A Honolulu police officer filed a lawsuit against the department Friday alleging whistleblower retaliation after she reported male training academy staff who allegedly discriminated against female recruits and engaged in sexual relations with others.
The civil action, filed Friday in Oahu Circuit Court, also names the city and Lt. Bienvenido Villaflor II, Maj. Paul Okamoto and Maj. Manuel Hernandez III, who all were assigned to the Honolulu Police Department’s Ke Kula Makai training academy in Waipahu at the time the alleged discrimination took place between May 2022 and September 2023.
Sgt. Sheri Taflinger was assigned to the training academy and was in charge of the 207th recruit class and the Field Training and Evaluation Program. FTEP takes new recruits out into patrol districts and pairs them with on-duty officers.
Villaflor, Okamoto and Hernandez allegedly engaged in “pervasive discrimination, sexual harassment, sex discrimination and whistle blower retaliation” against Taflinger.
Villaflor is allegedly the subject of five sexual harassment complaints and was reassigned to police District 4, which covers Kaneohe, Kailua and Kahuku.
The lawsuit also alleges “gender discrimination, sexual harassment, pervasive over-sexualization of female officers and HPD sponsored sex orgies and subsequent retaliation” against Taflinger for reporting illegal behavior and violations of HPD policies and standards of conduct.
Retaliation from the department led to Taflinger being...
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