Former sergeants file claim against city manager Former sergeants file claim against city manager (June 22, 2005)

** They say that comments attributed to him by a local newspaper damaged their reputations.

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

Two former Menlo Park Police Department sergeants have filed a claim against City Manager David Boesch, saying he sullied their reputations by comments attributed to him by a local newspaper.

After Eric Cowans and Paul Kunkel left the department last month to become deputies with the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, Mr. Boesch was quoted in the Palo Alto Daily News as saying that at least one of the two was "a low performer and was likely to be demoted."

The pair's Pleasant Hill attorney, Alison Berry Wilkinson, said Mr. Boesch violated state law by speaking publicly about peace officers' confidential personnel records. She also said his characterization of one or both of the men is untrue.

"Neither of them were low performers. They have a lengthy, well-established history of superior performance," she said.

Ms. Wilkinson added that she is allowed to speak about the men's records because they gave her permission.

Mr. Kunkel was a Menlo Park patrol supervisor and Mr. Cowans headed the department's narcotics unit, which was profiled in a 2003 Almanac cover story.

In the June 17 claim, which also names the city, the two men are asking for a public apology from the city in the form of an ad in a Sunday edition of the Daily News, Ms. Wilkinson said. If they are not satisfied, they may sue, she said.

It is not yet known how the city will respond. Menlo Park City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden confirmed that the claim was filed but said she could not give out a copy without the consent of City Attorney Bill McClure.

Neither Mr. McClure nor Mr. Boesch returned a reporter's phone calls before the Almanac's press time.

The article that quoted Mr. Boesch also said morale is rumored to be low in the Menlo Park Police Department and that some 15 patrol officers, detectives and sergeants out of a total of 53 have left during the three years of Chris Boyd's tenure as chief.

But Ms. Wilkinson said neither Mr. Cowans nor Mr. Kunkel left because of problems with the department. Rather, she said, they were seeking the broader opportunities offered by the much larger Sheriff's Office.

She said the two men cannot talk to the press because of a Sheriff's Office policy forbidding deputies to do so.

Representatives of the Menlo Park Police Officers' Association could not be reached for comment.

Chief Boyd said the numbers cited by the Daily News are nearly correct. But he said he didn't think they were unusual because officers leave departments for a variety of reasons. For example, he said, one Menlo Park officer just left to join the Fairfield Police Department because he lives in the Central Valley.

Chief Boyd added that the department is facing challenges, including budget cuts and the need to hire and promote to fill the vacancies left by Mr. Cowans and Mr. Kunkel and by several pending retirements. To help deal with these issues, he meets regularly with the police officers' association, he said.

He declined to comment on the claim.

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