Keith Sterling, a spokesman for the city, said officials would not comment on the judge’s ruling.
“There’s ongoing litigation, and the city continues to work on those cases,” he said.
Solomon Gresen, who represents five current officers and one former officer in civil rights cases against the city, said he “strongly disagreed” with the court’s decision and planned to appeal.
Childs observed and reported numerous instances of race- and gender-based discrimination, harassment and retaliation, and was subjected to retaliation and ostracism, and denied promotional opportunities when he complained, Gresen said.
In court documents, Childs claimed that he was subjected to ridicule for marrying a white woman. He also claimed that while involved in serving a warrant against the rapper Snoop Dogg, fellow officers joked he would be providing “translation.”
“Astonishingly, only four of the 165 or so Burbank police officers are black, and no African American police officer has even been promoted in the entire history of the Burbank Police Department,” Gresen said in a statement.
“Not even once. And as of today, we are still waiting for the first black officer to be promoted at the Burbank Police Department.”
The department in the last year has been shaken by a federal probe into allegations of excessive force and five civil lawsuits filed by a total of eight current and former officers. Childs, along with Lt. Omar Rodriguez and Officers Steve Karagiosian, Elfego Rodriguez and Cindy Guillen-Gomez, charged in their May lawsuit that discriminatory practices within the department included pervasive use of racial epithets and inflammatory language, including the “N” word and “taco vendor.”
The officers also allege that the department has for decades pursued hiring practices that favor heterosexual white men.
Childs was hired as a police recruit in September 2003 and became an officer in February 2005.
He was assigned to the Juvenile Detective Bureau as a school resource officer in 2008 and has held the position since.
