Even as a young street cop trying to work her way up the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department in the mid-90s, Kristine Klotz was quick to call out sexism on the job. Right is right and wrong is wrong, she used to tell herself, knowing that she would ruffle some feathers in the process. She didn’t hesitate to speak up last summer when she learned that a male supervisor in the vaunted Robbery-Homicide Division where she worked had allegedly compared female detectives to sex workers on the street. To make it in the LAPD, department veterans say, you need a thick skin. Klotz, 54, alleges the comments were just the tip of an iceberg of verbal abuse women in the unit faced. Klotz said that after repeated complaints about her mistreatment at the hands of department officials went ignored, she and another female Robbery-Homicide detective reached out for help from the Board of Police Commissioners, the civilian oversight body. For weeks, they heard nothing. A response eventually came, just not the one Klotz expected. In a whistleblower lawsuit, Klotz claims the LAPD retaliated against her, reports the Los Angeles Times. She alleges she was demoted, reassigned and put under internal investigation in the span of a few months.
The lawsuit accuses several current senior LAPD officials, including Deputy Chief Marc Reina, and Capts. Scot Williams and Robin Petillo of inflicting emotional distress and creating a hostile work environment. The suit names two women, Petillo and Lt. Blanca Lopez; the rest of the defendants are men. A follow-up letter to the Police Commission names the supervising detective who allegedly made the sex worker comments, Christopher Marsden. A private law firm representing the defendants, including the city, has asked a judge for more time before responding to Klotz’s suit. A 29-year department veteran with a long list of high-profile criminal investigations to her name, Klotz said she had no choice but to turn to the court system while fighting to restore her career and reputation. The months-long ordeal, she said, “opened my eyes to a completely different way of thinking when there was so much pride I had in this organization.” Tackling persistent sexual harassment complaints will be among the pressing issues facing incoming Chief Jim McDonnell, who was appointed this month, pending City Council approval. He will be expected to overhaul a disciplinary system that some argue seems to penalize the accuser more than the accused.