Burbank Police Detective Sues City for Leaking Confidential Officer Information 

LOS ANGELES, July 22, 2009 -- Just days after former Burbank Police Detective Christopher Lee Dunn filed suit against the City of Burbank alleging racial abuse and discrimination and illegal termination, Dunn filed today a second claim for damages against the City of Burbank after it intentionally and illegally provided his confidential personnel file to a local newspaper.

Within a day of Detective Dunn's initial legal filing, the city provided the Burbank Leader newspaper a copy of Dunn's notice of termination from his confidential police department personnel file. This act, done to discredit the plaintiff, is a clear violation of the California Peace Officers Bill of Rights, the California Evidence Code, the California Penal Code and the recent Copley Press Inc. v. California Superior Court decision affirming that police officer personnel file materials regarding disciplinary acts are strictly confidential.

"Not only is this bureaucratic arrogance at its most dangerous, it is illegal," said Solomon E. Gresen, the attorney representing Detective Dunn. "It boggles the mind that the City illegally released confidential information in violation of state law and its own privacy policies". Today's claim by the Dunn asserts that the unlawful disclosure by city representatives created serious damage to him, including humiliation and reputational injury, added Gresen.

On July 16th, Dunn filed a 22-page complaint in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Detective Dunn, whose ancestry is Asian, described in detail years of racial abuse and discrimination at the Burbank Police Department. Dunn's complaints to superior officers were consistently either ignored or dismissed as trivial and inconsequential. On the rare occasions where Dunn was taken seriously and the complaints addressed, Detective Dunn was subjected to severe and extreme retaliation which ultimately led to his termination.

Dunn's efforts to be promoted 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 Dunn 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 notwithstanding 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. In spite of this alleged tip, the informant was arrested in possession of enough narcotics to support felony trafficking charges.

Shortly after the informant's arrest, she recanted her earlier statements against Detective Dunn. In a handwritten statement, she described the threats and intimidation used to coerce her to make a negative report about 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 determined to be unsubstantiated and no criminal charges were filed.

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. This occurred notwithstanding the facts that the complaint against him were never properly investigated or substantiated or that there was clear evidence that the case against him was based on false testimony coerced by other officers.

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."

CONTACT:
Law offices of Rheuban & Gresen
Solomon E. Gresen or Steven Rheuban
(818) 815-2727
15910 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 1610
Encino, California 91436-2843