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.