Former chief files suit against Glasgow, cites gender discrimination

By Allyson Dix, JPI

Citing gender discrimination and constructive discharge, a former Glasgow police chief has filed a lawsuit against the City of Glasgow.

Jennifer Arbogast, who was hired as an officer in 2002, and promoted to police chief in 2019, filed suit on March 29 in the Barren County Circuit Court. She was the city’s first female police chief and, according to court documents, experienced routine comments of gender discrimination.

Glasgow Mayor Henry Royse more or less terminated Arbogast soon after his mayoral oath at the turn of the year in 2023. Court documents state that on Feb. 14, 2023, Royse, in a phone call, issued Arbogast an ultimatum to retire or he would terminate her. It also states Royse was “unable to provide any legitimate reason” when Arbogast questioned him.

Former city council member, Sherri Eubank, said in a sworn affidavit, that she was with Arbogast the day Royse called her and heard the conversation via speakerphone.

“During the conversation, Mayor Royse could not provide any reason why he was removing Arbogast from her position,” Eubank said. “Upon Arbogast requesting to decide her future until April 2023, Mayor Royse [ordered] her to ‘go to the station and get your stuff.’”

When pressed further, according to Eubank, Royse “vaguely responded, ‘It’s time for a change,’” and ordered her to not enter back into the building.

Eubank says she also witnessed, during Arbogast’s tenure as police chief, “many discriminatory comments by city employees and citizens regarding a female Chief, including, but not limited to: a) “The department needs to be run by a male,” and b) “Women have no business running a police department.”

Arbogast declined to sign a form presented to her by the City that stated, in part, that her resignation / retirement was a voluntarily-made decision, and instead, submitted her own statement saying she had no intentions of retiring and was resigning due to the conversation with the mayor stating no reason given or documentation supporting the coercion for her to exit her police chief role. It also said she felt she would be further retaliated against if she chose to stay.

According to court documents, Arbogast filed both verbal and written complaints to former and current human resources managers “specifically regarding the discriminatory comments and sexual harassment she was subjected to on a severe and pervasive basis” dating back to July 2022 through her discharge date.

Former GPD officer Howard Garrison filed a sworn affidavit witnessing such remarks regularly such as “Women don’t belong in law enforcement,” and “She’s soft” due to being a woman.

Garrison also said, “Looking back at the beginning of her employment as a Police Officer, the GPD was not ready for a woman to be in law enforcement” and “its Officers had always been used to a male being the Police Chief.”

The lawsuit alleges that other city employees outside the police department were witnessed to have also made discriminatory remarks related to her ability to serve in the role as chief based on her being a female, according to the lawsuit.

It specifically names four city employees, with three of them being police officers, as having made disparaging and/or discriminatory remarks, of whom the Progress has chosen to withhold those names due to allegations that have yet to be proven.

In Feb. 2023, Royse told the Barren County Progress the move was not “personal at all” and it was “just time for a new coach.” He also said at the time that the department had suffered the loss of 12 officers (time frame of those losses are currently unclear) and “we just want to retain officers.”

The lawsuit cites two other media outlets with conflicting statements from Royse on the matter, and to one outlet, he stated “Well, no,” when asked if he requested Arbogast’s resignation. Another outlet reported that Royse stated he did ask Arbogast to resign in a private, face-to-face conversation.

In early Feb. 2023, a series of anonymous e-mails surfaced that the Progress reported on in March 2023. Those e-mails were sent to the mayor and councilmembers “contained disparaging, defamatory, and blatantly false allegations” against Arbogast and GPD Maj. Terry Flatt. The mayor, according to the lawsuit, issued a cease and desist letter to the anonymous sender citing the process for grievances and complaints that requires signed oaths and credible proof, and no formal grievances were filed during her tenure as chief.

It also alleges the mayor “unilaterally decided to constructively discharge Arbogast due to the emails and character assassinations, failing to investigate the validity or accuracy of the emails or speak with Arbogast regarding the same,” and instead “retaliated against” her for engaging in legally protected complaints to the City.

Arbogast’s employment officially ended April 1, 2023 as chief, and Flatt was named interim police chief until the re-hiring of Chief Guy Howie.

The lawsuit requests a trial by jury and compensatory damages.

Currently, Arbogast serves as an officer with the Horse Cave Police Department.