PASCO, Wash. (AP) — Pasco’s first and only female police officer has filed a legal claim charging the department with sexual harassment and discrimination.
KEPR-TV reports Officer Dawn Persinger claims women aren’t respected in the department. Her attorney says the attacks on her started soon after joining the department in 1991 and have never stopped.
Persinger says the incidents have been as minor as being hit on the rear end with a baton to discussions about sexual activity in the squadron.
Over the years, she has filed complaints but has seen no results from those efforts and was demoted after one complaint. Now she has decided to sue.
On Friday, the city, Persinger and her attorney will meet to try to work things out. The attorney says they still expect to file a lawsuit after that meeting. The police department would not comment on the case.
