-By John Armor
I read, and I write for, the Highlands Newspaper, a weekly paper with a modest circulation. The Editor, also my editor, is Kim Lewicki. She ran an article in last week’s issue that was excellently written and edited, and worthy of sharing with my national audience.
The week before, Erika Olvera, a former Police Officer in this town, filed an EEOC Complaint against the Town of Highlands. Our experience with Officer Olvera was limited, but we found her to be diligent and capable. She worked for the Town for two years. She is a naturalized American from Mexico, who has lived in this area for about 20 years.
About six months after she was employed by the Police Department, a nasty rumor circulated that she had had an affair with Police Chief Bill Harrell. (In a small town, everyone hears everything.) I said at the time the rumor may have nothing to do with her, but may be an effort by one of the other officers to undermine the Chief. Suffice to say, Bill Harrell is married.
The rumor got worse. A year later, it claimed that she had gotten pregnant and had an abortion, paid for by Harrell. In January, 2010, she was called into Town Manager Jim Fatland and Town Attorney Bill Coward. She was questioned about the rumor, and denied all matters. Eleven days later and at the request of the Town Manager, she took and passed a polygraph exam on the same questions.
There is no mention of any polygraphs or questioning of Chief Harrell, or any of the officers who were spreading these rumors. There is more to the article, and the complaint, but stop there and ask yourself a few questions. Why was Officer Olvera the only person called in for questioning? Why was no one else asked (demanded, really, when keeping your job is on the line) to take a polygraph exam?
I was in a lunch shop several months ago. One of the other officers was there and we started a conversation. Out of the blue he told me the nasty rumor. (I know of some of his prior conduct, and think he should be fired like a shot for an entirely different situation he was involved in. My point is, if I knew he was one of the rumor mongers, the Town Manager and Town Attorney should have known, and acted on that knowledge.
The last item was that Officer Olvera drove on of the other officers home during a rain storm at the end of their shifts. Five inches of rain or a foot of snow in one day is not unusual, here. And, as she said, “I have a four-wheel drive vehicle. He did not.” The Town Manager then decided that she should “never ride in a patrol car with any male officer.” Since all of the other officers are male, that made her effectively unable to respond to serious situations in which two officers are required.
The thinking behind that prohibition is, of course, right out of the pages of fundamentalist Islam. It is, all men are dogs, and the mere presence of a woman in close proximity will drive them to think wild thoughts and do nasty things. He might as well have required her to wear a burqa on duty. “Oh, the woman in the bag is our new policewoman.”
The Town of Highlands is, in my judgment, going to lose big in this case. It deserved it. It earned it. But if it does not identify and fire all of the male officers, from Chief Harrell on down, who permitted, encouraged, and contributed to this outcome, it is doubly foolish.
If you pay a few hundred thousands of dollars to learn something, it is beyond stupid not to apply the knowledge you have gained. As for Officer Olvera, I hope she finds a new job where the Department appreciates a capable officer who is diligent, smart, and bilingual.
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John Armor is a graduate of Yale, and Maryland Law School, and has 33 years practice at law in the US Supreme Court. Mr. Armor has authored seven books and over 750 articles. Armor happily lives on a mountaintop in the Blue Ridge. He can be reached at: John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
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