WATERLOO REGION — A retired police superintendent is joining the lawsuit against Waterloo Regional Police, saying she experienced similar sexual harassment and gender discrimination when working as an officer.

Retired superintendent Rita Westbrook said she was routinely mocked by her colleagues and heard disparaging remarks from her peers and supervisors.

Westbrook, who retired in 2010, said she can't speak to the details alleged by the lead plaintiffs in the suit, but as a female officer she was the target of unwanted sexual advances. She has joined as a class member.

"When are we ever going to get parity and be treated equally?" Westbrook asked in an interview Wednesday.

This week, a hearing into the proposed class-action lawsuit against the police alleging sexual harassment and gender discrimination is being heard in a Brampton courtroom.

The five-day hearing will look at whether the suit will be certified as a class action. A judgment is expected to be made at a later date.

The lawsuit is led by three lead plaintiffs who allege the police service and the police board are part of a culture of sexual harassment and misogyny.

The plaintiffs are Const. Angelina Rivers, former constable Sharon Zehr, and former superintendent Barry Zehr, who retired a year ago and is married to Sharon Zehr.

Additional witnesses have filed affidavits in support of the lawsuit.

Westbrook joined the force in 1975 at 20 and climbed the ranks to superintendent. She is the second female to rise to the position of superintendent.

She recalls walking into the then Galt division in Cambridge and the men "had bets on us and how long we were going to last."

It was common to hear male colleagues say, "We don't want women here."

At one in-service training session, she recalls a male supervisor asking the female officers to line up to see how tall they were.

"I did as I was told. I didn't know what was going on," said Westbrook, who recalls the deputy chiefs being in the room.

Instead of seeing how tall the women were, they were comparing breast size, she said.

In another incident, while female officers were acting as decoys in Waterloo Park, the male supervisor referred to the women as "broads" and the male officers as constables.

"We were all constables," she said. "He never once referred to me by my name."

When she was sent to the Waterloo detachment in 1991, she was welcomed by a male supervisor who said, "I hope you don't get knocked up" in front of other sergeants.

The gender harassment continued as she rose up the ladder.

As a staff sergeant, she was invited to another meeting of staff sergeants but when she arrived the male supervisor told her to leave because she had nothing to contribute in front of the others.

"I was so humiliated," recalls Westbrook, who was approached by another male supervisor who apologized for the man's remarks.

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Westbrook said the blatant sexual advances decreased once she married fellow officer John Westbrook.

Westbrook, who died last year, retired as a superintendent in 1993.

At a meeting about dealing with street prostitution in downtown Kitchener, an inspector joked with her when she arrived by car rather than walking to the meeting nearby.

"You afraid one of the johns will approach you," he said to her.

"I was incensed," she recalls and approached the inspector, and he dismissed the comment as a joke.

While on the job, Westbrook took university courses at Wilfrid Laurier University and eventually received a sociology degree "to escape from getting sucked into the black hole of craziness."

Westbrook said she decided to come forward when the lawyer defending the service said police would "vigorously" defend their position against the lawsuit and referred to the women's allegations as "untrue, exaggerated and misleading."

Kitchener lawyer James Bennett, who represents Waterloo Regional Police, did not want to comment on the court proceedings.

"As tough as I am, I got teary-eyed as I put this stuff to paper," Westbrook said.

Westbrook said there were also plenty of male colleagues and supervisors who advocated for her and often apologized for others who insulted her.

"There were wise people who saw the injustices but they were helpless to do anything," she said.

lmonteiro@therecord.com, Twitter: @MonteiroRecord