The police have released a response to the whistleblower lawsuit by Former Police Officer Lindsay Hunt filed yesterday. From PIO Sergeant Brian Schmautz:

I am frequently called by the media when individuals file civil suits against employees of the Police Bureau. Generally, the City does not comment on potential or pending litigation. However, some members of the media or public equate silence with an admission of wrongdoing. Such an assumption is incorrect.

Today I was contacted by the media regarding a lawsuit filed by Lindsay Hunt, a former probationary police officer. Ms. Hunt has made very specific and serious allegations of misconduct by individually identified officers. It would be unfair to those officers for the allegations to stand without comment.

Without responding to each of Ms. Hunt’s allegations, I can say that the Bureau encourages and supports officers who come forward with allegations of officer misconduct by aggressively investigating Bureau-initiated complaints — those brought forward from within the PPB organization. Ms. Hunt expressed concerns about a particular training officer after working with that officer for four days. The Bureau took Ms. Hunt’s concerns seriously, informed Ms. Hunt she did the right thing in bringing the concerns forward, acted promptly to investigate the concerns, and took steps to assure that Ms. Hunt would continue in her training.

The Bureau’s investigation into the alleged actions of the field training officer was reviewed by the Performance Review Board, which is comprised of citizens and members of the Police Bureau. The Review Board found that allegations of excessive force and assaulting a citizen were not supported by the facts. The findings were based on interviews with the officers and citizens who were present and witnessed the officer’s interactions. The Review Board did sustain a conduct violation in connection with a minor rules violation. The officer received a letter of reprimand in connection with that violation.

Ms. Hunt indicated she was thinking about or intended to resign from employment at the time she brought forward her concerns. Various Bureau members asked Ms. Hunt to avoid making a hasty decision and encouraged her to continue in her training. Ms. Hunt chose to resign from employment before the investigation was completed.

It is generally our position to refrain from commenting on a case beyond confirming the filed allegations. However, since the Portland Police have issued a press release on Lindsay Hunt’s lawsuit, it would be inappropriate not to respond.

The evidence that will be introduced at trial supports the allegations in the lawsuit. We are unaware of who the Performance Review Board spoke to, but apparently the Board didn’t get an accurate description of what happened or interview Lindsay Hunt. Our client and our firm were quite surprised to learn that this matter was allegedly reviewed by the Board. Our client had never been informed of this and was not allowed to participate or to support her allegations with credible evidence. In our opinion any reasonable review would allow a complainant to be heard and to present her evidence. We wonder how anyone can claim to have done a thorough investigation without interviewing the complainant.

Lindsay Hunt was dedicated to be the best police officer she could be—spending days off studying manuals and going to the target range to improve her skills. Being a police officer was Lindsay Hunt’s dream and she never considered resigning before being subjected to discrimination and the police department’s conspiracy of silence.

Lindsay Hunt is precisely the kind of individual that citizens would want in their police department—smart, compassionate, and dedicated. The Portland Police forced out a courageous individual because she wouldn’t play by their rules.