Punishment Policy: Give 'Em a Break

A similar case involved Sgt. Dante Starks. An extensive investigation found that Starks had verbally and physically harassed five female officers between 1989 and 1993. A top-level review panel, which characterized the sergeant's behavior as "hostile and offensive," issued a stern memo in August 1994 that warned: "Collectively, these incidents indisputably support the finding that [Starks's] actions were at times criminal.... The liability in Sergeant Starks's behavior is too great to assume, for himself, the department, and those female employees with whom he may interact in the future." As detailed in the New Times article "Dante's Inferno" (April 13), two sources familiar with the case say the sergeant's own supervisor urged his superiors to consider firing him. Instead Stark was demoted one rank and reassigned to a unit that patrols Miami International Airport.

Cmdr. Harriet Janosky admits that the department may have made some errors in the past. "I also think that the department has made a real effort to correct these issues so that they don't recur," she says. "It's a learning process. Currently we have a very stringent policy, [but] I think that as long as human beings are involved, there is no fool-proof system.