His bosses, he says, started giving him a lot more work than the other people in the office. He complained, and his supervisor brought charges against him for insubordination. "They made my life miserable," he says. "There was a backlog, and I was given 1,700 parking-related complaints to follow up on."
Rather than being credited for coming forward, John instead found himself targeted by his bosses, he says. He says they knew very quickly that he had filed a complaint. A lieutenant told him, "You know what I'm talking about. You called [Internal Affairs Bureau] Chief [Charles] Campisi's office and complained about me."
C.S. Muncy
Filing a lawsuit as "John Doe," a gay detective in IAB says he is constantly harassed.
Ashlei Quinones
Persecution complex: The Internal Affairs Bureau at 315 Hudson Street
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And a sergeant told him, "If you make any more complaints, it's not going to be good for you."
On a third occasion, a different sergeant told him, "Why don't you call Chief Campisi's office and complain as you did in the past?"
"They can't prevent the confidential information from being leaked," Secondas says. "He was basically punished for making a complaint."
Subsequently, he says, he requested at least five different transfers out of the unit, but those requests were ignored over a period of months, until he was finally moved to the IAB records unit at the beginning of October. He has since transferred to the court section.
Meanwhile, John was himself charged with a department infraction of duplicating his shield. He described the charge as "trumped-up" and further evidence of retaliation against him. He has never received any response for his various complaints to IAB. None of the officers he complained about have been disciplined, he says. And last September, he complained to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's liaison to gay and lesbian officers. He got no response.
"I've never had a case like this," Secondas says.
grayman@villagevoice.com