EDMONTON - In the final year of her Edmonton police career, Monique Prefontaine claims she was intimidated, harassed and saw her reputation eroded by gossip and innuendo.

She became a pariah, Prefontaine tearfully testified yesterday to the Law Enforcement Review Board, for breaking the so-called police code of silence and reporting other cops' alleged misconduct.

Prefontaine, who eventually won an out-of-court settlement with the Edmonton Police Service claiming unbearable working conditions, alleged that aside from being bullied, she was blocked from career advancement. The amount of the settlement has never been revealed.

"I couldn't accept how I was being treated any more," she said, wiping her eyes.

Prefontaine was testifying at a hearing into the notorious "no rats" T-shirts worn by members of her former downtown division squad, known as C2, at a police slo-pitch tournament in 2005.

She claimed that the shirt, which bore the number 440 with a red circle and line through it, was in part directed at her. The number is a code in a national police database for anyone who wears a mouse or rat tattoo.

In 2006, the cop who designed the shirt, Sgt. Dave Pelech, was reprimanded and suspended without pay for two weeks. No action was taken against the other officers who wore the shirts.

The Criminal Trial Lawyers Association is appealing those decisions, arguing that the issue needs to be dealt with more seriously.

In 2004, Prefontaine had filed a grievance that included serious allegations against some of her squadmates.

The allegations led to internal investigations against four cops in C2. One was suspended and the other three were reassigned, effectively disbanding the squad.

No details of Prefontaine's allegations were made public during the hearing. LERB chairman Edward Lawson said they had already been dealt with, and Prefontaine could only talk about the alleged bullying.

"At the end of the day we're not here to second-guess what is already decided by the EPS," he said.

Prefontaine testified that it was "well-known" by residents of the inner city that "there were certain police officers you would not want to cross because it could potentially be a difficult situation."

After she complained, she said she was "blackballed."

Other cops, not from the squad, would glare at her, tell her to f--- off and call her names. She claimed she was assaulted twice by women.

Meanwhile, she said she was "being unfairly scrutinized" by her sergeant and the squad's senior constable.

The final straw came in July 2005, when Prefontaine was informed she was being forcibly transferred out of C2 and into communications. That's when she filed the grievance.

But the other cops' lawyer suggested that her allegations were "baseless."

Robert Abells suggested that much of the harassment she claimed had nothing to do with C2. He suggested that the grief she was getting was due to a messy divorce she was going through at the time with her then-husband, who was also a city cop.

Prefontaine acknowledged that much of the gossip about her -- that she was having extramarital affairs with other police officers -- was being spread by her ex.

Abells suggested that up until things started going downhill, she got along fine with Pelech.

Abells quoted a card Pelech claimed she gave him, along with a Washington Redskins T-shirt.

"When you wear this, I hope it reminds you how much I appreciate you as a sergeant," he read. "Thanks for all your support."

Prefontaine now owns and operates a Calgary yoga studio.

andrew.hanon@sunmedia.ca