The "In Group" Isn't a Protected Class... Maybe It Should Be.
Well...
Here we go again.
Another lawsuit against the Seattle Police Department. Honestly, I think we're somewhere around lawsuit number eight million by now.
This time, two employees allege they weren't promoted because they're gay.
Could that be true?
Absolutely.
I wasn't in the room. I don't know what conversations took place or what factors went into those decisions. If they can prove discrimination, then they deserve to win.
But having spent 23 years in that building, I can't help but wonder if they're looking at the symptom instead of the disease.
Because from where I sat, the biggest advantage in that department wasn't your race, your gender, or your sexual orientation.
It was whether you were part of the "in group."
I know what it's like to be on the outside looking in.
Years ago, I was working as an Acting Lieutenant in an open position for over a year. Promotion time finally came around and I was excited. I had earned it.
Then I got the call.
"Congratulations. You're going to First Watch at South Precinct."
If you've never worked patrol, that probably doesn't sound like much.
For me, it was.
I have Trigeminal Neuralgia. I've lived with it for decades and have been on the same medication regimen for over 25 years. At the time, I lived in Lake Stevens, about 25 miles north of Seattle.
That assignment meant getting up around 1:30 every morning and driving an hour to an hour and a half before my shift even started. Completely flipping my sleep schedule wasn't just inconvenient—it meant disrupting a medical regimen that had kept my condition stable for years.
Eventually, I ended up on Third Watch at South Precinct.
Not as shitty.
But still pretty shitty...for me.
Here's the part that never made sense.
I'm not opposed to working crappy assignments.
Everybody should spend time in the shit pile. That's part of paying your dues. Every cop has done it.
But by the time you're promoting, you've usually already paid those dues.
Most people at that stage have spouses, kids, mortgages, aging parents, medical issues, or all of the above. Good leaders should at least try to make assignments work when they can.
And here's my question.
Where is it written that getting promoted automatically means you have to transfer?
Seriously.
Show me the policy.
Show me the manual.
Show me the written directive.
Because I never found one.
And isn't that what we always say?
"If it isn't written down, it didn't happen."
Right?
Funny how that rule seems to disappear when it's convenient.
Because while I was packing up my office and rearranging my entire life, other newly promoted lieutenants somehow managed to stay exactly where they were.
Community Outreach.
Narcotics.
Intel.
The assignments everyone wanted.
Maybe there were legitimate reasons.
Maybe there weren't.
I honestly don't know.
What I do know is there didn't seem to be one standard that applied to everyone.
Some people got flexibility.
Others got told, "Congratulations...now go figure it out."
Nobody ever walked into my office and said, "We're going to make your life miserable."
They didn't have to.
Actions speak louder than words.
So when I read about this lawsuit, do I think these employees may have been treated unfairly?
Yes.
I do.
Do I personally think it's because they're gay?
Based on what I experienced, no.
I think the department has had a favoritism problem for a very long time.
I think there has always been an "in group."
And if you weren't in it, you learned pretty quickly that the rules weren't always the same for everyone.
Could I be wrong?
Of course.
This is my opinion based on my own experience.
But after 23 years, I've earned that opinion.
The courts will decide whether discrimination occurred in this case.
I'm simply saying there may be a bigger problem hiding underneath it all.
Favoritism.
The kind that isn't written in any policy.
The kind nobody puts in a manual.
The kind that's almost impossible to prove.
But if you've lived it...
You know it's there.
