City to pay $425K settlement in discrimination suit
Fort Collins has agreed to pay $425,000 to two officers who said they were victims of a pattern of internal ethnic and racial discrimination within the city's police department.
Former Fort Collins Police Services officer Kennyberg Araujo and current Sgt. Francis Gonzales will be awarded a total of $425,000, including attorneys' fees, as part of the settlement that sidesteps a public trial based on their allegations. The city of Fort Collins will also reimburse $19,000 for attorneys' fees and costs incurred by the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, the group that helps identify issues within law-enforcement agencies and lobbies on behalf of officers.
As part of the settlement, the city will also enact a series of measures to correct any issues of discrimination, retaliation and policy violations that emerged through an independent investigation.
“This federal discrimination in employment lawsuit has resulted in the FCPS addressing concerns of long-term and systemic discrimination," said Qusair Mohamedbhai, who represented Gonzalez and Araujo, in a statement to the Coloradoan. "My clients applaud the policy changes being implemented by the City of Fort Collins. For my clients, these policy changes were the most important aspect of this historic settlement.”
As of Wednesday, Fort Collins invoiced $277,434 for legal fees and costs related to the lawsuit, which was first filed in April.
U.S. District Court documents show the order of dismissal was filed and signed by a judge Wednesday morning. The order dismisses the defendants — former Deputy Chief Donald Vagge and current Sgt. Gary Shaklee — with prejudice, meaning plaintiffs in the case cannot make the same claims in any future legal proceeding.
A scheduling conference was slated to take place Thursday in Denver, but that hearing has been vacated. Parties must file dismissal papers by Feb. 1, according to the minute order also filed Wednesday by Judge R. Brooke Jackson.
The settlement came just one month after records suggested such a move was becoming less likely, as the Coloradoan reported previously. Attorneys for FCPS and plaintiffs Araujo and Gonzales in December asked the judge to reschedule a Nov. 16 conference that the parties previously vacated when a settlement seemed imminent.
"Through the course of this legal process, we’ve had many productive conversations that I believe will benefit our agency," Police Chief John Hutto wrote in a department-wide email Wednesday afternoon, obtained by the Coloradoan.
Adding that he "wholeheartedly" shared the officers' interest in "ensuring a positive environment," Hutto said all parties were on the same page and wanted to instill a culture of respect and equal opportunity.
"... I wanted to acknowledge the closure of this lawsuit. Thank you for the exceptional service you continue to provide for our citizens every day. I look forward to our agency’s positive growth as we move forward," he wrote.
Among the terms of the settlement, the city will:
- Conduct follow-up investigations on alleged policy violations that emerged during an independent investigation and take action if employees are found to have violated policies.
- Provide a process separate from police management to report complaints of discrimination, retaliation and create an independent office within the city manager's office that will field and resolve complaints.
- Work with the FOP to deliver a training strategy that educates police employees about how to address harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the workplace.
- Work to achieve within five years a police workforce that "reflects the diversity of the community" and is subject to city review in terms of hiring, promotion and pay. Recruitment strategies will also be studied to determine whether new ways exist to reduce any "unconscious bias."
- Track progress and, on a biannual basis, convene the police chief, city leadership and members of the FOP to discuss potentially emerging issues.
“Sgt. Gonzales, Det. Araujo and FOP Lodge No. 3 were driven by a desire to change the culture of the department to ensure FCPS was a safe, healthy, and equitable place for all of its employees to work," FOP President Spencer Alvord wrote in a prepared statement. "This commitment to inclusivity is evidenced in the collaborative efforts taken in developing the action steps detailed above.”
The complaints by Gonzales and Araujo made numerous allegations that FCPS superiors — particularly Shaklee and Vagge, now retired — excessively singled out minority officers for disciplinary procedures and passed over Hispanic cops for promotions despite their qualifications and high test marks.
The suit also criticized years of reported inaction by Hutto and his predecessors to address race-driven issues allegedly plaguing the department. The plaintiffs asked for the case to go to trial and sought damages, including lost income and benefits, lost employment opportunities, mental anguish, distress, humiliation and pain and suffering.
Fort Collins broadly denied the claims in the past and hired outside investigators, who interviewed line-level cops as part of the ongoing probe into the allegations by Gonzales and Araujo. The settlement announced Wednesday does not imply liability or wrongdoing on the city's behalf, according to a release.
The internal investigation into the involved complaints, and more specifically the way it was communicated to officers, irked some in law enforcement and spurred a strongly worded letter to FCPS from the legal counsel of the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter, further straining some relationships within FCPS, according to emails obtained by the Coloradoan.
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City Manager Darin Atteberry said in October he and the city attorney's office had requested the outside and impartial investigation.
"I believe we all share a commitment to make Fort Collins Police Services a welcoming and inclusive agency," he said at the time. "This investigation is an important part of our due diligence to ensuring that this is the case."
It remains unclear whether results from that investigation will be made public.
“It took considerable courage for Sgt. Gonzales and former Detective Araujo to raise these issues, and through this process, they have expressed a genuine interest in ensuring a positive environment for all in Fort Collins Police Services. City Manager Darin Atteberry and I share this interest," Hutto wrote in a prepared statement released Wednesday evening. "As a department, we are absolutely committed to developing and maintaining a culture of mutual respect, trust, non-discrimination and non-retaliation.”
Reporter Jason Pohl covers law enforcement for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter: @pohl_jason.