ARMENIAN-AMERICAN COPS ALLEGE DISCRIMINATION IN GLENDALE

KTLA News
8:06 PM PST, January 25, 2010.

A group of cops is suing the Glendale Police Department over alleged
discrimination. (Glendale News-Press / file photo / January 25, 2010)

GLENDALE – In a city with a population that’s nearly half
Armenian-American, four current law enforcers and one former officer
with Armenian heritage are suing the Glendale Police Department for
discrimination.

The suit was filed in federal court last week by officers John
Balian and Robert Parseghian, sergeants Vahak Mardikian and Tigran
Topadzhikyan, and former officer Benny Simonzad, who was once the
department’s spokesman.

The cops allege that they were subjected to ethnic epithets, harsher
reprimands and closer scrutiny as a result of their heritage.

Simonzad was demoted from his position as spokesman and then fired
in 2008. He’s also suing to get his job back.

City Attorney Scott Howard calls allegations of discrimination in
the Glendale department "utterly false."

The cops’ attorney, Carney Shegerian, noted that officers of
Armenian heritage are underrepresented on the force in relation to
Armenian-Americans’ population numbers in Glendale.

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