The lieutenant in charge of the Detroit Police Narcotics Section has filed a federal whistle-blower complaint, claiming he was the victim of racial discrimination and subjected to a hostile work environment for reporting wrongdoing in the drug unit, George Hunter reports in the Detroit News.
Lt. Charles Flanagan, who is white, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on May 28, four days after Internal Affairs conducted an audit of the Narcotics Section, his attorney, Mike Rataj, said Thursday.
Rataj, who represented former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's top aide, Bobby Ferguson, during the legendary federal corruption trial, told Hunter: “People want to say everything bad only happened when Kwame was mayor, but nothing has changed. When an officer tries to blow the whistle on wrongdoing, the people in charge retaliate.”
Before Kilpatrick was indicted by a federal grand jury, he went to jail on state perjury charges after lying during a whistle-blower trial that involved Detroit police officers who lost their jobs in connection with an investigation into Kilpatrick's activities as mayor.
Hunter writes:
When Flanagan, a 29-year police veteran who sits on the Harper Woods City Council, assumed command of the unit in November, Rataj said he uncovered numerous issues, including a sergeant who had failed to turn in 32 pieces of drug evidence confiscated from hospitalized suspects; and another sergeant who made up false evidence tags for items seized during drug raids including three flat-screen TVs, a laptop computer, and an Xbox 360 video game system. Flanagan alleges the officer kept them for personal use.
Flanagan claims he and two other white officers who are his friends were going to be transferred because he reported the incidents, which happened before he commanded the unit.
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, in addition to handling Detroit's bankruptcy operations, supervises the police department.
