Salem council approves $250,000 settlement with former police detective, with no public discussion (Oct. 28)
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The Salem City Council voted Monday, Oct. 26, to pay $250,000 to settle claims by former police detective Sabrina Hunter.
Hunter says a sergeant retaliated against her after she reported to Internal Affairs that he mishandled a child sex abuse investigation and closed other cases too soon.
The council approved the deal on its consent agenda without public discussion, and the city's resolution says Salem admits no fault.
A city spokesperson declined to comment, and it is not publicly known whether the sergeant, who has not been named, was ever investigated.
The City of Salem will pay $250,000 to a former Salem Police detective who says she was retaliated against for reporting concerns about how a sergeant handled child sex abuse cases. The Salem City Council approved the settlement at its Monday, Oct. 26, meeting, The Oregonian/OregonLive and the Statesman Journal reported Tuesday.
Willamette News reported on Sunday that the settlement was on Monday's agenda. The council passed it as part of its consent agenda, a group of items approved together in a single vote, according to the Statesman Journal. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that councilors approved it without any public discussion.
What the city said
The council resolution says the city does not admit any fault, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. In a memo to the mayor and council, City Attorney Dan Atchison recommended settling to avoid the high cost of prolonged litigation, the newspaper reported.
City spokesperson Robert B. Layne II declined to comment on the settlement, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Before the vote, city officials also declined to comment to the Statesman Journal, citing the pending settlement. Willamette News did not find any other public statement from the City of Salem or the Salem Police Department on the claims as of Wednesday morning.
The deal was reached before Hunter filed a lawsuit. Her attorneys told the Statesman Journal the claim was still in a "pre-filing" stage, with nothing filed in federal or circuit court.
What the former detective alleges
Hunter worked in the department's Special Victims Unit. In December 2025, she told the department's Internal Affairs Unit that a sergeant had mishandled a child sex abuse investigation and had closed other cases early without believing victims' accounts, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The Statesman Journal reported that she also raised concerns that the sergeant relied on sexist and victim-blaming stereotypes.
Her claims include sex discrimination and whistleblower retaliation, the Statesman Journal reported. According to her attorney, Caitlin Mitchell of the firm Johnson Johnson Lucas & Middleton, the sergeant found out about the report, then screamed at Hunter, acted aggressively toward her and told her upper management was "livid." These are allegations, and they have not been tested in court.
Hunter's lawyer has not publicly named the sergeant, and it is unclear whether he was ever investigated, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
"Victims should be treated like people and not numbers or statistics," Hunter said, according to the Statesman Journal. A statement on her behalf, which the Statesman Journal attributed to Hunter and The Oregonian/OregonLive attributed to Mitchell, said that reporting concerns about victim safety and the handling of sexual assault cases should never lead to fear, reprimand or berating by supervisors.
Who she is
Hunter, 43, joined the Salem Police Department in November 2013, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. As a detective, she trained new officers on how to investigate child abuse and sexual assault cases, the newspaper reported. State law enforcement licensing records show she took a leave of absence in December 2025 and resigned in April, the Statesman Journal reported.
She now works as a criminal justice industry instructor at the Salem-Keizer School District's career and technical education center, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
What comes next
With the settlement approved, the claim is resolved without a court case. The $250,000 is to be paid from the city's self-insurance claim fund, according to the council agenda item described in the Statesman Journal's preview of the meeting. Willamette News will update this story if the city or the police department releases more information about the underlying complaint.
Sources
The Oregonian/OregonLive: Salem pays former detective $250K to settle whistleblower allegations over child sex abuse case, by Maxine Bernstein (Oct. 27, 2026)
Statesman Journal: Former Salem detective who reported mishandled abuse cases gets $250K (Oct. 27, 2026)
Statesman Journal: Former Salem detective may get $250k in whistleblower case (Oct. 24, 2026)
Cover photo: Salem PD stops traffic, by the Oregon Department of Transportation, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0
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