He joined Tacoma police to help address racial biases. He now claims he became a victim

The former chief of staff for the Tacoma Police Department has sued the city, claiming there was racial bias and discrimination in the agency and that he was subjected to it during 18 months as TPD’s top civilian leader before his termination.

Curtis Hairston is Black and reported directly to Police Chief Avery Moore upon being hired in April 2022. Hariston alleges in a lawsuit recently filed in Pierce County Superior Court that the department’s hiring practices were biased and discriminatory toward Black applicants; discipline was handed down unevenly between Black and non-Black employees; and TPD had stripped down a program teaching about racial bias and violence in policing because it was too harsh for officers.

Hairston, who was with TPD until October, also claimed he was wrongly terminated after facing an ethics complaint allegedly intended to prevent him from scrutinizing the department.

“Curtis Hairston came to Tacoma, Washington in 2022 to try to help address racial biases and inequities within the Tacoma Police Department,” the lawsuit said. “Unfortunately, over the next year and a half, Mr. Hairston would be yet another in a long line of victims of insidious racism and discrimination within (TPD) and the City of Tacoma.”

Hairston was accused of having used his position to try to get his stepson hired. The ethics complaint was ultimately dismissed, and his behavior was determined to be “ill-advised, but not unethical,” according to the lawsuit.

The suit, which was filed April 18, said the department moved to fire Hairston less than a month after he was placed on administrative leave in September while the ethics complaint was investigated. KNKX Public Radio reported last year that Hairston resigned from TPD on Oct. 11, citing racial bias.

Jeff Musto, Hairston’s attorney, told The News Tribune on Thursday that he could not publicly speak specifically about his client’s departure except to say that Hairston received a notice of termination from the department on Oct. 11.

TPD declined to comment on the lawsuit or specific allegations from the filing.

“We do not comment on active litigation,” detective William Muse, a police spokesperson, said in an email. “Thanks for understanding.”

In a statement to KNKX for the story in November on Hairston’s exit, Moore said he took Hairston’s racial bias claims “very seriously” and was committed to “building a Police Department that is fair, just, and accountable.” The police chief added that the agency would “continue working to uphold the highest standards of conduct.”

Hairston is suing for discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and hostile work environment, and the suit is seeking a trial and unspecified damages, legal fees and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.

“If the Tacoma Police Department cannot police and stop discrimination within its own ranks, a big concern is how can the public trust it to protect and serve them impartially and fairly?” Musto told The News Tribune.

The chief of staff position manages administrative workers and drives the department’s long-term planning, according to a now-closed job posting seeking a replacement for Hairston on governmentjobs.com. It’s a “pivotal role in the heart of Tacoma’s law enforcement,” the posting said.

Hairston’s allegations against TPD

At Tollefson Plaza in June 2022, Hairston addressed attendees of Tacoma’s first “Juneteenth: Freedom Celebration” program, expressing optimism about how far the city had come on racial matters.

“Look around: We have a beautiful African American woman as my mayor. Our chief of police is a Black man. Our fire chief is a Black man,” he said. “In case you didn’t notice, your first ever chief of staff for the police department is a Black man. I counted all progress. I counted all willingness to change.”

That progress didn’t go as far as he had hoped inside TPD, according to the lawsuit, which laid out his claims.

Only roughly four Black officers were hired during Hairston’s stint, to his knowledge, and Black officers comprise about 3% of the force, according to the legal filing. Non-Black employees and job applicants were allegedly not held to the same scrutiny as Black counterparts.

The department allegedly tried to fail a Black woman who’d applied to be an officer because she had issues reversing a patrol vehicle, even though that skill wasn’t part of required testing.

An employee who spoke up for the Black applicant faced formal grievances and was transferred into another role, according to the lawsuit. When Hairston attempted to raise the issue of the applicant in an executive meeting, he said he was shut down.

The suit claimed that concerns about bias in TPD raised by several Black employees largely have gone unaddressed. Two Black civilian co-workers have complained about pay differential for Black workers, and the department has apparently gone years without an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission representative, according to the suit.

Hairston allegedly was told that TPD eliminated much of a training program with the National Network for Safe Communities, designed in part to address racial bias and violence in policing, because it was “too in your face.” Despite ending its contract association with the NNSC, TPD continued to promote its affiliation, including at City Hall, the suit said.

The lawsuit also claimed that Hairston’s boss didn’t appropriately intervene when problems were made clear.

After Hairston informed Moore that deputy chief Paul Junger, the department’s second in command, allegedly made comments to Hairston with racial connotations and harassed him, Moore allegedly told the two to work out any differences.

Hairston alleged Junger, whom he didn’t report to, once rudely instructed him to retrieve someone waiting for Junger. When Hairston told Junger that he might as well have said, “Boy, go fetch me my guest,” Junger allegedly replied: “No. You will go do it because I am your boss and if I said, ‘Boy, go wash my car,’ you will do that too.”

The filing also alleged Junger told Hairston, “You people are full of (expletive) and rude as hell” and tried to make Hairston meet with him outside of office hours and provide a doctor’s note not required of other employees.

Hairston — who repeatedly received positive performance reviews, according to the lawsuit — came under fire soon before his departure. He was the subject of a probe into whether he had used his office in an attempt to benefit his stepson’s prospects of getting hired by the department.

The suit said Hairston’s stepson was weeded out by a background check, and Hairston acknowledged having asked the assistant chief of police, who was responsible for hiring, whether there was any procedure to follow once someone had been disqualified. He was told that a candidate could appeal the disqualification in writing. That was the extent of their interaction, according to the filing.

“Mr. Hairston did not reference his stepson in any way during the interaction,” the suit said.