Orland Cop Alleges Discrimination, Retaliation By Chief, Deputy Chief

ORLAND PARK, IL — Details on allegations of harassment and discrimination made against the Orland Park Police Department have come to light, with one officer consenting to have the specifics of his claims released.

Sgt. Bill Sanchez, an Orland Park police officer of nearly 20 years, is one of two employees Village officials acknowledge have lodged formal complaints against the department. Sanchez in November filed a complaint alleging racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation, naming both Chief Eric Rossi and Deputy Chief Brian West.

Sanchez, who identifies as Hispanic, claims that in not promoting him in rank as efficiently as his Caucasian colleagues, Rossi and West discriminated against him. In the formal complaint detailed in a report filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and provided to Patch, Sanchez also claims "more than three years of harassing and damaging false statements being broadcast" to his supervisors.

Village of Orland Park officials have hired an outside firm to investigate the claims of discrimination and harassment leveled against the department, they confirmed late last month. Officials declined to identify the complainants at that time, stating they were, "honoring the request of the complainant not to divulge information regarding this matter at this time."

Attorney Keith Karlson, of Karlson Garza McQueary, LLC and representing Sanchez, confirmed this week that Sanchez consented to his name being made public.

In his complaints, Sanchez accuses Rossi of "manufacturing verifiably false allegations" for his personnel file, and not promoting Sanchez based primarily on his Hispanic identity, according to the document.

"I feel, based on lack of other explanation from the Chief or Deputy Chief, these actions are based in part on my race as no other employees of similar situation with their own recent complaints were harassed with damaging actions or false documents served to them," Sanchez wrote in the complaint.

"A recent attempt to address the negative action resulted in the Chief creating a false and damaging document" to his personnel file, Sanchez continued.

In a second complaint, Sanchez alleges that in 2019, West retaliated against him after Sanchez voiced concern about shift assignments and questioned the promotion of another officer due to a policy violation. Sanchez filed complaints against West with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The promotion was halted; West was reprimanded and told to create "equal work schedules," Sanchez wrote.

As result, Sanchez alleges, West disclosed his claims to the EEOC in statements to his supervisors, referring to him as a "rat," "snake," and urging others not to trust him.

West has "verifiably been instructing (his) supervisors to take a negative and damaging view" of him, Sanchez wrote. Sanchez cites "professional career damage, public humiliation, damage to my character, reputation, and credibility based on false statements."

Village officials last month declined to provide specifics on the claims against the department, stating that they have received what they referred to as "conflicting complaints" from two police department employees, Village Manager George Koczwara said in an email to Patch in response to a Freedom of Information request filed at the time.

"The Village of Orland Park does not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment," Koczwara said. "We have a police department with an excellent track record, and we take every allegation very seriously.

"The allegations have not been substantiated, and we are in the process of investigating them."

The Village has hired outside law firm Clark Hill and a retired police executive from Gold Shield Detective Agency to conduct a third-party review of both complaints filed. Once that investigation is completed, the Village will take appropriate action, Koczwara said.

Koczwara said the investigation was ongoing at that time, and that they expected it to be completed within 30 days. The Village will release additional information and determine next steps at its conclusion.

"The Village has dedicated substantial resources and countless hours of manpower toward the review of these matters," Koczwara said Wednesday.

Koczwara declined to provide further information on the claims and parties involved.

"The Village has honored the request of one of the complainants to maintain discretion in this matter," he said. "We believe it to be most appropriate during an employment investigation to protect the identities of all involved, particularly the accused, and that providing names of involved individuals before the investigation is complete is irresponsible and unprofessional. We want to avoid damage to the reputations of any of the parties involved, and assure to the greatest extent possible that the investigation will be completed fairly and objectively."