Local news
The city of Cambridge spent $1.4 million in 2020 to settle a sexual harassment case involving a high-ranking member of the police department who created a hostile work environment, city officials confirmed Monday.
Cambridge spokesman Jeremy Warnick confirmed to Boston.com that three police department employees received $1.4 million in compensation following allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by Sergeant James Crowley.
Warnick said her investigation “corroborated some of the allegations” related to a case reported to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination in 2018.
Crowley was disciplined for the misconduct within the hostile work environment, which Warnick described as sexually oriented comments, jokes, innuendo “and other offensive statements.”
originally reported On Monday, it was reported that the settlement would go to a few female officers within the department. Their attorney, Ellen Zucker, confirmed the report back to Boston.com, which also included inappropriate text messages Crowley allegedly sent to his colleagues.
According to the, Crowley denies sending an image of his crotch to a bunch chat alluding to a craving for snacks and wrote “Gotcha Covered,” an alleged incident the newspaper learned about through a public records request.
Crowley confirmed one other text by which he told a police officer they need to “not ignore the moment” they shared when he helped her off a fence after a foot chase, the report said. He then said he “saved [her] from the certain destruction of the landing gear and the subsequent birth of babies.”
Crowley “strongly” denied the harassment allegations and called them “false” and “outrageous.”
Crowley is still a member of the department. He was already in the public spotlight in 2009 when he arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his home. Former President Barack Obama said the police “acted foolishly by arresting someone when there was already evidence that the person was in his own residence,” but invited both men to a “beer summit” at the White House.
Cambridge police did not respond to a request for comment.
Cambridge City Council receives few details of sexual harassment settlement
The reported that Cambridge kept the settlement secret for years. City councilors were asked in 2020 to approve the $1.4 million payment without many details, but only two voted against approving the settlement, the said.
“That's $1.4 million of taxpayer money that would have been spent on many things,” said City Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who voted against the payment. told the newspaper“The public must have known what was achieved, however the council didn't know the main points. The public didn't know the main points. And I still don't understand why.”
Yi-An Huang, Cambridge's city manager who was appointed in 2022, said in a statement that the city is committed to ensuring the council “has enough information to make good decisions and exercise appropriate oversight.”
“There are undoubtedly tensions in cases like this and beyond around protecting complainants, ensuring due process, public transparency, accountability, legal obligations and the deeper work of fixing the culture,” Huang said.
Since the settlement, Cambridge has hired Christine Elow, the police department's first female police commissioner.
“I actually have spoken with Commissioner Christine Elow and her leadership team about how we encourage feedback, protect against retaliation, follow due process, ensure accountability, and construct a protected and inclusive culture,” Huang said. “I actually have full confidence in her leadership and work and know this has been a priority over the past several years.”
image credit : www.boston.com