Dallas Police Department sued by two female officers

Two female Dallas police officers filed a federal lawsuit claiming the Dallas Police Department took them off frontline duty because they are women. Fox 4's Lori Brown is live in Dallas with this story. Lori Eden, this ordeal started when the Dallas Police Department downgraded every female officer in the fugitive unit. Leaders essentially benched a total of four women in 2025, moving them from operational status to partially operational. This is Officer Meredith Lefwich. She is a member of the Fugitive Task Force and a huntress and a mother and a 96% shooter. An awesome, awesome human being. Officer Meredith Ann Leftwich and Senior Corporal Kimberly Howard are not allowed to speak with us on camera, but I did get to meet them here at Fox 4 News. Senior Corporal Kimberly Howard, who is also a mother to four and a highly decorated Dallas police officer. Their attorney, Jody Neal, says the reason for their downgraded status was not based on their abilities, but rather discriminatory reasons. Trainer cited Howard's physical stature and simply her size and said another woman was too nice to pull. Pull the trigger. I think that everything you see here reflects a hostile work environment that treats high-qualified, dependable, trustworthy females as disposable. Jennifer Atherton, president of the Dallas Police Women's Association, says when she asked about the officers being sidelined, she was met with more discriminatory comments by Major Gerald Smalley. And he says, now, Jennifer, let me ask you, how many women are in SWAT right now? And I said, I don't know. If there's any women in SWAT right now, and he said, well, there's not, and maybe there's a reason for that. Yeah, that's my reaction. Howard and Leftwich were later moved back to operational status, where they continue to serve today. What about the leaders that made these decisions? What happened to them? Nothing happened to them. Nothing. There was no accountability. My goal, I would like to see the files wiped clean. Maybe an apology, maybe a public statement. I would also like to obtain critical discovery so that we can learn exactly how severe and pervasive gender discrimination is at DPD. What gets me fired up about this and keeps me talking about it and fighting for it is that these two ladies are exemplary officers. They are good at their job. They're outstanding in aspects of their jobs where some of their male colleagues do not meet. The same standard as they do. I reached out to both the Dallas Police Department and the city of Dallas for comment. A city spokeswoman responded that due to the pending litigation, the city has no response at this time. The federal court runs on a strict schedule and the next step in this process is likely discovery.