LAPD to investigate how photos of undercover officers were released to anti-spying group

The chief and commissioners of the Los Angeles Police Department scrambled Tuesday, March 21 to explain how photos of officers doing undercover work were apparently released as part of a public records request for the names and photos of nearly every sworn member of the force.

The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, a civil rights group and frequent department critic over its surveillance policies, published the names and photos of around 9,200 LAPD officers in a searchable database Friday, March 17. The group obtained the photos after they were released in September 2022 as part of a freelance journalist’s request under state transparency laws.

In Tuesday’s Police Commission meeting, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the city was required to release the photos under the California Public Records Act. But he said didn’t know why the photos of the undercover officers were included in that release.

Moore said he learned Friday the photos included officers “who work sensitive assignments.” He said the release of their images could compromise their safety and jeopardize their work in ongoing investigations.

“They are involved in criminal investigation — involving drug cartels and other violent street organizations — in which their identity, pursuant to court oversight and the Constitution is masked or protected,” he said. “They work in an undercover capacity.”

LAPD has not said how many officers working undercover assignments had their identities compromised as a result of the release.

The request for the department’s entire roster of sworn officers was originally made in October 2021, according to city records. About four months later, after being repeatedly pressed for the records, staff in LAPD’s records division said they were still analyzing the request.

The staff members said in a response to the records requester that they “would have to review and determine if there are any potential safety/security concerns regarding the disclosure of the individual officers’ photos.”

After another delay, LAPD still had not honored the records request, which led to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in May 2022.

By September 2022, then-City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office told LAPD it had to comply with the request.

In a letter sent that month published on Twitter by the reporter who requested the documents, a deputy city attorney said the release should have excluded undercover officers working in the department at the time all the photos were downloaded in July that year. The deputy said about 100 officers were also not included in the release because their photos were missing from the department’s system.

The release of the photos of the undercover officers led to anger from Commission President William Briggs and the union representing LAPD’s rank and file officers.

In a formal internal affairs complaint sent Monday, March 20, the Los Angeles Police Protective League said after the website was announced, union leaders “received dozens of phone calls from member officers, particularly those working sensitive investigative assignments, expressing their shock, fear, outrage, and legitimate concern for their safety and the safety of their families.”

The union criticized LAPD’s Office of Constitutional Policing for failing to inform the union ahead of the release of the photos. And they said the department apparently redacted the names of some officers included in the release, yet still failed to protect the identities of the undercover officers.

Moore said he asked the city’s inspector general to launch an investigation into how the photos of the undercover officers were released.

The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition said the website where the photos were published, Watch the Watchers, “was intended as a tool to empower community members” attempting to identity “officers who are causing harm in your community.”

“Police have vast information about all of us at their fingertips, yet they move in secrecy,” the website reads.

Hamid Khan, one of the founders of the Coalition, said during Tuesday’s Commission meeting that Moore and other department leaders were blaming his group when it was LAPD’s apparent oversight that led to the undercover officers being exposed.

“They want to create a scandal because they want to blame the messenger,” Khan said to the commission.

He said the group did not intend to release information about the officers unrelated to their jobs.

According to the text of the records request, the journalist who asked for the records implored LAPD staff to respond.

“Just compile the roster and redact the personal information that needs to be redacted,” the reporter wrote, according to city records.

In a statement, LAPPL’s board of directors said the release of the names of so many officers could lead to hundreds of resignations.

“The LAPD is down almost 1,000 officers from its peak a few years ago and whoever is responsible for this egregious disclosure just pushed a few hundred more officers out the door,” the board said. “Good job.”