THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411100614
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
Three years after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ordered the Norfolk Police Department to stop discriminating against minorities, two black officers have filed separate suits in federal court alleging that the discrimination never ended.
In a two-day hearing this week, officer Willie O. McClam alleged that he was denied a transfer to the detective division in retaliation for complaints of racial discrimination he made to the EEOC. McClam, a 23-year veteran, is suing the city for $200,000, plus additional damages deemed necessary by the court. U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson is considering the case and will probably rule next month.
Last month, officer James Powell filed suit claiming he, too, was the victim of racial discrimination and retaliation. Powell is seeking $800,000 in damages from the Police Department, the city and two city attorneys. He alleges that they used expunged court records in fighting his attempt to collect back pay. The case has not yet been scheduled.
Court records show that McClam and Powell had similar experiences.
Several years ago, both were charged with crimes while police officers and suspended without pay. When the criminal charges were dismissed, the two were eventually reinstated without back pay. They claimed that white officers found not guilty were reinstated with pay, so both men filed EEOC complaints. Now, McClam and Powell allege that later actions taken by city and police officials were in retaliation for their complaints.
The suits come in the midst of a U.S. Department of Justice examination, begun last year, of the Police Department's minority-hiring record.
In August 1978, the city settled a federal suit by agreeing to achieve a ``long-term'' goal, a force that is 20 percent black. The city promised to undertake an intensive five-year campaign toward those goals. It did not achieve them by 1983, however, and has not reached them yet.
In 1978, the 627-officer force contained 37 black officers, or 5.9 percent. Today, on a force of 687, there are 72 black officers, or 10.4 percent.
The Justice Department continues to monitor the department's hiring record. This summer, Stephen Butler - an attorney with the Justice Department's civil rights division - called several firefighters and police officers and asked them about the city's hiring efforts, said people familiar with the case. There has been no ruling from Justice.
McCLAM'S AND POWELL'S FEDERAL SUITS are just the latest twists in complex legal maneuvers that have lasted several years and earned the attention of agencies monitoring civil rights.
In March 1991, Paul Riddick - then-president of the Norfolk branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - said that McClam and Powell were victims of a long-standing policy of ``discrimination and double standards'' against black officers in the Police Department.
In December 1991, the EEOC issued a ruling after investigating McClam's charges. The agency concluded that blacks ``as a class are given harsher and more charges than their white co-workers. . . . Evidence reveals blacks normally receive two to three additional charges for similar violations. . . . Blacks are indefinitely suspended on a greater scale than whites.''
The EEOC concluded the Police Department had committed ``unlawful employment practices'' against McClam, according to the 1991 ruling that has never been made public. The agency ordered the police to comply with federal law and said it would monitor the department's progress.
The NAACP and the EEOC stressed that when criminal charges against white officers were dismissed in court, those officers were quickly returned to their old duties with full back pay.
Both agencies cited the case of Norfolk officer David Blood, who was charged with sexual battery in December 1988. Blood, who is white, was suspended without pay. On Feb. 28, 1989, the charges were dismissed in General District Court. Blood was reinstated with pay 2 1/2 weeks later.
In July 1990, McClam was accused of misdemeanor sexual battery after allegedly fondling a female officer. He was suspended without pay. Six police administrative charges were filed against him.
Three months later, McClam was found not guilty of the battery charge in General District Court. But he was not immediately reinstated with back pay.
In August 1991, a city grievance panel found that an ``incident'' of some sort had occurred. The panel ruled McClam should be reinstated but not paid for the 13 months he was suspended. He was reinstated on Sept. 1, 1991. Two months later, he filed his complaint with the EEOC.
But even after the EEOC ordered the Police Department to quit discriminating against McClam, police officials continued to retaliate, McClam testified. He was passed over twice last year for transfer to the detective division, even though he was eligible.
Police officials testified this week that McClam was not transferred because he performed poorly as a burglary detective from 1979 to 1983. They said a transfer would send ``the wrong message'' to female investigators.
But evidence suggested that ``a double standard'' in hiring and promotion did exist, said McClam's lawyer, Sa'ad El Amin. Two white officers who were disciplined for poor performance were eventually made detectives after ``showing improvement,'' testimony showed.
Judge Jackson occasionally grew impatient with the city during the hearing. On Monday, he told Deputy City Attorney Harold P. Juren that ``he didn't like what he was hearing'' and suggested that the city settle with McClam. Later, Jackson told Police Chief Melvin High that ``perhaps there was no hiring policy in effect'' at the Police Department.
POWELL HAS BEEN FIGHTING the city and Police Department for more than seven years. In his 1986 trial, he was convicted of unlawful wounding, but in September 1990 the verdict was set aside after Powell discovered that at least one witness lied. A Circuit Court judge ordered a new trial, but city prosecutors declined to pursue the case.
The guilty verdict and related testimony was later expunged, meaning the matter was wiped away, as if it had never happened. It is illegal to knowingly use expunged testimony in court.
Powell's application to rejoin the Police Department was denied. The reasons, Powell said, were his race and $100,000 in back pay. City officials said that, although Powell was not criminally guilty, he had still violated Police Department policy.
In November 1992, a city grievance panel reinstated Powell, but without back pay.
Last January, the EEOC sued the Police Department in federal court, but the case was dismissed when Judge John A. MacKenzie ruled that Powell had failed to file his complaint in a timely fashion. That case is being appealed.
Powell again filed suit last month. He accused City Attorney Philip Trapani and Deputy City Attorney Juren of using the expunged criminal records before both the city grievance panel and in federal court.
Powell would not comment because the case is pending. Trapani has said that he did not believe any law was violated.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION U.S. DISTRICT COURT
by CNB