Allyson Ford began volunteering with the San Diego Police Department as a 16-year-old. She graduated from the academy and worked for the San Diego Police Department for 17 years. In 2014, she won Officer of the Year.
In a lawsuit against the city announced Monday, she calls SDPD a “boys’ club” where women are punished for speaking out. She claims the department systematically covered up domestic violence by her then-husband, Sergeant Mitchell Ford.
“I'm speaking out today, not just for myself, but for everybody who has been failed by the system,” she said at a press conference. “The San Diego Police Department's culture of retaliation and cover-ups must end.”
SDPD, the City Attorney’s Office and Mitchell Ford declined to respond to the allegations.
The allegations detail sexual harassment by many officers and superiors — including a sergeant telling her: “If you want me to sign your report, you’ll have to have sex with me.”
The lawsuit describes a culture that perpetuates this harassment and pressures women not to report it.
The lawsuit alleges it was within that culture that her husband Sergeant Mitchell Ford abused her.
When she told him she wanted a divorce, it claims he physically assaulted her and “threatened to ‘shoot it out’ with (the plaintiff) while standing 10 feet away from his unsecured and loaded gun.”
“That night, he actually said to me that I was going to lose my job with the San Diego Police Department because of the power he had on the department and his friends and contacts,” she said. “And at first, I didn't believe him because I thought that the department that I loved and that I had worked so hard for would protect me. But they did not.”
When she reported the assault, the lawsuit claims SDPD didn’t investigate properly.
Her husband was placed on paid leave and eventually cleared of wrongdoing, it says.
The lawsuit also describes retaliation.
It says SDPD investigated her, began taking away her privileges and denying her schedule requests.
Two superior officers allegedly threatened her with disciplinary action if she attended a child custody and restraining order hearing against Mitchell Ford instead of showing up to work.
It claims officers used police resources to stalk and surveil her, and that the department refused to enforce her restraining order against her husband.
“If these are the lengths the department will go to to suppress one of its own female officers, a decorated, award-winning detective, in order to protect a more senior male officer, what does that say about how it treats everyday citizens who lack the resources or knowledge to fight back?” said her lawyer, John Gomez.
Allyson Ford resigned last year, citing retaliation as the reason.
She said Mitchell Ford remains with SDPD, employed and armed.
