'Nobody steps in': Female officers describe culture of sexual harassment at LPD

Editor's note: This story contains strong language and descriptions of sexual situations.

Problems at the Lafayette Police Department started early for Officer Taylor Johnson.

She was in the department's police academy in the early '90s when a fellow officer lied to other patrolmen claiming he'd had sex with her.

It was the first time she could remember being harassed while working with the police department, but the behavior continued until it eventually forced her out of the job.

After that rumor spread, another officer told Johnson that he also wanted to know what it was like to have sex with her. It felt like a cruel competition among the men to be the first to bed new female officers, Johnson said decades later.

Johnson is one of a pair of female LPD officers who spoke to the Daily Advertiser about sexual harassment they experienced at the department.

Their names have been changed to protect them from potential retaliation.

Both women said sexual harassment is pervasive at the department and often goes unreported because officers fear internal retaliation and want to uphold the “blue code,” an unspoken agreement that officers protect each other, even to the extent of hiding misconduct.

LPD has come under the spotlight after a sexual harassment complaint was filed against Interim Chief Wayne Griffin in October. Griffin was placed on administrative leave while Lafayette Consolidated Government investigates the complaint.

Griffin declined to comment on the sexual harassment complaint when asked by reporters.

Turnover and turmoil at LPD: 5 chiefs in 5 years raises questions as investigations loom

‘They will turn it into a sexual moment’

Any situation could become an opportunity for harassment by the men in the department, said Officer Jamie Williams, who has been with the department for more than seven years.

Bumping an officer with her equipment while passing in a hallway would lead to comments like, "Why are you putting all that ass near me?"

Handcuffing a suspect would come with sexual remarks from male observers like, “You can put those handcuffs on me.”

“The things you see on TV, they actually talk that way,” she said. “The slightest talk about anything, they will turn it into a sexual moment.”

“It can be any little thing that I reference — about a call, about a suspect, about a victim. Anything that I could say, they would turn it into something sexual toward me,” she said.

Williams said the comments were made by a small group of officers, usually in front of other officers who would let the behavior slide.

“Nobody steps in and says, ‘Dude, that that was inappropriate,’ or ‘I'm not talking about this,’” Williams said. “They just would laugh, not say anything or just stand there.”

CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TODAY: Help support local journalists like Ashley White

‘I just dealt with it’

Reporting sexual harassment didn’t seem like an option in a department where covering up misconduct is just as important to the officers as protecting citizens, Williams said.

“When you speak up, you’re going against the ‘blue code.’ Nobody wants to go against the unspoken code that’s within law enforcement. And that’s with anything,” she said.

Speaking out could mean being ostracized and being an officer that others won't trust.

Or it could mean retaliation, like getting transferred to a worse position or being put on a shift that makes taking care of children or family members more difficult.

“Even when you do tell the higher up chain of command, that goes nowhere. It's like it's unfounded,” Johnson said. “When you go and ask about it, they just tell you, ‘Well, we looked into it. We didn’t find nothing wrong with it.’”

“I just dealt with it,” she added.

And she did. Until it became too much.

More: Six women reported a Louisiana college student for sexual misconduct. No one connected the dots.

After a couple of years, Johnson, who is Black, was transferred onto an all-white patrol where she dealt with racism from the officers she was working with. When she went to a supervisor for advice, she was told to have sex with them instead.

“He told me, ‘Just bend over. Why don’t you bend over and give them all some? And then they’ll leave you alone,” she said.

She resigned after that. She had been with the department for about five years.

“I cried at one time,” Johnson said. “They took my livelihood from me, my children’s livelihood, the food off my table. And I was doing very well.”

Changing the culture

Ending the department's pervasive sexual harassment problem will take major changes, Williams said.

Complaints should be investigated by a third party specifically trained to look into sexual harassment, she said. That change would secure the confidentiality of complaints and impede potential nepotism, she said.

Adding more training and more women in leadership roles at the department would help as well.

“More women in supervisory roles and diversity. It could change the dynamic of how we react to things like that,” she said. “And more sensitivity training.”

More: We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records.

But Johnson is less optimistic after seeing sexual harassment persist in the department for 30 years after she left.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to stop,” she said.

If you have experienced or are experiencing sexual harassment or assault and need support or resources, you can call the confidential National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.

Contact Ashley White at adwhite@theadvertiser.com or on Twitter @AshleyyDi.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Female officers describe culture of sexual harassment at LPD