Several police officers for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission have been suspended and could be fired after one of their colleagues, a Black officer based in Montgomery County, complained about a pattern of offensive remarks, including group text messages littered with racist language, according to a federal lawsuit and a statement issued by the police force.
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The lawsuit, filed Monday by officer Mark Miles, quotes group texts allegedly sent in 2020 and 2021 by his supervisor at the time, Sgt. Stephanie Harvey, and other officers in a squad known as Shift 5, of which Miles was the only Black member.
The messages cited in the lawsuit contain racial and ethnic insults, homophobic comments, crude remarks encouraging violence toward non-White people, admiring references to right-wing extremists and demeaning, often vulgar, statements about the Black Lives Matter movement and its supporters in law enforcement.
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“This is a non-exhaustive list of the offensive” texts, according to the lawsuit, which names Harvey and the parks commission as defendants. The commission oversees public parks in the Maryland suburbs of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, and has a police force of nearly 100 officers in the two jurisdictions. The lawsuit also alleges that Harvey and others directed mocking racist comments to Miles in conversations and at roll calls.
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“Joke, don’t turn these texts over” and “get me fired for hate speech!” Harvey said in one message, according to the lawsuit. In another text, she allegedly explained her offensive comments by saying, “Because I’m racist … a misogynist too … or maybe a homophobe … I check all the boxes.”
After Miles, who joined the force in 2019, complained about the conduct of his day shift colleagues in the Montgomery division, he was removed from Shift 5 and assigned “to a less desirable night shift,” the lawsuit says. It also cites an incident in which Miles was responding to a high-risk traffic stop and called for backup but was “informed and believes that nobody from Shift 5 immediately responded to his call. Instead Montgomery County police responded first.”
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Describing the incident as “a deliberate failure to provide proper backup” and “a clear violation of safety protocols and policies,” the lawsuit says Shift 5 officers committed “an act of retaliation against Officer Miles for complaining to management about Defendant Harvey and the squad’s racially hostile environment.” Those and other retaliatory acts put his “life at risk.”
Harvey could not be located for comment Thursday and has not responded to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Her attorney, Martin Oliverio, declined to comment. Jay Holland, a lawyer for Miles, said Harvey is among the officers who remain suspended after an internal investigation sparked by the complaints from Miles to park police officials last year.
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Based on those internal complaints, which preceded the lawsuit, the police department “promptly initiated an investigation and took appropriate action based on the findings of that inquiry,” according to a statement issued by Lt. Tracy Lieberman, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery division. In an interview, Lieberman declined to say how many officers have been disciplined.
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“Several officers were suspended and referred to the disciplinary process for termination,” the statement says, adding that “the suggestion that Park Police management ignored allegations of misconduct by this group of officers is simply incorrect, and we will make the results of the trial board process public at the appropriate time.”
The lawsuit cites violations of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 because Miles was an alleged victim of racial discrimination, a hostile work environment and retaliation. Calista Black, a spokeswoman for the parks commission, said the commission had no comment on the lawsuit beyond the police statement.
Jonathan Ness, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 30, the labor union representing park police officers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, said the union “works tirelessly to see that all members are treated fairly, have the best possible work environment and are afforded their due process rights. We are refraining from making comments prior to the conclusion of trial boards.” He also declined to say how many officers have been suspended.