(LEX 18) — After a post commander filed a lawsuit alleging sex-based discrimination by the Kentucky State Police, LEX 18 began hearing from other past and current female troopers who said they saw similar problems.
Capt. Jennifer Sandlin, KSP's only female post commander, filed the lawsuit last summer alleging that she was treated differently by the agency because she's a woman and a mother.
In the days and weeks that followed, other women who'd served as troopers reached out to LEX 18 with their own stories.
"It takes a tremendous amount of courage to do what Jennifer's doing right now and I respect her tremendously for that," former KSP trooper Shannan White said. "Because, frankly, enough is enough."
Sandlin's lawsuit alleges she was passed over for multiple promotions, including one situation where she says she was told the promotion would require a lot of "seat time" in Frankfort, and that she should discuss it with her husband. Her attorney says her male colleagues weren't asked to check with their spouses.
In court-filed responses to the lawsuit, the agency's attorneys wrote that Sandlin wasn't interested in relocating and that there were more qualified candidates for the promotions. Sandlin disputes that.
By the numbers
As of earlier this month, 28 of KSP's 1,017 sworn personnel were women, according to the agency. That means women make up 2.75% of the agency's sworn personnel.
The national average for sworn women officers in county and city police departments is about 13%, but state agencies "struggle to maintain half that number," according to a National Institute of Justice report citing the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
At the Lexington Police Department, 9.79% of sworn personnel are women. The Louisville Metro Police Department's sworn force is about 13.2% female.
Ohio State Highway Patrol's sworn force is 7.8% female and Tennessee Highway Patrol's is 5.9% female, according to numbers provided by both agencies.
There are no women on KSP's 11-person sworn executive command staff, according to the agency's website.
For the past five years, KSP's total sworn personnel retention rate was 82%, according to the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. The retention rate for sworn female troopers was 60%.
'A good ole boy system'
Tracy Haynes served as a KSP trooper for 10 years, five of those years as a sex crimes detective. She told LEX 18 that the culture wasn't female-friendly.
In Haynes' KSP cadet class of 62 people, she says she was one of four female graduates.
"You are told they 'let you' into the academy," Haynes said.
Haynes said that being treated differently started at the academy and continued out onto the road.
"I was told that I needed to have sex with one of the field training officers," Haynes said of her time at the academy. "I was told that there was two F's that you needed to be really good at, fighting was one and the other was … having sex, basically."
Haynes said she never reported the inappropriate comments because she was afraid to.
In 2016, Haynes did file a grievance alleging harassment by a superior. The superior had written Haynes up repeatedly for things that were never questioned in her male counterparts, Haynes said, including minor issues like grammatical mistakes.
That superior was Haynes' ex-husband, and the divorce had been a messy one. Despite multiple transfer requests she'd had to continue working under him, Haynes said.
Haynes said she eventually resigned after she was put under internal investigation.
"I was told, in not so many words, that I would be fired for lying," Haynes said.
Haynes described the overall culture of the agency as being "a good ole boy system."
"If you're not one of the boys, then you're not in the club," Haynes said.
Former trooper Shannan White started the KSP academy in 2012, and she left the agency in 2014. She was the first female state police trooper to ever serve at KSP's Elizabethtown post.
White described continued inappropriate comments made by male troopers and said that she would be told she couldn't participate in "hot" calls.
"It didn't matter how much, how hard I worked, it didn't matter the effort I put into anything, how fit I was, my camaraderie or my willingness to work as a team," White said. "It just seemed like the one thing I couldn’t change was my gender, and that was the problem."
White said that the lack of diversity within KSP can affect not only the women among their ranks, but the people in the community that the agency serves.
"You know, we all have something we can bring to the table, and if we can look at that and think about what each person could bring and we value those things?" White said. "That agency could be an amazing agency, it really can."
White filed her own discrimination lawsuit against the agency when she left, but it was unsuccessful.
"In part, I made that decision because I have a daughter and I believe she fully can do anything, just like I believed I could," White said. "I did it for all the women that I hoped would come after me."
Others who didn't want to be interviewed shared similar experiences.
'There's a long way to go'
Gov. Andy Beshear and Kentucky State Police Commissioner Col. Phillip Burnett Jr. said the agency has stepped up efforts to recruit a more diverse force.
"There's a long way to go," Gov. Beshear told LEX 18. "My first Kentucky State Police family was my dad's detail when he was Lt. Governor in the '80s, and we had a more diverse Kentucky State Police then than we do now. We're working hard to fix that."
Burnett said KSP has worked "relentlessly" to bring more women into the agency as troopers.
"Our priority is to increase the number of females and minorities within our agency, and by doing that we can transfer or have those in leadership roles that we greatly need," Burnett said.
Beshear called the number of female troopers at KSP "unacceptable" and said that equity issues across state government are being addressed.
In a previous statement, Burnett acknowledged that KSP has more work to do in improving the diversity of the agency.
"I am committed and our agency is committed to leading the agency into the future," Burnett told LEX 18 Monday. "To develop an agency that is trusted by both the public and our own employees."
Burnett said that KSP leadership has met with current female troopers to learn what they can do as an agency to attract more women as applicants.
"The culture of KSP, we've evolved tremendously over the past several years," Burnett said. "And our department objectives have become more focused on creating a more inclusive and friendly environment for all."
When asked about the allegations that the environment at KSP wasn’t welcoming to women, Gov. Beshear said that all workplaces should be free of discrimination.
"We are better with everybody's collective talent," Gov. Beshear said. "People deserve to be treated as professionals. Period."
