COUNTYWIDE : Filipino to Head Sheriff’s Bias Panel

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department on Monday named its highest-ranking Filipino deputy to head a committee to investigate allegations of racism and sexism in the department.

Lt. Dante Honorico, 43, who will start in the newly created, full-time position immediately, will lead a committee of sheriff’s deputies to review the complaints, Undersheriff Larry Carpenter said. The other officers will be selected and nominated to the committee by Honorico, Carpenter said.

Last week, 11 of the department’s 15 black deputies filed claims against the county, complaining of racist and sexist behavior from their colleagues and supervisors ranging from derogatory jokes to a death threat. The claims, which collectively seek damages for more than $7.5 million and date back to 1980, also allege discriminatory practices in hiring, promotions, performance evaluations and salaries.

In response to complaints from minority sheriff’s deputies and county firefighters, the Board of Supervisors last week asked Sheriff John V. Gillespie and Fire Chief George Lund to meet with employees about the allegations.

In a news release issued Monday, Sheriff’s Department officials said the decision to form an investigative committee “may have been hastened by a recent Board of Supervisors’ decision to study the possibility of hiring an outside affirmative action officer. . . .” But Carpenter said Monday that the department had for several weeks been considering setting up a committee to look into complaints of discrimination. “It was in the works,” Carpenter said. “The only decision was who would head it.”