Cambridge Police Sued for Discrimination

In an unprecedented act, three Cambridge police officers have filed suits with the state's anti-discrimination commission charging that they were discriminated against on the basis of their skin color.

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) is expected to take three months to deliberate the cases of Black officers James Hite and Myles Lawton, and white officer Sgt. Edward Hussey, all three of whom were suspended for what they claim to be specialized treatment due to their skin color.

These three cases represent the first time members of the Cambridge police department have brought complaints of discrimination to MCAD, City Councilor Saundra Graham said yesterday.

"There have been many allegations of racist actions, but none were ever formally charged," added Graham.

"Blacks have been suspended and fired for minor infractions," Hite told the Cambridge Chronicle last week. "We've had white officers with very serious offenses, and in some cases, crimes, who have no discipline."

MCAD arbitrates discrimination cases and determines if there is probable cause for a hearing. "As soon as a case comes through the door we try to settle," said Judith Wright, an MCAD spokesman. "If probable cause is the verdict, then the committee will go to a public hearing." She said that it will take at least 90 days before the commission reaches a decision.

Although Cambridge's chief of police can suspend officers up to five days for their conduct, discipline of police department officials is the responsibility of City Manager Robert Healy.

Healy yesterday denied the allegations, saying the city acted properly in making the decisions.

Hite, who has been with the Cambridge police for 13 years, was suspended for 20 months, in 1984, for disrepect to a police officer and falsifying reports.

The police department dropped brutality charges against 18-year veteran Hussey, for an arrest he made last November. But he was found guilty and suspended for five days several months later for misconduct in the courtroom. He is charging that he was discriminated against because of his "color and ancestry."

Lawton, after 12 years with the department, was charged twice for not filing his federal income tax returns, and for working another job for "three hours a week." He was suspended 30 days for actions for which he said a white officer would only be given a verbal reprimand.

Ex-police officer Kevin Davis, a Black, has also filed a complaint with MCAD to be reinstated to a job he lost in April for his alleged repeated sexual harrassment. Davis is one of five officers to lose his job for misconduct in the past six years.

"Five people, two of them white, have been terminated for conduct unbecoming of a police officer in the past six years," Healey said yesterday. Healey added that "conduct unbecoming of a police officer is a broad term that can mean many things."

Cambridge has already responded to three of the four cases MCAD is deliberating, Healey said. He said he is confident that the city's actions will be upheld by the commission.