An SRJC District Police dispatcher who has been prevented from speaking undr threat of termination discusses the events leading to outside investigations.

A Santa Rosa Junior College District Police employee with intimate knowledge of investigations into misconduct within the police department came forward to clarify the allegations and to detail what she described as retaliation for her role in bringing the issues to light.

Vanessa Spaeth, a District Police dispatcher with nearly 24 years of experience in law enforcement, said she faced harassment and an arbitrary job reassignment after filing a sexual harassment grievance against the district police. Spaeth, along with two other employees, filed the grievances after being exposed to disturbing child pornography while working at the police headquarters, according to statements she shared with the Oak Leaf.

The Oak Leaf first reported Sept. 8 that the college hired a private investigator to look into allegations of promoting a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, padding overtime hours and possession of child pornography, reflecting the testimony of unnamed sources close to the investigation. The Press Democrat published an article on the investigations on Sept. 11.

Spaeth felt compelled to clarify what she felt were inaccuracies in the Press Democrat article, and to add details about the child porn exposure and subsequent retaliation. One point Spaeth wanted to make clear was that the thumb drive containing the child porn was a personal device owned by two district employees and should not have contained any evidence.

According to Spaeth and another anonymous source with knowledge of the circumstances, a Community Service Officer found the thumb drive plugged into a computer in an area outside the evidence room. While trying to determine who owned the drive, which was attached to a Mickey Mouse bobble head keychain, the CSO, Spaeth and one other district employee were exposed to more than 40 images of graphic sexual acts involving children.

“The images were very graphic. It’s not something we would have ever expected to see,” Spaeth said about the discovery. “It was very shocking. And then to find out it was a coworker’s personal device, to me that made it worse.” She added that the district’s policy on sexual harassment includes images and that none of the three employees exposed to the images were trained on how to deal with such material.

The computer that the thumb drive was plugged into is strictly reserved for a limited number of very important district police functions, such as audio call logging, keycard access to the entire district and control of the college security cameras, according to Spaeth. She said that if the disc in the CD bay was ejected, the district’s call audio recording system would have crashed, which never happened.

“It wasn’t a computer that evidence can be transferred to or from on any device,” Spaeth said. An employee’s personal thumb drive had no authorized reason to be plugged into the computer.

Spaeth described how SRJC District Police Chief Chief Matt McCaffrey reacted to the original complaints against the department. “Chief McCaffrey made it clear that he had decided this incident was not sexual harassment. [He] did not want the three victims/witnesses to file any complaints with human resources and wanted the entire incident kept quiet within the police department,” she stated in a document she gave to the Oak Leaf.

McCaffrey threatened termination for any employee that spoke about the incident, according to Spaeth – a fact verified by emails the chief sent to district employees that were shared with the Oak Leaf by anonymous sources within the department.

McCaffrey did not return repeated requests for comment by press time.

Chris Reynolds, the Santa Rosa-based private investigator hired by attorneys representing the college to conduct an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, completed his report and found that no sexual harassment had occurred. According to Spaeth’s attorney, the completion of Reynolds’ report freed Spaeth from her requirement to keep silent about the allegations and other matters within the department. Spaeth has filed an appeal with the SRJC Board of Trustees protesting Reynolds’ findings.

Spaeth said that within days of turning in the thumb drive and reporting the incident as per district policy, which requires employees to report any violations of the law or district policy, she was being harassed and intimidated at work.

She recalled an episode in which the owner of the thumb drive in question confronted her during a shift change. During the exchange the owner allegedly told Spaeth, “I don’t want to see any harm come to you,” which Spaeth assumed was a veiled threat, she said.

The next day, according to Spaeth, another employee who was a personal friend of the thumb drive’s owner called Spaeth a derogatory name and bumped into her and did not offer an apology.

On the same day as the name-calling incident, a sworn officer within the department sent out a text message to other officers requesting negative performance reviews on Spaeth with the indication that they would be used to initiate a complaint with human resources against her. A second source confirmed the existence of the texts by the officer.

Spaeth said the harassment seemed to be escalating and she feared for her safety, so she requested to be put on administrative leave pending the independent investigation.

Since the investigation was completed, Spaeth said the college is now requesting that she take what amounts to a demotion and loss of benefits by transferring her into a department and a position that she has no experience in.

Spaeth shared a letter that showed SRJC human resources officials want to move her to an administrative assistant position in the Kinesiology, Athletics and Dance department. It is a move that would prevent Spaeth from receiving raises and cost-of-living increases, she said. Spaeth said the college requested that she transfer because police department morale dropped after she filed the grievances.

“As you know, for some time there has been low morale and persistent conflict among various employees at the police department which has impaired the efficiency of aspects of departmental functions and operations. It is clear that changes are needed to improve the operational efficiency of that department. Accordingly, we have determined that the operational efficiency in the District Police department necessitates, among other actions, your transfer to a different assignment outside the department,” the human resources letter states.

The collective bargaining agreement between the school and the union specifically forbids a transfer as a substitute for discipline.

“There are two sides to every story,” said SRJC President Dr. Frank Chong. He added that he hadn’t been briefed about the matter by the investigator, and that it would be improper for him to comment given that it was a personnel matter.

Monica Chavez, a District Police employee, declined to comment on the specifics of the case. “Some people involved are like my family,” Chavez said. She added that the department was finally getting back to normal after a dark time. “We are starting to be ourselves and joke around, have potlucks. We just have to move forward and look at the bright side because if not it would just be bad.”

Spaeth, however, offered a different assessment of the workplace. “The current atmosphere at the district police department is that anyone who questions any action within the workplace will be punished, harassed, transferred and otherwise silenced,” she said.