August 11, 1994,4 Female Workers Sue Fairfax Police;
3 Officers, Civilian Accuse Lieutenant of Repeated Sexual
Harassment Three female police officers and a civilian employee sued the
Fairfax County Police Department yesterday for $ 1 million, claiming a male
supervisor sexually harassed them at times during the last 12 years. The women
alleged that Lt. Larry Jackson repeatedly made unwanted suggestive remarks and
overtures. Two of them said he retaliated after they complained about his
behavior to his superiors by filing petty or phony disciplinary charges against
them."This has been a recurring pattern," said Carla Markim Siegel,
an attorney for the women. "These women didn't know each other. They complained
independently, and the department didn't take adequate measures to prevent it
from happening again... . It creates a hostile work environment." The
suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, rekindles a controversy
surrounding the treatment of women in the 1,036-member department. Two years
ago, 10 female officers complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission about a "locker room attitude" in the department and said
they had been denied promotions and key assignments because of their sex.Although
the county drafted a policy against sexual harassment last year, the suit
contends that women continue to be subjected to abuse. Police Chief Michael W.
Young and Jackson also were named as defendants.Maj. Richard Rappoport, a
police spokesman, said the department has acted swiftly in cases involving
workplace harassment. All supervisors underwent training last year in ways to
detect and address sexual harassment, he said. He declined comment on the
allegations against Jackson, saying he had not seen the lawsuit.Jackson
referred questions to his attorney when reached at his office in the
department's West Springfield station. The lawyer, Kristin R. Blair, said the
allegations are false and stem from a "racially hostile" work
environment that "encourages unfounded claims and promotes exaggerations
against minorities."Jackson filed an EEOC complaint alleging racial
discrimination seven months ago, and that case is pending, Blair said. "I
feel that Larry is just being made out as some fiend and he's really a straight
arrow," she said.The suit was filed by Officers Susan Long, Cynthia
McAlister and Elizabeth Dohm and Andrea Moss, a civilian communication aide,
all of whom worked under Jackson's supervision at various times during his
17-year police career.Their lawyer, Siegel, said race had nothing to do with
the lawsuit.Among other things, Long said Jackson once ordered her back to the
office while she was on the way to a burglary call to ask her out to lunch. He
also suggested she use her "sex appeal" to get him new uniforms, the
suit said.McAlister said that Jackson made advances while the two took a
private airplane ride in 1982 and that her colleagues later ridiculed her about
the incident. Moss said Jackson made up a list of phony disciplinary charges
against her last year after he learned she complained about him to the
department's internal affairs unit. On another occasion, she said she found
computer records that falsely showed Jackson had disciplined her.Dohm also said
she was disciplined by Jackson after talking about him to internal affairs
investigators three years ago.