Santa Barbara Police Department’s Head of Detectives Fired for Sex Discrimination
City’s Civil Service Commission Votes to Terminate Brian Larson for Creating Hostile Work Environment for Women Under His Supervision
The Santa Barbara City Council will meet in closed session Tuesday to receive a briefing on the final termination of Brian Larson, former head of the city police department’s detectives’ bureau, after multiple hearings by the city’s Civil Service Commission.
While the Civil Service proceedings on Larson were closed to the public — at Larson’s request — he had been suspended with pay in March 2022 after an internal investigation concluded he fostered a hostile work environment against women, improperly accessed official records, and retaliated against whistleblowers who exposed him. Based on these findings, Commander Kenny Kushner recommended Larson be terminated.
By many accounts, Larson was a skilled and dogged detective and was made head of the division in 2019 by then-chief Lori Luhnow. But when it came to supervising female detectives, Larson was said to be disrespectful, openly contemptuous, and dismissive of the idea of women as detectives. At least two female detectives reportedly sought employment elsewhere as a result.
Larson, who was first sworn in as a Santa Barbara Police Officer in 2007, was given the Thomas Guerry Award for valor in 2015 and was promoted to sergeant in 2017.
Larson fought his termination through every step afforded to him by the rules guiding the city’s Civil Service Commission. On September 25, after multiple meetings, the commission voted that Larson should be terminated.
