Barrington police face harassment suit

A female former employee of the Barrington Police Department filed suit against her ex-supervisors and the department, alleging her complaints of sexual harassment were ignored. Denise Kauffman filed suit this week in U.S. District Court, alleging a sergeant in the department sexually harassed her by commenting about her body, photographing her buttocks, sending her pornographic e-mail and trying to intimidate her from testifying against him at a police board hearing in 2006.

The suit, filed Thursday by her attorney Keith L. Hunt, contends the department was aware of other complaints of harassment against the sergeant but allowed him to continue working there nonetheless, forcing Kauffman to leave rather than keep working with him.

The police department declined to comment on the suit.

The suit does not say what job Kauffman held at the department.