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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Bosses at NYPD school-safety division embroiled in sex for favours scandal

Lawsuit: Gary Armstead, an NYPD School Safety supervisor, is accused of sexually harassing women on the job in return for special favours






A sex for favours scandal is currently being investigated within the NYPD, it was revealed today.

Bosses at the New York Police Department's School Safety Division have been accused of granting special privileges and rewards to female school-safety agents in return for sex, it has been alleged.

A federal complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has accused female agents of having sex inside department vehicles and in the office during working hours.

In return the women reportedly received a range of special benefits and privileges which include chauffeured cars to and from their homes, overtime, promotions and even cash gifts.

According to the New York Post, in one alleged instance, two female school-safety agents were reputedly involved in simultaneous affairs with senior supervisor Gary Armstead, the deputy director of the school-safety division.

The federal complaint to the EEOC said that the situation led to 'frequent fights at work because this was a love triangle that everyone knew about.'

Arsmtead was then said to have resolved the situation by transferring one of the two women and promoting the other but he denied that he had any part to play when approached by the New York Post.

He said: 'You're telling me something I know nothing about. I have no idea what you're talking about.

'Anybody who has any allegations of sexual harassment knows they are supposed to call OEEO,' he added, referring to the NYPD Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, which probes such complaints.

Two former school safety agents Charisse West, 30, and Shameca James, 29, filed the federal discrimination complaint with the EEOC after they learned of the supposed sexual ongoings.

The women claim that they were sexually harassed and wrongly dismissed from their jobs in June 2010 because they would not go along with the widespread hanky-panky in their unit, which provides security for the city's schools.

In their complaint they said: 'The atmosphere consisted of unwanted sexual advances from male supervisors, lewd comments and suggestions of quid pro quo.'

Miss James, the single mother of a four-year-old boy, said that most of the women involved bragged about it and let everyone know they were trading sexual behaviour for favours.

She said: 'Everything was being done in front of us, it wasn't a secret at all. The women who agreed to have sex with their bosses would actually brag about it.

Mrs West, a mother-of-three, said: 'I can't take the fact that if you don't sleep with certain people, you don't make the cut, you lose your job.'

Members of both the Police Department School Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were unavailable for comment.

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