The State - News from June 29, 1989

A group of current and former police employees has filed a $30-million federal lawsuit against the City of Concord because a video camera was secretly placed in the police station men’s room. The department installed a hidden video camera above a urinal in 1986, hoping to identify the person who clogged it several times with toilet paper. Chief George Straka has called the surveillance “bad judgment” and said no one ever viewed the tapes. The overflow reportedly flooded a computer room and the chief’s office on the floor below. The restroom was open to the public but used primarily by police. The suit accuses Straka and three commanders of invading the plaintiffs’ privacy. It asks that the city pay $1 million each to 26 officers and three civilian employees who allegedly were watched by police cadets and filmed as they stood at urinals.