Decorated Santa Barbara Police Sergeant Dismissed from Department

On October 9, the Civil Service Commission for the City of Santa Barbara brought to an end Sergeant Brian Larson’s seemingly stellar 17-year career with the Santa Barbara Police Department, issuing a 25-page report dismissing the decorated head of the Crimes Against Persons unit from the department. 

In language written in bold-face print, the commission report concluded Larson had retaliated against a detective working under his command who had complained he had been much tougher and demanding of female detectives despite being ordered not to do so. 

The commission found 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, making Larson, who during his career had been awarded the Thomas Guerry Award for valor, guilty of “insubordination.” 

Perhaps the most damning finding — but one never precisely explained — was: “Sergeant Larson’s testimony was egregiously dishonest.” The commissioners only elaborated by writing: “Sergeant Larson’s contradictions discredit him. As a Peace Officer, Larson’s testimony can be the basis for taking another person’s freedom, even life. It is extremely concerning that Larson’s sworn testimony … can’t be trusted.”

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

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

Two weeks before the commission issued its final ruling, Larson’s attorneys had already filed a complaint in federal court alleging that their client’s constitutional right to free speech, due process, and protections against unjust search and seizure had been violated. 

In the department, Larson enjoyed the reputation as a driven, hard-working, demanding, get-it-done detective. He demanded as much of himself as his subordinates. But in 2022 — with the department desperate to keep experienced detectives from moving to other law enforcement agencies — then-acting Chief Barney Melekian met with a female detective, whose name has been redacted. She claimed Larson rode her much harder than male detectives, which was intimidating and discriminating. 

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

Other police officers interviewed said they saw the detective in question coming out of a meeting with Larson in tears. Notes written by the female 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 didn’t like supervising females; 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 does she need 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 informal days “lesbian sweaters.” 

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

Larson has continually insisted that Gandara’s investigation was unfair. To the extent he had micromanaged the complaining detective, he maintained, it was because she was slow in writing reports and clearing her caseload, and generally slow in follow-through. 

She denied she had more uncleared cases than her male counterparts, but noted she was frequently distracted from her caseload by having to be a Spanish translator on other officers’ cases. (She was one of only two fluent translators.)

Larson also faulted Gandara for never interviewing any deputy district attorneys who had similar problems with the complaining detective. In fact, three deputy district attorneys did submit letters on Larson’s behalf attesting to just that.

But the Civil Service Commission concluded that Larson had solicited these letters, specifically suggesting certain “talking points” the deputy district attorneys should make regarding the performance problems.

The commission also concluded that Larson, after having been transferred to patrol, had improperly accessed confidential police records to which he, as a patrol officer, did not have authorization. Larson claimed he used these files in teaching patrol officers how to write reports. But these reports involved those high-level cases that Larson and the deputy district attorneys had found unsatisfactory.

Larson is expected to keep fighting. He has already filed his federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, and he has 90 days to challenge the conclusions of the civil service commission. It’s expected that he will file a similar action in Superior Court as well, challenging the basis for the Civil Service’s action. Regardless of the outcomes, he will still be able to receive his pension.