Three VA officers, stripped of their police powers and deemed psychologically unfit for duty, are speaking out.

NEWS from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org

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Officers Say Racism Led To Firing From VA Hospital

Reporting
Dave Savini

http://cbs2chicago.com/specialreports/h
ines.va.hospital.2.1292782.html

HINES, Ill. (CBS) ― Three officers, stripped of their police powers and deemed psychologically unfit for duty, are speaking out to CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini. The men say it was retaliation that cost them their jobs, and even their part-time security work. They are financially devastated and say the backlash was for speaking up about racism.

All three officers said they believe they are the victims of racism and discrimination. The men say their police chief Timothy Moltane at the Hines VA Hospital destroyed their law enforcement careers.

They say it started when they complained that minority officers were being more harshly disciplined and getting fewer promotions.

They also say the police chief didn't take action when other officers made racial slurs against African-Americans.

Thomas Johnson remembers one slur in particular made by another officer.

"He had called black women monkeys," Johnson said.

And Hispanics?

"He had called him a spic," Johnson said.

So how were these incidents handled?

An e-mail from the chief about bonuses says a Hispanic officer, "didn't push the racial slur thing" and called him "a team player."

"I think it's amazing that the chief considers someone a team player because they're discriminated against and they don't speak up against it," said Xavier Rowe.

The three men did speak up by filing discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Then, Rowe says he went from being a federal police officer to "mopping floors and cleaning toilets."

Xavier Rowe, Thomas Johnson and Benjamin Levy say that after filing their complaints, they were sent for psychological exams.

Each had already passed their routine annual psych exam. Rowe had passed his just one month earlier.

This time, they all failed the psych exam and lost their jobs as Hines police officers.

They say that it was the same psych doctor who had repeatedly passed them for years who now failed them.

Rowe says it went even further.

"Every individual that has filed an EEO complaint subsequently was sent for a psychiatric evaluation and failed," Rowe said.

CBS 2 tried to talk to the chief of police at Hines VA Hospital about the allegations, but the chief told the 2 Investigators he's not allowed to talk to the media.

Benjamin Levy says the impact on himself and the three others has been devastating.

"You can no longer carry a weapon. You can no longer work your off-duty jobs as security officers with a weapon, in which I was making $30,000 a year," Levy said.

Johnson worries he will lose his home.

"What do I deserve? I deserve my job back. I deserve my back pay. I deserve to be able to somehow keep my home," Johnson said.

"I'm at the lowest point that I've ever been in my life. This is bad," Levy said.

In Rowe's case, he says he had been offered a law enforcement job, and then lost it because of what happened at the VA.

The three former officers, two of whom are also veterans, filed lawsuits against the VA.

One of the court documents says the Hines VA admits the only police officers removed from duty following psychological tests are those who filed EEO complaints.

In a statement to CBS 2, a VA spokesman says they don't comment on personnel issues or litigation. Each officer had been given other jobs at the VA. But, like we said earlier, that included housekeeping work.

According to Thomas Johnson, the Hines police department was about ninety-percent African-American before the chief arrived and is now down to a level of about thirty-percent. Hines VA officials have yet to disclose the official breakdown despite a request by CBS2 for that information.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, police, racism