Female Ombudsman Is Good Start for O.C. Sheriff’s Reform

It has not been easy to put women into jobs in the military and police forces. These provinces generally were considered previously as “men only.” There were even questions about integrating another uniformed force, the U.S. Postal Service.

For the most part, those days of “first woman this” and “first woman that” thankfully are behind us. But there are still complaints from women in many occupations that their advancement through the ranks is too slow and too often blocked by a “glass ceiling.”

Those complaints resonated when 15 women and 52 men applied for promotions to investigator in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. When the list of 20 finalists was published several weeks ago, not one woman was on it.

That may have been an anomaly, because for years women had made the list, according to department officials. But it did prompt complaints, and those complaints did lead Sheriff Brad Gates to announce needed action.

Gates said his department, the largest law enforcement agency in Orange County and one that has considered itself a model for other police forces, would have a female ombudsman.

The ombudsman’s job will be to hear confidential employee complaints and to monitor promotion boards. In addition, applicants for promotion will be videotaped when they appear before the boards. Gates also said the evaluation process will include asking employees about any instances of sexual harassment.

Those are worthwhile measures. So is Gates’ pledge to make a taped statement of his department’s stance against sexual harassment. The tape will be shown to employees and recruits training at the sheriff’s academy.

The need for the department’s measures has become clear in recent months.

Last November, a woman jailer at the central men’s jail in Santa Ana was awarded $480,000 by a jury that found she had been verbally and physically harassed on the job for years.

Ramona Barbour had been one of the few women working at the jail. The jury found that three of the 11 co-workers she accused had harassed her. Orange County had denied the charges and called more than 40 witnesses to try to prove their case.

But the verdict in the civil case in a county where juries are known for being conservative when it comes to awarding monetary damages was a clear signal that something was wrong in the Sheriff’s Department. Earlier this year came sexual harassment charges against a man who for years was one of Gates’ top aides, Assistant Sheriff Dennis LaDucer.

Four women who have worked for the Sheriff’s Department have sued LaDucer, alleging sexual harassment. LaDucer denied the charges, but after an investigation Gates ordered LaDucer fired.

The assistant sheriff has filed his own lawsuits. He charged that three of the women suing him lied to sheriff’s investigators and that Gates violated his civil rights by firing him. LaDucer took early retirement this month.

One of those who filed suit against LaDucer was a lieutenant, one of 15 women of 185 lieutenants in the department. Only 7.3% of the sergeants are women; 13% of the investigators are female; overall, 12.6% of the deputies are women. Sheriff’s officials have argued that it takes years to rise through the ranks and that you have to start at the bottom; there are no transfers in from other police forces.

That may be true. But the successor to Gates, who has announced his retirement at the end of next year, will have to be sure that women have an equal chance with men at climbing the ladder. The new sheriff also will have to ensure that the department is a good place to work for women and men alike, free of harassment and devoted simply to getting the job done.