More than 300 plainclothes police from Angels filed lawsuits against the city and the police department on Tuesday after their names and photos were turned over to a tech surveillance group that posted them online.
The watchdog group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition released more than 9,300 officer information and photos to a searchable online database last month following a request for public records by a reporter from the progressive media outlet Knock LA.
Hundreds of undercover agents have been included in the database, although it is unclear exactly how many as the database does not specify which agents are working undercover.
LAPD spokespersons are proposing that armed police officers stop responding to certain types of 911 calls that aren’t considered violent or dangerous, they’ve even released a list of situations in which they say other departments should surrender.
Officers received no advance notice of the disclosure, and the backlash destabilized the department. The Inspector General is investigating Chief Michel Moore and the agency’s Constitutional Policing Director, Liz Rhodes, after a misconduct complaint was filed by a union of officers.
While the city attorney’s office determined the agency was legally required to turn over the records, which include a photograph and information about each officer, including name, ethnicity, rank, date of employment, license plate number, and division or office, under California law, exemptions are often granted for security or investigative reasons.
The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition opposes police intelligence gathering, saying the database should be used for “counter-surveillance”.
Attorney Matthew McNicholas said 321 undercover officers have filed lawsuits, the precursor to a lawsuit, through his office and more are expected to be filed. The names of the officers did not appear in court documents.
“Only time will tell how many there are in total,” McNicholas said Tuesday at a news conference to announce the deposits.
The claims allege negligence and seek unspecified damages. The complainants say they can no longer work as undercover officers and, in some cases, they may not be able to work in the police in the future.
Three men have died after altercations with LAPD officers that led to a meeting with members of the Black Lives Matter organization and police officers to try to make a difference on the policy.
McNicholas said his clients feared for their safety and that of their families, and wanted to know if the city would provide them with protection. He said he was aware of several investigations involving undercover officers, such as gang cases, drug and sex traffickers, who were arrested following the disclosure.
He did not provide additional details.
Tuesday’s claims follow separate lawsuits filed last month by the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents the department’s rank and file officers. The union sued the police chief in an attempt to “recover” the undercover officers’ photographs and prevent a further release.
“We got it wrong in the sense that there are photographs that shouldn’t have been there,” Moore told the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the disclosure. “Now…this ship has sailed.”
Officer Jeff Lee, spokesman for the department, said the agency would not comment on the ongoing litigation.