Res. No. 232 Title Resolution calling upon the appropriate committee of the Council of the City of New York to hold a hearing on the policies and practices of the New York City Police Department's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity. Body By Council Members Lopez, Baez, Comrie, Foster, Monserrate and Seabrook; also Council Member Clarke Whereas, The Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (Office) of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) investigates allegations or complaints of employment discrimination based on sex, race, color, national origin, sexual preference, age, religion, or disability; and Whereas, The Office is also charged with monitoring the NYPD's compliance with the City's Equal Employment Opportunity policy and to develop and implement the NYPD's annual Equal Employment Opportunity plan; and Whereas, Recent cases involving NYPD officers who filed complaints with the Office raise serious questions regarding the ability of the Office to adequately investigate these complaints and to protect officers from retaliation and job transfers; and Whereas, Detective Robert Chu, a Chinese-American and former member of the team that served as bodyguard for former Mayor Giuliani, filed a complaint with the Office based on ethnic slurs made against him, and four days later he was transferred from his Gracie Mansion job to a Brooklyn precinct; and Whereas, Gloria Gonzalez, a former NYPD police officer, was recently awarded $1.25 million by a federal jury, who found that supervisors retaliated against her for complaints of sexual harassment she made to the Office; and Whereas, Sandra Marsh, former head of the Office, recently settled her lawsuit with the City for $1 million dollars, after she alleged that she was forced out of her job after criticizing the NYPD's handling of a sexual harassment charge against police officials on Staten Island; and Whereas, In the Staten Island case, Officer Virginia Duffy filed a lawsuit against the City, claiming that she was transferred and harassed after she reported to the Office sexual abuse by a superior; and Whereas, In a case regarding Police Officer Elizabeth Bryant, who sued the NYPD for sexual harassment, an NYPD investigator testified that she was told by her supervisors not to pursue the allegations made by Officer Bryant, prompting the judge to comment that the NYPD's handling of the allegations was "outrageous"; and Whereas, A recent New York Post article, which detailed accounts by female NYPD officers of sexual harassment by fellow officers and superiors, stated that "[a]ll of the women interviewed [for the article] were adamant the [NYPD's Special Litigation Support Unit] spends most of its resources trying to dig up dirt on those who file complaints"; and Whereas, These reported incidents demonstrate the apparent inability of the Office to protect those who file a complaint and to investigate these complaints adequately; and Whereas, The Office provides a vital function of insuring that discrimination does not go unnoticed or unpunished within the NYPD; and Whereas, As the NYPD attempts to diversify, it is vital that the Office be able to do its job; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the appropriate committee of the Council of the City of New York to hold a hearing on the policies and practices of the New York City Police Department's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.