An assistant police chief for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington DC said she was told she would either have to have an abortion or be fired when she was just a cadet.
“I was told I was going to have an abortion or be fired from the MPD Cadet program,” Chanel Dickerson alleged at a community meeting on Tuesday, adding that she was just 18 at the time.
Dickerson said, ‘My choice to have a child was a personal one and I should have been alone – not an employer’s ultimatum. NBC report.
Now, other black, female police officers in the Metropolitan Police Department are coming forward, saying they faced the same ultimatum.
Chanel Dickerson told a community meeting that she was told as a cadet of the Metropolitan Police Department that she would either have to have an abortion or be fired.
Dickerson is now the Assistant Chief of Police in the Metropolitan Police Department.
Dickerson, who has been with the Metropolitan Police Department since 1998, is one of 10 black women who have filed a lawsuit against the department, alleging they perpetrated “an enterprise-wide culture of race and gender discrimination.” terminated. have experienced. the mountain.
The suit claims that the women ‘came together as a class here to describe how the MPD has committed systematic psychological abuse of black women police officers with contempt for decades.’
It adds that officers faced “deeply widespread retaliation against those who dared to complain, report, or protest unlawful discrimination,” describing a male-dominated culture in which officers with more authority Were. sought to ‘abuse his power for petty vengeance’. subordinates and make their lives miserable.’
The women are seeking $100 million in damages to ensure that these MPD practices for current and future black female police officers end and that full redress is achieved for class representative litigants and class members who are The damage has been done by MPD’s consistent, system-wide. Patterns, practices and practices of race and gender discrimination and retaliation.’
In a statement to The Hill, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘When we discuss specific charges due to pending litigation, Metropolitan PD is committed to treating all members fairly and equally throughout our organization. . .
‘We take these allegations seriously, and we will thoroughly review them and respond accordingly.’
Another police officer, Karen Arikpo, said she was given the same ultimatum and went to a DC doctor to have an abortion in order to keep her job.
Both women were in the same class in 1997 and their allegations have been confirmed by a male officer who was also in the class.
When filing the suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia last month, Dickerson said: ‘I understand the serious consequences of participating in this lawsuit.’
But since then, NBC reports, three more black women, all former cadets, have filed another lawsuit alleging abuse and retaliation.
And after Dickerson spoke publicly on Tuesday, another black DC officer came forward — saying he faced the same ultimatum that was given to Dickerson.
24-year-old DC Officer Karen Ericpo told Fox 5 That in 1997 his lady sergeant told a section of his police recruits that if they were pregnant they would either need to have an abortion, or be fired.
‘So later that day, I went and told the sergeant in my class that I was pregnant,’ said Ericpo. ‘And she said I needed to have an abortion and she sent me to a doctor in DC to have it done.’
She said she had never disclosed her experience before, not even with her husband, as she felt it was something she would ‘carry to her grave.’
But Ericpo has since regretted the decision, saying that if she could turn back time she would have quit her job and went through a pregnancy.
She said that since then she has been having problems having a baby.
“It’s so unfair,” Ericpo told Fox 5. ‘And now I’m never going to be able to have a baby.
‘All these years, I’ve tried and I’ve never been able to have a baby.’
Now, she says she takes her blame, regret and shame for the ‘abortion for the job’.
‘Then want kids and can’t have them, how can you tell people that?’
The Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment on the pending trial, but said it takes these allegations seriously.
Ericpo decided to come forward, she said, after listening to Dickerson and realizing that she was not alone.
The two spoke after a community meeting.
Dickerson and Ericpow were in the same class in 1997, and their allegations have been confirmed by a male officer who was also in the class.
According to officials who spoke to FOX 5, the sergeant who gave the ultimatum is no longer in the police department.
And in a statement to the news station, the Metropolitan Police Department said: ‘The comments were made as part of ongoing testing, so we decline to respond due to pending testing.’
But Fox 5 counterattacked that Arikpo’s allegations were not included in the lawsuits, as were the first to discuss it, but did not respond.
The news station also asked what happens to recruits and cadets who become pregnant, to which the department replied: ‘If a recruit at the Academy becomes pregnant, she will be placed in a future class upon completion of her leave. .
‘If a cadet becomes pregnant, she will continue the academic part with a modified PT as per the guidance of a medical professional.’
.