San Francisco

SFPD Officer Files Sexual Orientation Harassment and Discrimination Lawsuit

A San Francisco Police Officer filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing other officers of sexual orientation harassment, sexual orientation discrimination and retaliation.

Officer Brendan Mannix said two sergeants at San Francisco’s Central Station made repeated sexist and homophobic remarks to him and when he complained, no one stopped it.

Retired SFPD Leutenant Colleen Fatooh now teaches criminology at City College and is not familiar with the suit but said a hostile workplace doesn’t belong in law enforcement.

"There's the danger factor the people you work with they're supposed to be your back up that's impacted there's also the emotional factor," Fatooh said.

Mannix also claims that when he called for backup, it was slow to arrive. A serious allegation police records should settle.

"Those allegations I believe you should be able to substantiate you can find out how long did it take for backup," Fatooh said.

This isn’t the first time SFPD has been accused of discrimination, in 2015, homophobic and racist text messages sent and received by a group of officers rocked the department.

However, it also has a record of reaching out to the LGBT community in recruiting and in 2012 it was one of the first police forces to make an It Gets Better video, a campaign aimed at empowering LGBT youth.

"We take all allegations of discrimination and officer misconduct seriously and will thoroughly investigate all complaints," said SFPD in a statement through the city’s attorney’s office.

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