LOS ANGELES – Today, George Gascón released the following statement in response to a report detailing the experiences of 15 employees within the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office who describe a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation. The article concludes that, “Civil service job protections, coupled with an entrenched culture of retaliation against whistleblowers, make it unlikely that even a substantiated complaint of sexual harassment would result in termination of the harasser, prosecutors interviewed for this story said. Alternatively, they make it more likely that the complainant will suffer repercussions.” In response to the troubling revelations, George Gascón relesed the following statement:
“If the District Attorney isn’t protecting victims of sexual harassment in her own office, it highlights her inability to protect victims in the broader community,” said former District Attorney and Assistant Chief of the LAPD, George Gascón. “This is not an isolated incident, at least 15 people have been terrorized by a widespread culture that burries sexual harassment by retaliating against the victim. No one should have to work in fear, and this failure falls directly on management.”
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George Gascón grew up in Los Angeles after his family immigrated from Cuba. An army veteran, Gascón served as a Los Angeles Police Department Officer for 30 years, rising to the rank of Assistant Chief of Operations. In 2006 he became Chief of Police in Mesa, Arizona, where he stood up to the hateful and anti-immigrant policies of then Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In 2009, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascón Chief of Police. Newsom turned to Gascón again in 2011 when he tapped him to be District Attorney to fill the seat vacated by an outgoing Kamala Harris who had been elected Attorney General. During his tenure Gascón implemented reforms that are being duplicated across the country while overseeing violent crime and homicides drop to rates not seen in 50 years. After being elected to two terms, Gascón returned to Los Angeles to care for his elderly mother and to be closer to his two daughters and grandchildren in Long Beach. Gascón is married to Fabiola Kramsky, a three-time Emmy Award winning journalist and recipient of the “Premio Nacional de Periodismo,” the highest recognition given to journalists in Mexico.
For more information about George Gascón go to www.GeorgeGascon.org.