Police Officer Tells Court ACLU Violated His Rights

In an unusual twist, a police officer said Monday in Superior Court that American Civil Liberties Union officials had violated his rights by throwing him out of a public meeting on police spying that he attended in plain clothes in 1980.

Newport Beach Police Sgt. Richard Long was testifying in Santa Ana in a lawsuit against the civil rights organization seeking $250,000 in damages for the mistreatment to which he says he was subjected.

Long said he had tried to tell participants in the public meeting that he was not a police spy--a suggestion, he said, that quickly destroyed his effectiveness as a community relations officer.

“I told them I wasn’t there to violate their rights,” Long testified. “I felt like my rights were being violated by being thrown out.”

Defendants are the ACLU of Southern California, a current staff member, Linda Valentino, and Rees Lloyd, a former ACLU attorney.

Long, who had been a police officer for five years at the time of the incident, said his intentions were “honest and honorable.” He said he wanted “to find out what their beef was.”

He said that objective was endorsed by his superiors.

He said he had suffered humiliation and severe distress as a result of being kicked out of the meeting after being recognized. Long said he never hid his identity and, when asked, freely acknowledged that he was a police officer.

Long was questioned closely about his notes and the tape recording of part of the session, which took place at Newport Harbor High School on Oct. 11, 1980. Long acknowledged that he taped welcoming remarks of the daylong session and took 10 pages of notes throughout the day.

He did not save the notes but had a secretary type a summary of the notes after he became concerned that the department might be sued, he testified.

It was the third day of the trial before Orange County Superior Court Judge Henry T. Moore Jr.

Ironically, lawyers anticipate that testimony will take less time than selecting a jury. Lawyers on both sides labored six days before agreeing on jurors without bias against either the ACLU or law enforcement.

Long’s lawyer, Jeffrey M. Epstein, had first insisted on a trial by jury, then sought to have Moore decide the case by himself.

But ACLU attorney Robin Meadow objected to Epstein’s request, and Moore decided a jury should decide the case.

Shortly before the trial began, an alleged prostitute was found not guilty in a separate criminal case, despite the testimony of Long that she had solicited him. The case received some publicity in local newspapers. Some prospective jurors were disqualified when they said the verdict would prejudice them against Long.

The lawsuit was almost settled last year when the ACLU offered to provide $1,000 to fund a high school essay contest, but Long rejected the offer because the essay topic was to be police community relations as they relate to the Bill of Rights. Epstein said Long didn’t want the contest to be used as a platform to espouse the views of either side.

Long’s suit against the ACLU was initially funded by a group called Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, once billed as a conservative rival to the ACLU. But Epstein said Monday that it had been years since that group was involved in the litigation.

After Long sued the ACLU, the ACLU returned the favor and sued Long and the Newport Beach Police Department, alleging that illegal police spying had taken place.

But in a stinging defeat for the civil liberties group, its lawsuit was dismissed as groundless last fall. The judge also ordered the ACLU to pay the city’s costs and attorney fees in defending the case, an unusual move in lawsuits involving allegations that constitutional rights were violated.

On Monday, Long testified at length about his duties as community relations officer. As principal spokesman for the department, he said, he appeared frequently on TV and radio and was often quoted in newspapers.

He said the week before the public meeting, he had appeared on TV half a dozen times on several different stories. Long testified that he had attended the meeting with no intention to conduct surveillance.