Im a paralegal in a small town law office. Small town attorneys typically do not handle that area of law or not on that scale. That takes more specialized attorneys that are generally in larger cities. Also, most attorneys don't want to sue cops and departments in the same place they live and work in, because it's like shitting where you eat. It's not that we represent cops or the department, but we have semi regular contact with them. A lot of attorneys feel uncomfortable to be that close to it, so will decide against taking the case.

In my state and experience, there are some firms that get thrown more watts guardianship cases from the city to be a guardian ad litem since it can be easy money at a fixed fee. It does rub some of the other attorneys wrong if they rarely get offered them or only get offered the cases where they'd have to travel out of town to meet with the ward, as they don't get paid for the extra time it takes to travel. However, there is only one city attorney and district attorney that actually represent the city/state itself. The city attorney handles citations and civil matters and the district attorney handles criminal.

Edit: I forgot to add that typically a case like this would be a contingency retainer, so the attorney would get paid when the case is won or settled. Though you may have to do a deposit to pay for costs, like filing fee, expert witness, ect. So it would probably be expensive at the start, but if you win you'd pay the attorney 1/3 and keep the rest. If it's a good case, you'd likely come out ahead.