Concord Police Department Accused of ‘Water Closet Gate’
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SAN FRANCISCO — Federal court records have been unsealed in a case one attorney dubbed “Water Closet Gate” involving secret videotaping inside a police station men’s room.
The documents released on Friday show that Concord Police Chief George Straka was on vacation in the summer of 1986 when Capt. Bob Evans ordered the camera to be hidden in the ceiling above a urinal.
Evans hoped to catch officers suspected of clogging the urinal with paper towels, resulting in the flooding of the chief’s adjacent office. The effort failed.
Straka did not learn about the camera until he returned from a 15-day vacation. However, he allowed it to continue. The incidents resulted in four civil rights lawsuits.
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