BURBANK, Calif., July 17, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Six weeks after five Burbank police officers filed suit against the City of Burbank, the Burbank Police Department and the Burbank Chief of Police alleging racial and gender harassment and discrimination, a former Burbank police detective has come forward with nearly identical claims against the same defendants.
Former Burbank Police Detective Christopher Lee Dunn today filed a separate action seeking civil penalties and compensatory damages, and prejudgment interest, as well as all costs of suit, attorney's fees and any other relief the court may deem appropriate. Costs of addressing this complaint could run the city several million dollars.
In 2007 Detective Dunn received the 2007 Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Award from then U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. That same year he won the Professional Esteem Award from the Burbank City Council. While an LAPD officer in 1998 Dunn received the LAPD Medal of Valor and the next year President Bill Clinton awarded Dunn the 1999 Top Cop award for exceptional valor above and beyond the call of duty.
In a 22-page complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Detective Dunn, whose ancestry is Asian, described in detail being subjected to years of racial abuse and discrimination in the Department. Dunn's complaints to superior officers were consistently either ignored or dismissed as trivial and inconsequential. When Dunn was taken seriously, and the complaints addressed, Det. Dunn was subjected to severe and extreme retaliation which ultimately led to his termination.
Dunn's efforts to promote into an elite narcotics unit were initially discouraged on the basis that members of the "all-white" unit did not want work with non-Caucasians. However, because his performance warranted advancement, and also because of his exemplary service in the Special Enforcement Detail, Plaintiff persisted and was ultimately promoted into the unit as a Detective.
Despite this success, Dunn's troubles multiplied. Some of his narcotics unit colleagues belittled him with racist jokes and comments. He was told "You know they don't want you here." Dunn was given the less desirable assignments in the unit despite the fact that he produced more narcotics seizures than any other officer in the department. Ultimately, one of Dunn's complaints reached the right set of ears, and a sympathetic Captain disciplined one of the worst offenders and transferred that officer back to the patrol division. As a result, the harassment from the "white" coworkers intensified.
On March 30, 2007 Dunn was served with his first major complaint in approximately 20 years of law enforcement work. The complaint alleged Dunn "tipped off" an informant about a Culver City Police Department investigation into her activities and suggested that she get rid of any drugs in her possession. Nevertheless, the informant was arrested in possession of enough narcotics to support felony trafficking charges.
Shortly after the informant's arrest, the informant recanted the earlier statements against Detective Dunn. In a handwritten statement, the informant described the threats and intimidation used to coerce her to make a negative report about Det. Dunn, as well as promises of leniency if she did so. A 14-month investigation involving the Burbank PD, the Culver City PD, the LASO and the LA DA ensued. Detective Dunn was first transferred to BPD's Juvenile Division, then sent home on administrative leave with pay. Ultimately, the complaint was unsubstantiated and no criminal charges were filed.
Despite the fact that the complaint against Dunn was neither properly investigated nor substantiated, and even though evidence had been tampered with and "white" officers attempted to coerce false testimony from witnesses and even other officers during the investigation, on or about July 17, 2008, Detective Dunn was terminated by the Burbank PD on charges that he interfered with the investigation and for insubordination.
Detective Dunn believes the true motives behind his termination were the BPD's long-standing racial bias and its desire to impose severe retaliation for harassment and discrimination complaints Dunn made against other officers.
"The evidence we have gathered during our investigation shows that the Burbank Police Department has a long history of tolerating, a matter of departmental practice, the use of unbelievably offensive racial and ethnic slurs," said Solomon E. Gresen, the attorney representing Detective Dunn."The facts of this case further demonstrate that Detective Dunn's termination was racially motivated and made strictly in retaliation for his complaints of harassment and discrimination, and the complaint made against him was totally without merit."