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A former Albuquerque police prisoner transport officer is suing the city and the Police Department saying she was harassed by fellow officers to the point she had to quit after she had reported officer misconduct — including the beating of suspects.

Her attorney, Brandt Milstein, with the law firm Youtz and Valdez, said transport officer Guadalupe Bell blew the whistle in March 2007. Since being hired the year before, Bell said she had seen officers abusing suspects, neglecting their bathroom and water requests and abusing city vehicles and work-hour reporting procedures.

"Guadalupe Bell . . . chose not to stay silent, and blew the whistle, and she was retaliated against," Milstein said. It was "particularly harsh retaliation for not only being a woman who blew the whistle, but for being a (Hispanic) woman who blew the whistle," he said.

Milstein said he plans to file a lawsuit in state District Court in Albuquerque today.

The Prisoner Transport Unit was created in 2006 to release patrol officers from the two-hour round trip to and from the Metro Detention Center, on the city's far West Side. People under arrest were dropped off with the unit, composed of officers who graduated from a condensed version of the Police Academy.

Police Chief Ray Schultz said Bell's reports were handled according to procedure and her whistle-blowing resulted in six officers being disciplined, including a demotion, reprimands and several terminations.

Regardless, Milstein said, the lawsuit is about what happened to Bell after she blew the whistle.

The lawsuit says that the APD Internal Affairs Department detective investigating Bell's allegations should have kept her name confidential but instead told a colleague about the investigation.

"That resulted in all the retaliation," Milstein said, which included name-calling and other verbal harassment. "APD made it so difficult for her to be at work that any reasonable person would have resigned."

Milstein said the lawsuit seeks punitive damages and compensation for lost wages and suffering.