EDITORIAL:

Last week the Independent praised the Huntington Beach Police Department for its heavy-handed response to the Fourth of July riots of the mid-1990s. The efforts helped decrease the violence over the years, and provide residents and visitors a safe holiday.

It appears another city vice needs to be squashed, and this time, the department must look within.

It seems the very department that exists to bring order to the city cannot protect its own employees from feeling discriminated against.

Former Officer Adam Bereki, 29, recently won $150,000 to end his suit, which alleged harassment by his fellow employees because of his sexual orientation, as part of a settlement voted on by the City Council in April. He will also receive a $4,000-per-month disability payment for the rest of his life from officer retirement funds, which could add up to $2 million or more.

And now, Catherine Denise Cranford, a former city jailer who was in the closet about her homosexuality, is suing the city and police department, alleging her peers harassed her with rumors of her sexual orientation.

Bereki said he complained to supervisors, yet nothing was done. Department officials claim an investigation was conducted by an outside group, but no one was reprimanded in that case.

Cranford’s case shows that this spirit of inaction is not an isolated incident.

Saying that an investigation was conducted for Bereki’s case, yet showing that nothing in the department has changed, won’t cut it.

“The timing of this conduct suggests an unwelcomeness of people who are non-heterosexual inside the workplace,” said J. Bernard Alexander, III, Cranford’s lawyer. “With my client, how difficult would it have been to call people having these discussions and say ‘Look, this is inappropriate?’”

How difficult indeed. Had the police taken this same route with the Fourth of July violence of the mid-’90s, the city would still be fending off riots on the holiday.

Keep in mind that even though no harassment was proven, the city still ends up shelling out about $2 million overall in Bereki’s case, with possibly more if Cranford’s case is settled. That’s money that, because of actions or perceived actions of a few, won’t be going to much-needed city projects, such as roads and education.

Not only do these cases give all officers — respectable or not — a bad reputation, but the cases bring negative national attention to a city that aims to be known for its welcoming, friendly attitude.

And most of all, these cases show that at least two city employees felt unsafe and unwanted in their own working environment.

In 1997, the city spent more than $115,000 to ensure a safe and quiet Fourth of July. The city has just spent $150,000 to make Bereki’s case go away.

But settlements aren’t a permanent solution.

The city and police department need to work together to make sure no future employees ever feel the way these two individuals felt.

This entails taking every precaution necessary so that, like the riots of the mid-’90s, lawsuits and discrimination — perceived or real — become a thing of the past.