Wichita ? The city has denied allegations of sexual discrimination in response to a federal lawsuit filed by four female Wichita Police officers.

City lawyers filed their 12-page response to the July 29 lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court to answer claims of widespread discrimination and instances of harassment.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status and alleges that female officers have been discriminated against in areas of pay, assignments and promotions compared with their male counterparts. The female officers in the case said complaining about unequal treatment was met with retaliation.

In its answer, the city denied ignoring complaints and “deterring females from initiating complaints” and rejected the accusation that female officers are unequally treated.

The city has taken “reasonable care to prevent and correct discrimination and perceived discrimination,” the response said.

The lawyer representing the four female officers, Lawrence Williamson, said Friday that he was still reviewing the filing, but that he had expected the city to deny the allegations. The plaintiffs are officers Greta Semsroth, Kim Warehime, Sara Voyles and Heather Plush.

Among specific examples in the 31-page lawsuit is one of a male officer that asked a female colleague on a date, then showed up at her house screaming when she refused. Another accusation tells of a male officer who told one of the plaintiffs that he raped a woman. The next day he exposed himself in front of the same female officer.

The suit claims that supervisors did not fully investigate the incidents and one supervisor threatened the female officer to keep her from seeking criminal charges.

In its counter, the city said that the accused officer was promptly investigated. The officer resigned during the investigation, but was charged with a crime and convicted.