Andrea Young was a 13-year veteran of the Pennsylvania State Police when she sat for the state’s promotion exam. She scored sixth out of 2,000 test-takers. But she was skipped for the promotion, and she argues in a new lawsuit that the snub was just one facet of the consistent harassment she suffered as a female officer on the force.
Just 4% of state cops in Pennsylvania are women, and Young said she endured jokes about her sex life and even received a photo of one officer’s penis. Other officers admitted to her they were cheating on the test, but then accused her of cheating. She says she wasn’t only targeted because she’s a woman, but because she was a speaking up about the conditions under which she worked.
Another suit against the Pennsylvania agency alleges that an illegal background check was run on a civilian by a jealous ex-boyfriend in the agency. An attorney for the civilian plaintiff, Jerry Grossnickle, told the Philadelphia Daily News: “There’s a buddy system that pervades the state police, a system in which criminal laws are broken to protect the clique.”
This culture isn’t unique to the Pennsylvania State Police — it’s pervasive throughout law enforcement. Gender discrimination needs to be addressed head-on before our law enforcement agencies can even begin to talk about equality. Aggressive hiring should aim to balance the gender gap — a force with 4% women in 2009 is simply unacceptable. Female officers deserve to work in a welcoming and safe environment, and we can’t trust a boys’ club that harasses female officers to treat female crime victims or defendants with respect.
Via PoliceOne and the Philadelphia Daily News
Photo by Dtbohrer
