![]() The claim comes after the Los Angeles Police Protective League sued the city and Moore seeking a judge to order the department to “claw back” the photographs. The photos released included members of the Special Investigation Section of the Robbery-Homicide Division that tails and watches violent criminals suspected in murders, serial robberies and kidnappings. McNicholas said it’s unclear how many officers actually work undercover, pointing out that some have been operating surreptitiously for years while others go undercover only intermittently. Tuesday’s claim takes a broader definition of “undercover” than that considered by the public. Moore’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “We erred in the sense that there’s photographs that are in there that should not have been in there,” Moore said in an interview late last month. He also said he has taken steps to address the safety concerns of those whose photos were released. Moore said he was unaware of the release of the photos until a reporter told him last month. “In the age of 1s and 0s, that’s going to be extremely difficult,” he said at a news conference at a Beverly Hills hotel. “And my answer to them is, I don’t know what the city is willing to do.”Īsked how they hope to scrub the affected officers’ photos and information from the internet, McNicholas said he was still working that out. ![]() “Will the city provide a service or money to scrub from the internet when these things keep popping up?” he said. He said he had fielded hundreds of Zoom calls from officers over the last few weeks, questioning whether the department would protect them in the face of threats to their safety. ![]() He said they would turn over an anonymous list detailing the assignments of all 321 officers. McNicholas said some officers who signed on to the claims worried about retaliation from the department for joining a legal action against LAPD leadership. McNicholas said some officers have already moved their families to new locations for their safety. That release of photos, lawyers for the officers say, not only threatened the lives of the officers, some of whom are in deep cover with assumed identities as part of task forces in other states, but also endangered their families. McNicholas and attorneys Greg Smith and Jacob Kalinski allege that the city “ultimately incorrectly included undercover active-duty police officers and officers with prior undercover assignments,” and the LAPD constitutional policing director authorized the release without Chief Michel Moore’s apparent knowledge. The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, an activist group, then turned the photos into a public, searchable database called “Watch the Watchers,” which includes each officer’s name, ethnicity, rank, date of hire, division/bureau, badge number and photo.Īfter the site’s launch last month, department leaders revealed that they had inadvertently released photos of officers working undercover as part of a disclosure required under the California Public Records Act. The LAPD released the officers’ images and information as part of a public records request to a journalist with the nonprofit newsroom Knock LA. He said he was told by some LAPD supervisors that several of their undercover officers had been threatened, but declined to provide further details. McNicholas told reporters Tuesday morning he was aware of several undercover operations that have folded as a result of the photos’ release. They need to face responsibility for their catastrophic negligence.” “The City of Los Angeles and LAPD have a duty of care to their employees and should have had appropriate safeguards in place to ensure nothing like this ever happened. ![]() “The City of Los Angeles’ reckless production of the undercover officers’ identities does irreparable damage to these individuals - their lives, careers and ongoing investigations are at risk,” said Matthew McNicholas, one of three lawyers representing the officers.
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