California Officer Reinstated After Judge Finds Constitutional Violations
by Jenna Curren
Law Enforcement Today
Aug 21, 2025
SAN JOSE, CA - An officer with the San Jose Police Department (SJPD) won
his job back after an arbitrator ruled that the department violated his
constitutional rights.
That officer is now calling out his employer, stating that the internal affairs process was riddled with paperwork that was questionably altered with white-out and an unwarranted determination to fire him.
Michael Richmond, who has been with SJPD since 2019 after seven years with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, spoke publicly for the first time partly with the aim of shielding his rank-and-file colleagues from similar experiences, the Mercury News reported.
"There's a lesson learned here for everybody, the upper echelon of the San Jose Police Department and the city, to know that this is not okay and it should not happen again to anybody," Richmond told the Bay Area News Group.
"I dedicated my life to the police department. It was everything I had dreamed of," he added.
"And for this to be allowed to happen to me ... was something that I just never accounted for, having my career taken from me," he said. "It was really disheartening."
In March, retired Judge Cecily Bond, serving as an arbitrator, ordered Richmond's full reinstatement, and later found the department owed him about $300,000 in back pay and benefits to cover the year, plus the period he was off the job.
That absence resulted from a protracted internal review involving him purporting himself as a sheriff's deputy while dealing with a personal dispute.
The arbitration also awarded him $1.3 million for legal fees. That amount stems directly from Bond's finding that the police department and city violated Richmond's Fourth Amendment rights when investigators used information gleaned from a criminal warrant, which did not lead to any charges and was ordered sealed, to underpin a separate 2023 administrative review of Richmond that ended with his termination.
In her order, Bond noted that Lt. John Barg, then a sergeant, "sent all the materials which had been gathered in the criminal investigation, including the phone records obtained by the criminal warrants to Sgt. Kenneth Rak," who was conducting the administrative review.
"Neither Lt. Barg or Sgt. Rak had applied to the court for an order to alter the prior sealed order."
The constitutional violation was so egregious that Judge Bond granted summary judgment for Richmond, ruling in his favor without a full review of the evidence.
"Use of this information violated Officer Richmond's due process rights, his rights under Peace Officer Bill of Rights, and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution," Bond's order reads.
"Such disregard for due process cannot be ignored or condoned." The city stands by its efforts to fire Richmond, with City Attorney Nora Frimann saying that they are seeking to "modify or vacate the award."
"The department and city continue to believe the officer's termination was justified by good cause that should prevent this officer from serving our city, and we believe that the arbitrator was wrong to reinstate him," she said in a statement.
Richmond says he has yet to receive any of this outstanding back pay and benefits, and if and when he does, it still won't make him whole.
"It doesn't make up what they did to my career in law enforcement. Your jacket (employee file) is everything," he said.
"Everybody now knows at the department that I was terminated under a made-up false pretense, and I wanted to go into special ops. That was always a dream that's been ruined."
He said he is still determined to continue working at the police department where his father served, and continue his family's law enforcement legacy.
"I did nothing wrong. So, I walk through the hallways with my head held high. I go out and I work every day," he said. "Since I've been back, I'm still out getting in foot pursuits. I'm still out taking bad guys to jail, and I'm still out working because that's what I love to do."
That officer is now calling out his employer, stating that the internal affairs process was riddled with paperwork that was questionably altered with white-out and an unwarranted determination to fire him.
Michael Richmond, who has been with SJPD since 2019 after seven years with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, spoke publicly for the first time partly with the aim of shielding his rank-and-file colleagues from similar experiences, the Mercury News reported.
"There's a lesson learned here for everybody, the upper echelon of the San Jose Police Department and the city, to know that this is not okay and it should not happen again to anybody," Richmond told the Bay Area News Group.
"I dedicated my life to the police department. It was everything I had dreamed of," he added.
"And for this to be allowed to happen to me ... was something that I just never accounted for, having my career taken from me," he said. "It was really disheartening."
In March, retired Judge Cecily Bond, serving as an arbitrator, ordered Richmond's full reinstatement, and later found the department owed him about $300,000 in back pay and benefits to cover the year, plus the period he was off the job.
That absence resulted from a protracted internal review involving him purporting himself as a sheriff's deputy while dealing with a personal dispute.
The arbitration also awarded him $1.3 million for legal fees. That amount stems directly from Bond's finding that the police department and city violated Richmond's Fourth Amendment rights when investigators used information gleaned from a criminal warrant, which did not lead to any charges and was ordered sealed, to underpin a separate 2023 administrative review of Richmond that ended with his termination.
In her order, Bond noted that Lt. John Barg, then a sergeant, "sent all the materials which had been gathered in the criminal investigation, including the phone records obtained by the criminal warrants to Sgt. Kenneth Rak," who was conducting the administrative review.
"Neither Lt. Barg or Sgt. Rak had applied to the court for an order to alter the prior sealed order."
The constitutional violation was so egregious that Judge Bond granted summary judgment for Richmond, ruling in his favor without a full review of the evidence.
"Use of this information violated Officer Richmond's due process rights, his rights under Peace Officer Bill of Rights, and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution," Bond's order reads.
"Such disregard for due process cannot be ignored or condoned." The city stands by its efforts to fire Richmond, with City Attorney Nora Frimann saying that they are seeking to "modify or vacate the award."
"The department and city continue to believe the officer's termination was justified by good cause that should prevent this officer from serving our city, and we believe that the arbitrator was wrong to reinstate him," she said in a statement.
Richmond says he has yet to receive any of this outstanding back pay and benefits, and if and when he does, it still won't make him whole.
"It doesn't make up what they did to my career in law enforcement. Your jacket (employee file) is everything," he said.
"Everybody now knows at the department that I was terminated under a made-up false pretense, and I wanted to go into special ops. That was always a dream that's been ruined."
He said he is still determined to continue working at the police department where his father served, and continue his family's law enforcement legacy.
"I did nothing wrong. So, I walk through the hallways with my head held high. I go out and I work every day," he said. "Since I've been back, I'm still out getting in foot pursuits. I'm still out taking bad guys to jail, and I'm still out working because that's what I love to do."
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