Two Lakewood police officers suspended for offensive comments toward colleagues

Two Lakewood Police Department (LPD) officers were suspended for inappropriate comments made last year about colleagues’ sexuality and race in 2024, according to records obtained by The Tacoma News Tribune.

Sergeant Jason Catlett was suspended 10 days while Detective Noah Dier was suspended for five. They were originally demoted by LPD in July, but following arbitration, the department and the officers settled on the aforementioned suspensions.

According to The Tacoma News Tribune, the city’s investigations into Catlett and Dier were “mishandled” and resulted in “a very, very expensive arbitration.”

Catlett, a 19-year veteran with LPD, was the president of the Lakewood Police Independent Guild. Dier has been with the department for 16 years. The two officers were reinstated late last month and received back pay. In 2023, Catlett’s salary was $213,729, while Dier’s was $141,478.

The alleged inappropriate comments made by Catlett, Dier

Both Catlett and Dier targeted subordinates who are gay after launching “an open conversation about officers’ sexual preferences” with the intent “to identify the sexual orientation of fellow officers so they could be harassed with inappropriate jokes,” an outside investigator hired by the city found, according to The Tacoma News Tribune.

Catlett allegedly called a subordinate “gay,” “queer,” and a “f**” in front of others. He also provided a temporary password to a subordinate that insinuated he “loves gay boys.” Dier made similar comments to a homosexual colleague.

Dier also made jokes “with racially-hostile intent” related to the n-word, according to the outside investigator. He was also allegedly accused of saying his brother wasn’t hired by the Tacoma Police Department because he is white and said the department is being “ruined” by DEI initiatives.

A pre-disciplinary hearing found that Catlett not only accepted responsibility for his actions, but apologized and expressed regret, claiming the comments were only jokes made out of “brotherly love.” The hearing did not draw the same conclusions for Dier, according to The Tacoma News Tribune, claiming he did not “appear to express any remorse or responsibility” for his behavior.

Arbitrator Susan Bauman found that “some level of discipline is warranted” against Dier and against Catlett, “for both his actions and his inactions as a supervisor,” according to arbitration records, obtained by The Tacoma News Tribune.

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