Three white Phoenix police officers are complaining that their superiors disregarded their seniority and instead picked women and minorities to work the plum assignment of the presidential inauguration in January, reports the Arizona Republic. The three officers, each with 20 or more years of service, were not chosen for the 40-member security detail, which will travel to Washington, D.C., for four days to do such tasks as traffic control.
Officers Barry Jacobs, Harold Ivey and Mike Jessie say the Phoenix Police Department violated the union contract that states that seniority must be the factor to make assignments. “Everybody that is going is either female or a minority,” said Will Buividas, treasurer and chief contract negotiator with the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association that represents police officers. The officers were selected by seniority in each ethnic and gender category proportional to the department’s makeup, said Commander Geary Brase of the department’s Homeland Defense Bureau.