Cops Coordinator Cited In Harassment Complaint Policeman Alleges Three Incidents, But Steele Calls Claims ‘Bizarre, Sad’

Spokane police officer Ken Lesperance has filed a sexual-harassment complaint against community policing coordinator Cheryl Steele.

The claim was filed with the city’s Human Resources Department and is under investigation by the Police Department.

Lesperance didn’t return phone calls, but Steele called the complaint “bizarre and sad.”

“Anybody who knows me knows this sort of thing isn’t allowed in my family - it’s not allowed in my character,” she said.

Lesperance, a neighborhood resource officer for the West Central neighborhood, recently was reassigned to regular patrol duties while the department investigates misconduct allegations against him.

According to police, the transfer came after several citizen complaints involving Lesperance’s performance.

Because both investigations deal with personnel issues, few details are available.

“It’s a city personnel issue; it’s under investigation. I don’t know how we can even begin to talk about this,” said Roger Bragdon, assistant police chief.

As program coordinator for COPS, Steele had no direct authority over Lesperance. However, she works closely with the West Central COPS shop where Lesperance was based for almost two years.

“I worked well with him,” said Steele.

COPS substations are all-volunteer operations. Neighborhood resource officers aren’t part of the COPS program, but they often spend part of their time at the neighborhood substations.

Steele said she saw the complaint Aug. 24.

She said it cites three examples of alleged harassment, but she said she could remember only two of them.

The first, she said, was in connection with a conversation she and another woman had, in front of Lesperance, about launching and running a program being “a lot like giving birth; then you hate to let go of it.”

In the second incident, Steele recalled, Lesperance told her he had received calls all hours of the day. She told him how, when she lived in the West Central neighborhood, a couple of neighbors had showed up at her door late at night. She told him she stood on the porch in her nightgown trying to help them settle their problem.

“I was so shocked when I read it,” she said.

Steele, who has been both controversial and acclaimed during her three years heading the COPS program, was among several women honored for outstanding achievement by the Spokane YWCA in November.

Gita Hatcher, city of Spokane affirmative action officer, said the city has received few sexual-harassment complaints in her memory.

“Maybe one or two,” said Hatcher.

“The city looks at all cases of sexual harassment very seriously,” she said.

“We are cautious about not allowing things like that to go on in the workplace,” she said. “We take quick action. We also provide a lot of training.”

Steele called the complaint “a misuse of a valid workplace tool.”

“It’s sad when someone uses a valid tool as a detraction from real issues,” she said.

, DataTimes