Los Angeles County is charging Officer Daniel Flores with over a dozen felony charges for secretly recording his coworkers while they made racist, homophobic, and misogynistic remarks.
Officer Flores faces 16 felony charges, including eavesdropping on and recording confidential communication, despite only using the recording as part of a complaint to Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Internal Affairs.
Officer Flores’ attorney, Alan Jackson, criticized the retaliation by the LAPD. “Daniel Flores did not leak this material. He did not sell it, post it or hand it to a reporter. He walked it into Internal Affairs and gave it to his own department, in an official complaint, because he believed the Department would do something about it,” Jackson said in a statement to NBC Los Angeles.
Officer Flores worked in the hiring office that conducted background checks on potential new employees at the time the recordings were made in 2024.
According to the LA Times, Officer Flores turned 90 recordings to Internal Affairs in hopes that the evidence would be used to discipline the officers.
“We deplore the sexist, homophobic and racist remarks made by certain LAPD employees, and they should be held accountable for such statements,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. “However, in our all-party consent state, where California has been one of the nation’s leaders in protecting privacy and deterring illegal eavesdropping for over a half a century, one cannot simply choose to break the law because one wants to pursue a personal agenda.”
It is unclear if the officers in the recordings faced any punishment.
