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Hearing someone say “I hope you don’t think I’m coming on to you” could be a straightforward statement of fact. Couple that with “I do wish I was younger and not married, I would love to go out with you,” and a question creeps in about which comment is the truth. Maybe the person just doesn’t get how those two things contradict each other.
Add in the fact that the person speaking is a superior officer in a police department addressing a subordinate in the midst of her probation period, and the stakes for figuring out what the statement really means become more than idle curiosity.
This is the situation in which former Officer Rebecca Kenney found herself when she received those comments in an email from Lt. Ken Lewis July 8 while both worked in the University of Cincinnati (UC) police department.
Even though Kenney subsequently left her job preferring not to litigate, the dispute about being compensated for time off, being reimbursed for unused vacation time and COBRA insurance payments remains unresolved because, according to a UC attorney, Kenney’s advisors are “dragging their feet.”
George Maley, Kenney’s attorney, would not respond to the allegation because he said he didn’t have her permission to do so.
Through a public records request, CityBeat obtained documents related to a sexual harassment allegation made by Kenney. Even though she didn’t respond to requests for an interview, her complaint and attorney correspondence underscore the often wide disparity between legal handling of complaints and the reality the victim faces. (See “The Word on Sexual Harassment,” issue of May 10, 2005.)
Victim blaming and sarcasm
A self-described “homemaker raising three sons,” Kenney submitted her application for employment to UC in July 2005 after she completed the Clermont Police Academy at the university’s campus in Batavia. She began what she hoped would be a new career in law enforcement in February 2006 when she was hired as a UC officer.
During her first year, a probationary period, Kenney was praised in an evaluation as “very friendly and had very good interaction with her peers.”
“Police Officer Kenney is safety conscious … always backs other officers … and uses good judgment in situations,” wrote a supervisor whose name was withheld by UC.
Other than encountering each other on the job, Kenney and Lewis didn’t have any formal interaction until a report Kenney submitted was returned to her.
“He kicked back a report I did and left a note that I had to see him personally to fix it,” she wrote in her complaint.
After discussing the changes needed to correct the report, the conversation became more personal.
“He then was asking me how I was doing personally,” Kenney wrote in her complaint. “I told him I was fine. He then said he would do the report, and I told him that was not necessary … then the e-mails began.”
The comments were simple at first: “Give me a call…” and “I need a drink. … Would you like to go for a drink?” Within days the content shifted and included remarks about infidelity on the part of two of Lewis’ wives and his inability to trust people at work with personal information.
On July 18, Kenney spoke to a superior, whose name was also withheld.
“Police Officer (PO) Kenny stated that she was receiving unwanted e-mails from Lt. Lewis asking her to go out with him,” a report about the meeting says. “She states that Lt. Lewis began what she believes is a mission to get to know her as she was involved in an internal investigation involving PO Richey.
“PO Kenny then began to receive e-mail from Lewis that were in her opinion general conversation about his life. These kinds of e-mails continued until she received one that was a direct invitation to go out or meet at her new house.”
Maley stated in a letter to UC that his client was told her meeting with the superior officer would remain confidential. When Kenney later put in for a shift change, however, her former co-workers on the third shift hosted a party celebrating her departure and dubbed her the “black widow.”
Mitchell McCrate, assistant general counsel for UC, doesn’t address the party, the name calling or anything that was done by any supervisors to address the unprofessional behavior on the part of staffers — people Kenney would have to work with again after regular shift rotations. He states in his letter to Kenney’s attorney that the administration went out of its way to accommodate Kenney by granting her shift change, investigated her allegations of a hostile work environment and countered that Kenney showed Lewis’ emails to some staff and discussed them with others.
“If indeed these email were the talk of the department, I suspect that your client may have done as much as anyone to bring this about,” McCrate wrote. “She brought these issues to (UC Police) Chief (Margaret) Rose presumably because she expected Ms. Rose to do something. How Chief Rose was supposed to investigate without asking questions about these matters is something only your client can answer…”
Legally correct
Citing case law, McCrate disagrees that sexual harassment or a hostile work environment existed and denies that a supervisor suggested Kenney take a leave of absence while the matter was addressed. The internal investigation of Kenney’s claims dismissed her concerns about the attitude of her co-workers while serving in a position that requires mutual trust among officers to ensure the safety of everyone.
Lewis didn’t respond to requests for an interview, yet in his written response to Kenney’s complaint he counters that she instigated the meeting at her home and that he wants her to stop contacting him.
“My attentions were nothing more than being a friend at work,” Lewis wrote. “However, I don’t know what her attentions were. Now I don’t know what to think. … I am starting to think that maybe I was being set up for some reason.”
UC’s police administration wasn’t confused. They held a “conference” with Lewis at which they summarized the situation and stated that his behavior could be “construed as harassing in nature and has the potential to lead to a violation of the University of Cincinnati Policy on Sexual Harassment.”
Lewis was also told his behavior violated “Immoral Conduct” and “Conduct Unbecoming” rules and was ordered to stop e-mailing Kenney.
“Lastly, this reflects poor managerial judgment on your part,” a report of the meeting said.
The meeting is described as “unofficial,” the documentation related to it would not be a permanent part of Lewis’ personnel file and Lewis was ordered to attend the next sexual harassment training class.
On the UC police force for 14 years, Lewis was an officer for 10 years before being promoted to lieutenant. There aren’t any records indicating he attended any supervisory or management training classes since he’s been in a position to supervise employees. One of the partially legible performance reviews states that Lewis needs to “get more experience” with a counseling session.
Douglas Nienaber, an attorney in UC’s General Counsel’s Office, said he wasn’t able to read some of the original documents he copied for CityBeat and had to guess at some of the information on Lewis’ employment application, including his juvenile record, which included probation for breaking and entering and license suspension for a DUI. ©
This article appears in Feb 7-13, 2007.