Three retired New York City police detectives filed a class action lawsuit against the department and two high-ranking police officials Monday, claiming systemic racial discrimination blocked them from rightful promotions in an elite intelligence unit.

Former detectives Jon McCollum, Roland Stephens and the estate of Theodore Coleman allege in their complaint in Coleman v. The City of New York, 17-cv-07265, that despite more than two decades of service each and sterling records, all three were passed over for promotions in favor of white colleagues.

They, like other black detectives in the intelligence division, faced a “secretive and unstructured promotions policy, administered by white supervisors who refuse to promote deserving African-Americans detectives,” according to the complaint.