(Facebook.com/Massachusetts State Police)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Was a trooper working at the State Police Academy disciplined more harshly than male colleagues because she was a woman?
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination is looking into claims from a female trooper that she was treated unfairly by the academy--an accusation the department vehemently denies.
The female trooper says the problems began when a male colleague at the academy with whom she was reportedly romantically involved brought a hard drive into work that contained nude pictures of women, organized by body part.
She says she broke up with and reported him--and claims that's when trouble started for her.
In her complaint with the commission against discrimination, the trooper claims other male colleagues began a campaign of retaliation--including reporting her for an older incident in which she pranked her then-boyfriend with a dummy Taser, which violated policy.
She claims she was subject to disciplinary action harsher than that given any of her male colleagues, and that the male trooper got what amounted to a "slap on the wrist."
Public Safety Secretary Dan Bennett told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones that the MCAD was exactly where the complaint belongs.
"I wouldn't say that that has to do with the academy," Bennett said. "I would say that has to do with two individuals, whether that happened at a barracks, whether that happened at headquarters, whether that happened anywhere in the State Police."
He emphasized the importance of transparency going forward.
"The important thing is for us to deal with each problem, and it's only when you deal with each problem and bring it out in the open and make sure that nothing is hidden from the public that you're going to get public confidence back, if public confidence has been lost," he said.
Both troopers were transferred.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones reports