A Los Angeles police captain is suing the city, alleging she has been denied promotions and compared to a "yapping Chihuahua" for speaking out about gender discrimination as well as other misconduct by male officers.
Silvia Sanchez's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent both. Sanchez seeks unspecified damages.
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"The department's retaliatory and discriminatory actions as set forth above have sidelined (Sanchez), tarnished her reputation, blocked and undermined her chances of advancement and promotion, subjected her to a hostile work environment, undermined her ability to assume a leadership role in the department and thwarted her career," the suit alleges.
A representative of the City Attorney's Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit filed Thursday.
Sanchez was hired in 1999 and in October 2022 was promoted to captain and transferred to the Hollenbeck Division. Shortly thereafter, she found out that a male officer told a female colleague -- in front of other officers -- words to the effect that he more or less believed that women did not belong on the SWAT unit, the suit states.
Sanchez, disagreeing with a higher-level male captain that no complaint should be made about the male officer's gender-related remark, angered the other captain when a complaint was later issued against the officer, and he was transferred to another division, the suit states. From then on, the higher level captain showed "evident hostility" toward Sanchez, the suit further states.
In early 2023, Sanchez learned that some of her subordinates had engaged in misconduct against two LGBTQ+ community members, and once again, the other captain and members of her command resisted her attempt to have the matter investigated, according to the suit.
In addition, Sanchez was targeted by a "relentless smear campaign" as a "frivolous" complaint was made against her to Internal Affairs, according to the suit, which further states that she was disparaged in the workplace and dismissed as an "incompetent DEI captain ... an obvious dog whistle to individuals who hold stereotypes about women as inferior."
Sanchez was eventually forced to transfer to the Wilshire Division and later the Airport Division, removed from patrol operations oversight and passed over for a higher level captain position, the first of several promotions she believes she was wrongfully denied, the suit states.
Sanchez nonetheless persisted in speaking out against alleged misconduct by officers, disciplining a male subordinate for making inappropriate sexually related remarks about his wife over the objections of LAPD leadership who told her they did not want the matter to reach the Police Commission, the suit states.
Sanchez refused to drop the matter and reported it to the police chief, the suit states.
As she continued being vocal about her department concerns, her superiors responded by likening her to a "yapping Chihuahua" and told her not to write anyone up for a while, the suit states.
The backlash against Sanchez had caused her to lose potential additional income and also suffer emotional distress, the suit states.
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