Lawsuit Accuses School Police of Sleeping on Duty

The photographs appear to show several uniformed school officers in the driver's seats of parked squad cars with eyes shut and, in some cases, heads leaning back.

The pictures emerged in a suit against the Compton Unified School District, which operates the 34-member police department. The case was filed by a white ex-officer and two Latino officers who contend that they were treated differently from black colleagues within the predominantly African American department.

Former Officer Mark Shiva, who at one time served as president of the police officers union, and current Officers Victor Ayala and Sergio Reynoso allege that they were hit with racial slurs, ridiculed and retaliated against after lodging complaints against black colleagues.

Shiva, who was fired after the suit was filed in 2005, took the photographs within the last two years, according to testimony in the case. Shiva shot the pictures to prove that colleagues were sleeping on duty.

According to testimony, all of the officers accused of sleeping in patrol cars are black. But in the background of one photo, a white officer also appears to be sleeping.

When the conduct was brought to the attention of supervisors, none of the officers was disciplined, authorities said.

During Sgt. James Bradford's deposition in March, he recalled being shown one of the pictures and thinking it was of such poor quality that he could not be sure it was even him in the photograph.

When pressed by an attorney as to whether he had ever slept on the job, Bradford responded by saying, "Let me clarify sleeping." He said that any officer on the night shift who denied sleeping "is lying."

"Sleeping, you can pull your car up to the site and

Asked if it was permitted to take a nap on the job, Bradford said, "Your lunch break is your time."

Other police employees, however, testified that Bradford and other officers sometimes slept when not on breaks.

Police dispatcher Gwendolyn Holmes testified that she had seen Bradford sleeping on duty and estimated that it occurred at least 10 times over an unspecified two-month period. Occasionally, she said, she had heard him snoring.