Mt. Prospect officer pursuing discrimination claim

A 21-year veteran of the Mount Prospect Police Department - and its first Hispanic detective - said he'll pursue a discrimination claim against the village even though two internal complaints were rejected as lacking merit.

Lee Schaps, a onetime runner-up for Officer of the Year, said he'll turn to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to press his case.

Schaps, an investigator and director of training with the Major Case Assistance Team, said he believes he has been passed over for promotion to sergeant because he is a minority. Four white officers who were promoted over him lack his awards, experience and educational background, he said.

However, his complaints of discrimination and a hostile work environment were denied by the village, and an appeal to the village manager's office was rejected.

Schaps is one of two officers who filed discrimination complaints recently through an internal process. Both were denied. The appeal of the other officer, Johmel Henderson, who is black, is pending, the village said.

According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Mount Prospect Human Resource Director Joan P. Bokina said in response to Schaps' complaint that Schaps ranked fifth on a list of officers eligible for promotion published in March 2011.

"There have been four promotions since then, those being the individuals ranked 1-4 on the promotion list," she wrote.

Village Manager Michael Janonis said the documents speak for themselves.

"We don't discriminate," he added.

Schaps claims that the village and the police management team did not fill a vacant commander position in 2011, which would have opened another sergeant position. The document denying Schaps' appeal, prepared by Assistant Village Manager David Strahl, states the decision to leave the position open was budget driven.

Schaps, in the documents obtained under FOIA, points out there are thousands of Spanish speakers living in Mount Prospect and says he has conducted hundreds of investigations and interrogations entirely in Spanish "that no one else could do."

The situation could be rectified by new Police Chief Tim Janowick, Schaps said.

"He could walk in here right now and say, 'Lee, you're promoted.' But I don't see that happening," he said.

Janowick said he is limited in what he could say about Schaps' case.

"We have a vision for this organization, and we're going to be moving forward," he said.

Schaps also filed a hostile work complaint after Janowick used the word "nonsense" at a roll call. He believes the term was used in reference to his discrimination complaint.

However, in village documents, Strahl states Janowick actually said, "We could get caught up in the nonsense of chasing rumors, speculation and innuendo," or "we could go out and be good cops by remaining focused on our duties and let administration handle the situation."

Schaps said he loves his job and loves Mount Prospect, the village where his grandfather owned stores in Randhurst mall and his parents worked and eventually met as well.

He said while he will continue to work as an officer, he has given up on seeking promotion.

"I didn't want to go through the emotional stress and humiliation of taking another test," he said.