A woman who worked under Rosenthal as a “deputy monitor” from 2007 to 2011 sued the city and county of Denver, alleging that after she complained about the discrimination, her workload was increased, her concerns were ignored and she was fired, according to the Denver Post.
Valerie Arnold alleged a senior deputy monitor received preferential treatment because he is a man. She alleged she was on call more than twice as often as the male deputy and was paid significantly less than he was.
According to the Post story, which cited court records, Rosenthal, who is named in the suit, has denied many of the claims Arnold made, but said that many of the differences in the way he treated the two deputies had to do with their rank in the office.
The B.C. Ministry of Justice had no knowledge of the lawsuit “until Mr. Rosenthal recently advised the [deputy attorney general] he was taking leave to go to Denver,” said a statement from the ministry. The suit was filed in January 2014.
Rosenthal was unable to comment because “the case is in litigation and it would be unethical and contempt of court to comment,” said Ralph Krenz, a spokesman for the Independent Investigations Office.
B.C. NDP justice critic Mike Farnworth said: “It would have been nice to know about [the lawsuit] earlier.”
“I think there’s a lot of questions that have emerged around the office,” Farnworth said. “We need answers to them to ensure that this office is on the right track and that it’s running the way it’s intended.”
The B.C. Independent Investigations Office was set up in September 2012 to investigate police-involved serious injuries or deaths.
Rosenthal was named the office’s first chief civilian director in 2011. He was touted as a no-holds-barred critic of abuse of force by police in Portland, Oregon, and Denver, after he set up police oversight units in those cities.
However, the Denver police union was fiercely critical of Rosenthal, saying his office overstepped its bounds and treated police unfairly, making them afraid to do their jobs.
The B.C. Ministry of Justice would not say whether those involved in the hiring process for the chief civilian director talked to anyone who worked with Rosenthal during his time in Denver.
“The Ministry of Justice cannot speak to the specifics of the process in this case due to government’s privacy obligations regarding personnel matters,” the statement said.
In 2014, Rosenthal hired John Larkin as the office’s chief of investigations, despite Larkin being named in a sex-discrimination claim filed by a female officer at the West Midlands force in Coventry, England, in 2004.
Both Rosenthal and Larkin have been the subject of bullying and harassment complaints by former IIO investigators, which has led to a formal investigation by the Public Service Agency, the human resources arm of the B.C. government.
The Times Colonist talked to 11 former investigators who quit or were fired from the Independent Investigations Office since it was set up in 2012.
Former investigators complained of being talked down to by Rosenthal, inconsistent policies that made them look unprofessional in front of the police officers they were investigating and alleged that Rosenthal was biased against police officers.
Farnworth said the IIO is too important not to succeed in the way envisioned by retired judge Thomas Braidwood, who recommended creating a civilian-led police oversight body after the RCMP’s investigation into the Tasering death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski.
An all-party legislative committee is in the process of compiling a report, expected to be released at the end of the month, after hearing testimony on whether the goal of having the office fully staffed by civilians by 2017 is attainable.
The government has spent tens of thousands of dollars on three employee surveys, two external reviews and now a formal investigation of the IIO.
