A former San Diego detective has accused the department of protecting her sergeant husband after she reported domestic abuse.
Allyson Ford, who joined the San Diego Police Department at the age of 16 as a Volunteer Cadet and went on to be named Officer of the Year in 2014, sued the precinct over allegations of retaliation, wrongful termination and discrimination.
She claims that the department systematically covered up complaints of violence by her then-husband, Sergeant Mitchell Ford and did not take appropriate action.
‘I wholeheartedly believed in the San Diego Police Department. I believed in the value and integrity and accountability that the badge represented. But in April 2020, my belief was shattered.
‘I’m speaking out today, not just for myself, but for everybody who has been failed by the system. The San Diego Police Department’s culture of retaliation and cover-ups must end,’ she said in a press conference.
In a lengthy lawsuit, the former officer claims that her husband assaulted her and endangered their then-2-year-old autistic son while intoxicated at their home in Escondido, California on April 9, 2020.
Allyson explained she was reportedly physically blocked, shoved into a wall and had her face pinned to a wall which resulted in a bruise under her left eye.
During the incident, Mitchell allegedly also threatened to shoot her and ‘repeatedly called her “bitch”, “cunt”, “slut”, “skank” and “whore” while in the presence of their son’.
According to court documents, ‘Sgt. Ford falsely accused Allyson of having an affair with another SDPD employee, referred to as “Detective Doe.”
‘Sgt. Ford even threatened to “swat” Detective Doe, which is the criminal practice of making a false call to the police in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address.
‘In other words, Sgt. Ford was threatening to abuse his police power to cause the cold-blooded execution of a fellow officer.
‘Sgt. Ford threatened to cause SDPD to terminate Allyson’s and Detective Doe’s employment, bragging he “had friends in high places in the department” and Allyson was “stupid” if she tried to resist.
The terrified detective ended up calling cops to her house and responding lieutenants from SDPD spoke to Escondido Police.
She ended up reporting felony domestic violence, DUI, harassment, threats and blackmail against Mitchell but to no avail.
Furthermore, Allyson claims that her husband was never arrested or forced to surrender his weapons despite a judge-granted restraining order against him.
After her report was lodged, the star detective revealed that department leaders began retaliating by denying her requests for leave and placing her under internal investigation multiple times.
Attorney John Gomez elaborated: ‘Instead of supporting her, the San Diego Police Department ignored these findings, dismissed crucial evidence and allowed her husband to remain armed and in the field.
‘We believe the evidence in this case will prove that instead of investigating her complaints, they dismissed her reports, and instead of protecting her and her young son, enabled her husband to avoid the consequences, retain his firearms, violate restraining orders and continued to threaten and torment her, all the while acting as an active duty police officer.’
Apart from this, the lawsuit further claims that the department’s management was providing Mitchell with confidential information about her complaints – including facts about her restraining order and child custody proceedings in order to protect the accused.
She submitted her resignation from her job in January 2024.
‘I tried to move on, and I tried to move forward. But you can’t do that when your department keeps putting you under investigation.
‘I really tried to stay and I tried to make it work, but the environment became so toxic I had no choice but to resign,’ she continued.
‘The San Diego Police Department, to me, was supposed to be my career, my life for the rest of my working life. And they ended that.’
She explained that she was speaking out to change the department’s ‘boys’ club’ culture and that she never wanted it to come to this.
‘This was by far the hardest decision I ever had to make. In the beginning, all I wanted was for this to just go away.
‘I never wanted my son to be able to Google this later and find out what’s happening.
‘This isn’t what anybody dreams of or wants, but it got so bad that I just couldn’t help but think that I would not have wished this treatment on my worst enemy.
‘And I hope that they take this as a chance to make changes so that it doesn’t happen again to anybody else. I hope it ends with me,’ Allyson said during yesterday’s conference.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. A court date has yet to be set.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the San Diego Police Department for a comment.