cop sues burbank police department for discrimination

Last week, Christopher Lee Dunn, a decorated Asian American police detective, filed a civil lawsuit against the Burbank Police Department, alleging that he was the victim of discrimination and retaliation before being unlawfully fired: Sixth Burbank officer sues department over discrimination.

Dunn, who won the Medal of Valor as a Los Angeles Police Department officer before joining the Burbank force, says that he was subjected to years of racial taunts and discouraged from joining department's narcotics unit because he was not white. He was apparently targeted by management before eventually being run out of the department.

He isn't the first cop with grievances against the department. In May, five Burbank police officers sued the department and seven current police officials, alleging that they tolerated an environment in which officers commonly used slurs about race, ethnicity and sexual preference directed at them, their colleagues, suspects and the public at large.

Dunn's suit, filed separately, seeks civil penalties and compensatory damages. He specifically alleges that he was discouraged by members of an elite, "all-white" narcotics unit who said they didn't want to work with non-whites. When Dunn was ultimately promoted, he was subjected to racist jokes and comments.

The lawsuit also alleges that Dunn was given less desirable assignments in the unit despite having more narcotics seizures than any other Burbank officer. When one of the offending colleagues was transferred, the harassment apparently got worse. More here: Sixth Minority Officer Sues Burbank Police Department.