By William Kaempffer
New Haven Register
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A police recruit has filed an employment discrimination complaint against the city, the second in three years filed against police trainers.
Shayna Kendall, 25, who is in her sixth month of training at the city academy and is scheduled to graduate in three weeks, in January filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, citing violations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to records in the city clerk’s office.
The claim is retaliation, and the majority of her complaints are aimed at training officer Robert Strickland. Her attorney, Josephine Miller of Danbury, recently declined comment after conferring with Kendall.
In 2007, Kendall, of New Haven, filed a similar complaint alleging race and gender discrimination against staff at the Connecticut Police Academy, which she attended then also as a New Haven recruit, when the academy moved to dismiss her for dishonesty. She chose to resign instead and subsequently filed the complaint.
Last year, she reapplied to the New Haven force, was hired and seated in the class that began training in September at New Haven’s academy.
The specific allegations in the new complaint remain unclear. An affidavit that details her claims was not available from the city clerk, and an attorney for the city said the only copy she was aware of is in a litigation file, which is exempt from state Freedom of Information laws.
Capt. Patrick Redding, who heads the police academy, referred questions to the corporation counsel’s office. Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden said, “I think we’re moving towards a resolution of the matters,” but declined to say what that resolution might be.
Police Commission Chairman Richard Epstein declined comment “because the matter is in litigation.”
Both the 2007 and 2010 complaints are pending. The office of the attorney general is representing the Connecticut Police Academy in the older complaint.
Kendall was dismissed from the state academy in 2007 after the staff alleged, among other things, that she lied and falsified a permission slip to leave the live-in academy on the pretense of going to the state Department of Motor Vehicles to replace her lost driver’s license. Instead, she allegedly went home for the night.
Later, she filed a CHRO complaint alleging that the staff singled her out because she is a female and African-American.
In 2009, she reapplied when the city advertised for recruits.
Scott Nabel, the police human resources director, said she went through the selection process, scored high enough on the exam to receive a conditional offer and successfully completed the conditions of employment, which include a background check, drug screening, polygraph and psychological exam.
Asked if the Board of Police Commissioners last year knew about the 2007 litigation, he said the panel “was aware of the circumstances of her separation from the city.”
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