(Council Bluffs) A former Council Bluffs police officer is suing the city in federal court, alleging gender discrimination and retaliation.
Miranda Adams, 36, who began working for the Council Bluffs Police Department in 2012, alleges she was fired in 2023 after she filed a complaint of discrimination and harassment with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The lawsuit claims that on Sept. 11, 2023, the Civil Service Commission for the City of Council Bluffs overturned the city’s decision to fire Adams, but the city has refused to reinstate Adams. Her lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for alleged violations of state and federal civil rights laws.
Adams alleges her problems began in March 2020 when, after several months of alleged harassment from a male coworker, she filed a formal internal complaint of gender harassment discrimination. In her lawsuit, she says she was not made aware of the ultimate findings of the complaint investigation, but that her direct superior, Sgt. Robert Radford, was given a written reprimand as a result of the complaint.
Subsequently, Radford and Lt. Chad Meyers, both of whom were named in Adams’ complaint, allegedly handled Adam’s performance evaluation. While her past reviews had been excellent, Adams claims, her 2020 evaluation was “decidedly negative” and made specific reference to her harassment complaint.
Adams appealed the evaluation, which according to her lawsuit led to an amended evaluation that resulted in higher scores for job performance and omitted any reference to her complaint.
On Aug. 26, 2021, the last day of her 2021 evaluation period, Radford allegedly issued Adams a disciplinary action notice following an “interaction” of some kind between the two surrounding a controlled-substance purchase by a police informant. Radford allegedly felt that Adams showing him a page from her training manual concerning informants was “discourteous and disrespectful.”
Adams then filed a formal grievance on the matter, arguing the notice was retaliation for her prior complaint and that she feared “further retaliation and slander” by the police department.
According to the lawsuit, the city rejected Adams’ appeal and in August 2022, she was the target of an internal affairs investigation concerning her interrupting fellow officers during their interview of a suspect.
Adams alleges she was never made aware of the outcome of the internal affairs probe, and that in October 2022 she was the subject of another internal affairs investigation, this time stemming from concerns that she was rude to Radford.
Adams then filed charges of retaliation, discrimination, failure to promote and harassment with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the EEOC. The city subsequently fired Adams, alleging she had made untrue statements in her complaint to the commissions.
On April 13, 2023, Adams filed an appeal of her termination with the city’s civil service commission, which later issued a unanimous judgment overturning the City of Council Bluffs’ decision to fire Adams. The city refused to reinstate Adams.
As part her lawsuit, Adams says she is now unemployed and that it’s unlikely she will ever be “afforded the opportunity to work in law enforcement again” due to the city’s efforts to destroy her reputation.
The city has yet to file a response to the lawsuit, and the city attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
