints and “offers several reporting options for NYPD employees, including anonymously.”
“While we have made recent strides, there is still a lot more work ahead,” the spokesperson said.
Of the 20 Los Angeles police officers accused in the court cases, one has since been promoted. Six stayed at the same rank. A total of 13 have left the department, but it’s unclear whether any were fired over the allegations.
A Los Angeles police spokesperson said the agency has a "zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment."
“For decades, the department has had a policy mandating reporting of sexual misconduct to a supervisor,” the spokesperson added.
“This year, the department adopted an even stronger practice to ensure a safe and productive workplace. Supervisors must now also report perceived inequitable conduct to the City Personnel Department’s Office of Workplace Equity — along with a plan to address it.”
Nineteen Philadelphia police officers were named as abusers in closed court cases reviewed by NBC News. Five have since been promoted, and six stayed at the same rank.
Seven are no longer with the department. One officer was demoted because of sexual harassment allegations in a lawsuit.
A Philadelphia police spokesman, Sgt. Eric Gripp, said that the department has made strides in hiring more women but that union contracts have blocked efforts by its first female commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, to fire or discipline problem officers.
“Despite Commissioner Outlaw’s dogged efforts to advance a more equitable and inclusive culture within the PPD, systemic roadblocks continue to hinder this department’s efforts in that mission,” Gripp said.
None of the officers named in the two lawsuits filed against the Chicago Police Department are still with the department, records show. Of the 14 Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies accused in lawsuits, two were promoted, six are in the same roles, and six are no longer with the department.
The reporting of sexual harassment has led to a variety of reprisals, according to the lawsuits reviewed by NBC News: demotions, overnight posts and sometimes far worse.
In New York, a sergeant tossed a mousetrap into a room during a roll call after a female officer reported that he had made sexual advances toward her, according to her lawsuit.
In Philadelphia, a male sergeant stalked a female underling and broke into her car after she reported that he had made comments about her appearance and showed up at her house uninvited, according to her lawsuit.
A car belonging to a female officer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was vandalized and a tire was punctured after she reported sexual harassment, according to her lawsuit.
Experts say the major policing groups advocate for more women to join the ranks but have been slow to address the sexual harassment issue, if they address it at all.
“If they really want to recruit women, that’s one of the issues that has to be addressed,” said Ivonne Roman, a former police chief of Newark, New Jersey, who co-founded 30x30, an organization that aims to increase female representation in law enforcement. “Is this a culture where bad behavior is allowed?”
The harassment and discrimination lawsuits capture only a slice of the problem, female former police officials say. Many women who face harassment or discrimination never pursue legal action, and internal abuse complaints aren’t made public.
“It takes a lot of courage to stand up against these government agencies,” said Joanne Archambault, a former San Diego police sergeant who helps police agencies craft reforms for sex assault investigations. “I couldn’t do it.”
Karolin Clarke, a K9 officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, got a new boss when Sgt. Joe Danny Garcia took over the unit in May 2015.
Within weeks, Garcia began massaging her shoulders during meetings, commenting to male colleagues about her body and purposely walking in on her changing, Clarke later said in court papers.
“It was just really disgusting,” she said. “Nobody in our unit acted like that, and it’s coming from a supervisor.”
She said the behavior got so bad that the other male officers on her team, Elliot Zibli and David Dooros, sat Garcia down and told him to stop. But the plea went nowhere, they said, and Clarke and her co-workers told their lieutenant about his behavior.
