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The Rolling Stones once wrote, “What a drag it is getting old,” and veteran San Francisco police officers couldn’t agree more. The group accused their department in a recent lawsuit of passing them over for promotion to inspector because of their age. The 34 complainants have been on a waiting list since they passed an inspector’s exam ten years ago in 1998. They were held back from promotions due to “unchecked age bias that pervades the culture of the department,” their lawyers charged in papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The lawsuit basically alleges that rather than promoting longtime officers to a position that offers more responsibilities and higher pay in investigative positions, the department started assigning some of its sergeants last year to jobs in the investigations bureau.
The sergeants are younger and less qualified and have never taken an inspector’s exam, the suit said. “They’re excluding all the older people now, trying to put in younger people and just leave us on the vine,” lead plaintiff, Juanita Stockwell, 60 and a police officer for nearly 29 years, told Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The 34 officers have an average age of 52, while the sergeants assigned to inspectors’ jobs on average are just 37 years old, said Richard Hoyer, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. Hoyer said his clients would seek class-action status on behalf of all San Francisco police officers over 40, the minimum age covered by federal discrimination law.
In San Francisco, inspectors follow patrol officers to crime scenes and supervise investigations.
Stockwell, a patrol officer, said she handled inspections during a nearly three-year assignment to the department’s gang task force and decided that was the job she preferred.
“You supervise crime scenes. It’s a very interesting job, much more diverse,” she told the Chronicle.
“As a patrol officer, you take an initial report, and then inspectors come out and do the rest of it. That’s the part that I like. Patrol is fun when you’re new, the first 10 to 12 years. After that, you want to move on.” Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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I used to work with you in 1970 on #1 So Van Ness. I saw you on KGO news today (April 17, 2009) and got the shock of the year! You haven't changed much. More Power to you and best wishes in your pursuit on equal rights!!!!!
if you respond to this I'll know you saw it. Take care!