SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- A former San Diego Police officer is suing the department over allegations of retaliation, wrongful termination and discrimination. The officer, Allyson Ford, claims SDPD tried to cover up the abuse by another officer, who was her husband at the time. “I joined the San Diego Police Department at just 16 years old as a volunteer cadet," Ford said. After climbing up the ranks for a total of 20 years with the department, she became a detective. She's no longer with the department, but on Monday, she stood in front of it alongside her attorneys to share her story publicly for the first time. Peter Seidler’s widow takes legal action in fight for control over the Padres She said she believed in SDPD. “But in April 2020, my belief was shattered because I reported a senior male officer had committed crimes," Ford said. She said in April 2020, she called police to her own home in Escondido, reporting felony domestic violence, DUI, harassment, threats and blackmail by her husband, who was an SDPD sergeant at the time. According to the 171 page complaint, lieutenants from SDPD responded to her home and talked with Escondido Police. She claims her husband was never arrested and never forced to surrender his weapons despite a judge-granted restraining order against him. “That night, he actually said to me that I was going to lose my job with the San Diego Police Department because of the power he had on the department, and his friends and contacts," Ford said. "At first, I didn’t believe him because I thought that the department -- that I loved and had worked so hard for -- would protect me. But they did not, and I believe the San Diego Police Department retaliated against me," Ford added. She claims SDPD placed her under investigation several times after reporting the violence. “Instead of supporting her, the San Diego Police Department ignored these findings, dismissed crucial evidence and allowed her husband to remain armed and in the field," attorney John Gomez said. "We believe the evidence in this case will prove that instead of investigating her complaints, they dismissed her reports, and instead of protecting her and her young son, enabled her husband to avoid the consequences, retain his firearms, violate restraining orders   and continued to threaten and torment her, all the while acting as an active duty police officer.” The complaint details each moment Ford believes SDPD attempted to "cover up" the abuse, as she called it. The complaint includes a photo of Ford with a black eye after the violent incident in April 2020. "SDPD supplied Plaintiff's (former) husband with confidential information multiple times about Plaintiff's complaints to SDPD, interfered with Plaintiff's restraining order and child custody proceedings in order to protect him, conspired to make Plaintiff's work environment utterly unconscionable and unsafe, violated the law - along with dozens of police procedures- in order to victim-shame Plaintiff, abused police resources to stalk and harass Plaintiff for her husband's benefit, concealed evidence and obstructed justice, initiated two false and retaliatory internal investigations against Plaintiff, and ultimately made the terms and conditions of her work environment so unbearably hostile that she was forced to resign," the complaint reads. “I hope that they take this as a chance to make changes so that it doesn’t happen again to anybody else," Ford said. "I hope it ends with me." The City Attorney's Office and SDPD said they do not comment on pending litigation.