Decorated Santa Barbara police sergeant fired from department

On Oct. 9, the City of Santa Barbara’s Civil Service Commission terminated Sergeant Brian Larson’s apparently stellar 17-year career with the Santa Barbara Police Department, issuing a 25-page report which dismissed the decorated head of the Crimes Against Persons unit. of the department.

In boldfaced language, the commission’s report concluded that Larson had retaliated against a detective working under her who had complained that he had been much harsher and more demanding of female detectives even though ordered him not to.

The commission found that Larson had also improperly accessed police records marked private and confidential for personal use and that he violated a direct order from Police Chief Kelly Gordon to return those files, causing Larson, who during his career he had been awarded the Thomas Guerry Award for valor. , guilty of “insubordination”.

Perhaps the most damning finding, but never precisely explained, was, “Sergeant Larson’s testimony was grossly dishonest.” Commissioners only elaborated, writing: “Sergeant Larson’s contradictions discredit him. As a peace officer, Larson’s testimony can be grounds for taking another person’s freedom, even life. It is extremely troubling that Larson’s sworn testimony … cannot be trusted.”

Chief Gordon’s final notice to fire Larson said, “Your misconduct and the likelihood that you will repeat it demonstrates that I cannot trust you or your judgment as a sergeant in this department.”

Larson has vigorously fought those charges at the Civil Service Commission for the past two years. (The commission is a board of citizens appointed to hear and adjudicate complaints from city employees.) When the case against him morphed from one charge to four more, Larson’s attorney called them “fishing expeditions “.

Two weeks before the commission issued its final decision, Larson’s lawyers had already filed a complaint in federal court alleging violations of their client’s constitutional rights to free speech, due process and protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

In the department, Larson enjoyed a reputation as a motivated, hard-working, demanding and can-do detective. He demanded as much from himself as from his subordinates. But in 2022, with the department desperate to keep experienced detectives from transferring to other law enforcement agencies, Acting Chief Barney Melekian met with a female detective, whose name has been redacted. She claimed that Larson rode her much harder than the male detectives, which was intimidating and discriminatory.

Melekian hired Kathy Gandara, a private investigator, to conduct an internal investigation. Gandara concluded that it was “more likely than not” that Larson told the detective that it was “probably for the best” that she had suffered a miscarriage, because the department would have dropped three investigators if her pregnancy had ended. Larson told the investigator that she did not recall meeting the detective at the time, but that she would never have said that a miscarriage was a good thing.

Other police officers interviewed said they saw the detective in question leave a meeting with Larson in tears. The notes written by the detective immediately after the encounter paint a vivid picture.

During the investigation, others in the department alleged they heard Larson make comments such as: he did not like supervising women; that women belonged in the kitchen; and when describing a woman outside the department, “She can cook and looks good in a dress. What else is she to do?”

Gandara found it more likely than not that Larson made inappropriate comments about the sexual orientation of female officers. He called the hoodies some women detectives wore on casual days “lesbian sweaters.”

Based on that report, Larson’s immediate superior, Kenneth Kushner, wanted Larson fired. But Melekian intervened and recommended that Larson be suspended for 160 hours and transferred to another department. After the suspension, he was reinstated.

Larson has continually insisted that the Gandara investigation was unfair. To the extent that she had micromanaged the complained-about detective, he argued, it was because she was slow to write reports and clear up her caseload, and generally slow to follow through.

She denied that she had more open cases than her male counterparts, but noted that she was often distracted from her workload by having to act as a Spanish translator on other officers’ cases. (She was one of only two fluent translators.)

Larson also faulted Gandara for never interviewing a deputy district attorney who had similar problems with the reporting detective. In fact, three assistant district attorneys sent letters on Larson’s behalf doing just that.

But the Civil Service Commission concluded that Larson had requested those letters, specifically suggesting certain “talking points” that deputy attorneys general should make regarding performance issues.

The commission also concluded that Larson, after being transferred to patrol, had improperly accessed confidential police records to which he, as a patrol officer, was not authorized. Larson claimed he used these files to teach patrol officers how to write reports. But those reports involved those high-profile cases that Larson and the deputy district attorneys had found unsatisfactory.

Larson is expected to continue to fight. He has already filed his federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and has 90 days to challenge the civil service commission’s findings. It is expected that he will also present a similar action in the Superior Court, contesting the basis of the action of the Public Service. Regardless of the results, you will still be able to collect your pension.