Lawsuits Spur Inquiry on Bias Within Police Force

Although senior city officials this week defended their policies toward hiring and promotion of minorities in the Cambridge Police Department, two major lawsuits by Black officers have focused the city's attention on practices they claim are unfair and discriminatory.

In one case, a group of five Black police officers, in conjunction with the Cambridge Afro-American Police Association, charges that the department has a double standard for discipline and promotion of officers.

But although an attorney in that case said it is near settlement, a second suit against the department appears to be headed for trial. Former Officer Kevin Davis, who is Black, sued the department for discrimination in 1987, after being dismissed for alleged sexual harassment.

"There is definitely a morale problem within the department which is largely a result of what a number of officers feel is disparate treatment," said Vice Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72.

Reeves, the city's only Black city councillor, said that many minority officers feel that the Police Department actively discriminates against them. Although much progress has been made since the city began affirmative action hiring programs in the mid-1970s, Reeves said, a significant lack of minorities persists in the department's upper echelons. Out of 20 lieutenants on the force, only two are minorities, said Reeves.

But City Manager Robert W. Healy defended the city's record on minority hiring, explaining that one in every four candidates eligible to be hired as an officer is a minority.

Promotion of minority officers to higher ranks will also increase in the next civil service exam given in the spring, Healy said.

"The next series of promotion exams will find 65 percent more minorities eligible to take exams than last year's seargent exams," said Healy. By raising the number of minority officers eligible for promotions, Healy said, the department will see a corresponding rise in the number of minorities appointed to the ranks of sergeant and lieutenant.

But Reeves questioned the department's track record on the promotion of minority officers, saying that the city's success in hiring officers has not generally translated into a comparable success promoting them.

"What I really see is a department that acknowledges that minorities and women must be part of the department, but it doesn't perceive that they must be represented throughout the command ranks," Reeves said.

Promotions are granted on the basis of civil service exam scores and the "perceived need" for new officers within the individual ranks, said Reeves. Candidates for promotion are listed in the order of their exam scores.

But minorities tend to score lower on the exam and therefore appear on the lower half of the list, Reeves said. The "perceived need" promotions are generally drawn from the top half of the list, and consequently exclude many minorities.

Allegations of unfair promotion policy may not be the only problems within the police force. Robert L. Hernandez, the attorney representing Davis, said his case shows that racial bias is a significant problem within the department.

Hernandez said that reports written by senior members of the department include terms that "clearly have racial connotations." Hernandez pointed to a report by Lt. Timothy Lane on the alleged harassment incident which he said described Davis as a "predatory animal" and a "creep."

Hernandez said that Lane's report and comments made by officers in a later hearing contained false accusations which he said were racially motivated. At the hearing, officers "made false statements against Davis, claiming that on at least three occasions since 1982 complaints of sexual harrassment had been sustained against Davis which hadn't actually occurred," he said.

But attorney Scott P. Lewis, who is representing the city in the Davis case, said that "the city denies that there was anything improper in the decision by the Civil Serivice Commission in the discharge of Davis."

Chief of Police Anthony J. Paolillo could not be reached for comment this week.

Hernandez said that Davis is unwilling to settle out of court with the Police Department, and that the case will likely head to trial. And although four of the five officers in the promotion lawsuit are working toward a settlement, attorney Douglas I. Louison said that the fifth will probably pursue an independent action against the city.

Consequently, the city may be headed for a set of lengthy legal battle before it can resolve its problems with minority department members.

"As long as you have officers who feel they must sue a city for equity and justice, you're going to have a problem," Reeves said.