Hidden cameras filmed more than 70 women in a police academy's showers and locker rooms: lawsuit

A group of women has filed a lawsuit against the West Virginia State Police, accusing the force of creating a “culture of misconduct toward women" that led to accusations that officers placed hidden cameras in women's locker rooms and showers.

A plaintiff in the lawsuit, identified as Jane Doe, is described as a current state police employee who “is known to have been videotaped while using the female shower and locker facilities at the training academy," CNN reported.

Jane Doe's lawyer, Teresa Toriseva, is also representing about 70 other women, including minors who participated in a junior program at the academy and have made similar allegations.

“It’s a hostile, misogynistic, toxic environment,” Toriseva said, referring to the state police and training academy. “That’s not just male-dominated, it’s anti-woman.”

“We think that the story that has been told is not the full story, that it’s much worse, that there were more people involved,” Toriseva said. “We think there’s a cultural problem.”

Officer Brenda Lesnett, who is among the first women to speak out about the scandal and who graduated from the academy in 2016, said she was “shocked” and “appalled” to learn about the recordings.

“And the more I thought about it the angrier I got,” she said. “Sitting here today, I still feel exposed. And I’m constantly wondering who’s going to see me next? Who has already seen me. It’s very nerve-racking."

Also speaking out was Megan Talkington, who discouraged her daughter from becoming a police officer due to the culture at the academy.

“I would tell her, ‘No.’ I would not want my daughter to walk through the halls of the West Virginia State Police Academy until there’s reform. I just don’t think she’d be safe,” Talkington said.

Both Talkington and Lesnett say they fear being retaliated against for speaking out.

Read the full story over at CNN.