Those charged with protecting the residents of Clinton Township are embroiled in yet another scandal.

Two township police officers have filed sexual-harassment claims against their department, saying colleagues have used slurs against them and refuse to work with them.

Last week, some members of the township fire department were accused of videotaping a topless woman.

In the police department, Officers Pat Sheehan and Erik Vicars say officers call them gay and use slurs to describe them. They said the other officers sometimes refuse to work with them, including in potentially violent situations.

Attorney Terry Kilgore is representing both men and said that each first went to township police Chief Michael Jones, but had no success.

Sheehan's complaint said matters became worse with his fellow officers after he requested an internal investigation.

Sheehan, 34, has been with Clinton Township police for six years and was assigned as Vicars' mentor when Vicars, 24, was hired last year. Jones wouldn't comment on the allegations and has forbidden Sheehan, Vicars and all other officers from talking about them.

“As the police department, we do nurture people's trust,'' Jones said. “We'll try to do everything to maintain that trust.''

Sheehan filed his complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Vicars' is filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.

The township's police department also is under scrutiny for a series of crude e-mails that township Police Lt. Anthony Pfeifer reportedly sent to some of his fellow officers and Chief Jones.

One of the e-mails included a picture of the back of a nude man shoveling a snowy walkway. The caption called the man the “snow fairy.''

Another e-mail showed a woman whose genitals were covered with duct tape. It said: “Redneck birth control.''

Apparently, the e-mails targeted a variety of people.

“It's beyond offensive,'' Kilgore said. “They (the e-mails) slammed women. They slammed gays. They slammed blacks. They slammed Hungarians.''

The township's board of trustees hired a private investigator in July to look into the officers' claims.

Meanwhile, the township's fire department is trying to restore its tarnished image.

Last week, WBNS-10 (Channel 10) received a videotape of a woman who took off her top in the Clinton Township firehouse while a handful of firefighters egged her on.

Clinton Fire Chief John Harris said this week that he believes it was an isolated incident, but said it has affected a lot of people.

“Every fire department in the state has a black eye … guilt by association,'' he said.

The incident is believed to have happened last summer.

None of the firefighters who can be seen in the video still works for the department. Lt. Douglas Brown resigned Friday after his bosses viewed the tape.

in addition, township trustees hired a private investigator in March to determine whether its fire department is a “hostile” work environment.

That probe isn't over, Harris said.

He said he expects there will be training for all of the township's firefighters, so they're clear on how to act professionally.

It won't be the first time. The township's fire and police departments had similar training five years ago. That happened after the Ohio Civil Rights Commission found that township police officers had been hostile toward a police officer of Jordanian descent, including calling him a terrorist.

Larry Wilkes, chairman of the township's board of trustees, said he's upset by the recent scandals.

“It presents a bad image. … Is this a circus or is this a township?''

ademartini@dispatch.com