#Ex-NYPD chief demoted by police commissioner due to her gender: lawsuit

A former high-ranking cop who built a decades-long career in the NYPD was locked out of top-tier positions in the department because of her gender, she claimed in a suit filed Monday.

Lori Pollock, a former three-star chief, claims in the Manhattan federal suit that Police Commissioner Dermot Shea specifically discriminated against her when he refused to consider her for a promotion — and instead demoted her to a position where she answered to a civilian.

Shea’s apparent disregard for women holding top positions in the department became clear to Pollock when she attended a transition meeting in 2019, the suit states.

As she gave a presentation about her role as chief of bureau of crime control strategies, Shea was “distracted looking at his telephone for most of Pollock’s presentation,” according to the suit.

At the end of the meeting, Pollock asked that she be considered for the role of chief of detectives, which is a typical career trajectory for someone who served as the chief of crime control strategies, according to the suit.

Instead, Pollock says, she was demoted by Shea to be the chief of collaborative policing, a job that was previously held by a civilian.

The role would be supervised by the newly created “Bureau of Community Partnerships,” which Shea announced would be led by Chauncey Parker, who is also a civilian, according to the suit.

“In sum, by this reorganization process, Shea demoted Pollock, a female 3-star chief, to a role subordinate to Parker, a male, civilian whose prior experience and qualifications are unrelated to police operations and management,” the suit states.

“Pollock was far more qualified than Parker to lead BCP,” it adds.

Shea rubbed in the demotion at a meeting at his conference room that was called to announce a promotion ceremony for top executives in the department.

Pollock, who used to sit three seats away from the commissioner in her role as chief of crime control strategies, had to sit on the other side of the table because of her new title.

In front of the top executives in the department, Shea shouted to Pollock: “Hey Lori how do you like it at the other end of the table?” the suit states.

“This remark was disrespectful, disparaging and denigrating, by design,” Pollock claims in the suit.

“By this remark, Shea also showed his absolute disregard for his adverse treatment of Pollock,” the suit adds.

Pollock resigned from the department last week after concluding she would never be given promotion opportunities because of her gender, according to the suit.

She claims in the suit that Shea passed her over for promotions because of her gender and promoted underqualified men to top-tier positions in the department.

She’s seeking a jury trial and a judgment that will force Shea and the city to state they violated the equal protection rights of women with the suit.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to request for comment.