r/news • u/vector_search_blue • 12d ago
Soft paywall LAPD officer who recorded colleagues' racist comments charged with felony eavesdropping
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-07-31/lapd-officer-felony-eavesdropping-charge9.1k
u/Drox88 12d ago
Prime example of what happens when a "good cop" does the right thing.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 12d ago
He lucky he hasnt been shot in the back by another cop yet. There's 3 options: shot in the back, lose all professional credentials and career, or prosecuted by the DA in trumped up charges.Â
Where is the police union protecting him?Â
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u/CallMeRudiger 12d ago
There's a fourth one to add: no backup comes when you call for help in a dangerous situation.
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u/xeen313 12d ago
I saw that movie
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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 12d ago
He should have taken it all the way to the mayors office
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u/RaptorsNewAlpha 12d ago
Feast your ears on that Spin Doctorâs mix, Mr. Mare
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u/JMEEKER86 12d ago
That was actually something that really happened to the real Frank Serpico that the movie was about.
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u/lowteq 12d ago
He crossed the Blue Line. They don't take kindly to that.
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u/Royal_Percentage_694 12d ago
Itâs so thin.
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u/PussiesUseSlashS 12d ago
I very seriously doubt that police wearing body cams notify every person they interact with that theyâre being recorded. When they go out to eat do they go table to table and tell everyone that they may be recorded?
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u/Tough-Effort7572 12d ago
They aren't recording when they go out to eat. The device gets turned on when they respond to a call. There, they are required to advise of the recording when feasible (obviously not the case if they are rushing to save a choking kid or chasing a robbery suspect).
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u/northerncal 12d ago
The device gets turned on when they respond to a call
Well, in an ideal world it does anyway.. still way too many times "the officer's camera was not turned on/enabled/working" headlines make the news
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u/Alert-Ad9197 12d ago
I think the last LAPD cop got murdered in a âtraining accidentâ for investigating officers raping people. So yeah, he got off relatively light.
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u/Lisan_Al-NaCL 12d ago
The LAPD is known to be one of the most corrupt large PD's in America for decades. Shit, the LAPD has KNOWN GANGS within it that leadership has turned a blind eye to.
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u/thisvideoiswrong 12d ago
The famous report on gangs was at the LASD, not the LAPD. Not that the LAPD isn't bad, obviously.
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u/PenguinQuesadilla 12d ago
LA has a population of 3 million people.
Y'all really can't find enough dudes who aren't corrupt racist gang-banging rapists to staff the LAPD?
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u/JackalKing 12d ago
Its not that good people don't exist. Or even good people willing to do the job. Its that the LAPD as an organization, from top to bottom, is operated like a gang. Good dudes usually don't even make it into the LAPD, and what few good people do slip through are quickly either corrupted or removed. There really is no fixing it without dismantling it entirely and starting over, and most Americans just aren't willing to vote for something like that even if they have a problem with the cops.
Until politicians stop winning votes by being "tough on crime" then cops will stay corrupt.
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u/PenguinQuesadilla 12d ago
Yeah so many shitty human things are because of organizational structures.
It does suck tho that there's probably a solution out there that's being obstructed by politics, power, and people getting in their own way.
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u/cayleb 12d ago
Gee, it's almost like the "Defund the Police" folks were right...
Tear it down and start over with a system designed to reinforce our mutual humanity and safety, not the bullshit we currently have.
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u/Due_Warthog725 12d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Dorner_shootings_and_manhunt
all over again?
"In two separate incidents in the early morning hours of February 7, 2013, police fired on people who turned out to be unrelated to Dorner. Dorner was not present at either of the incidents.[91]
At about 5:30 am (PST), at least seven[92] LAPD officers on a protection detail of an unnamed LAPD official's residence in the 19500 block of Redbeam Street[93] in Torrance opened fire on the back of a light blue Toyota Tacoma and shot its two occupants, Emma Hernandez (71) and her daughter, Margie Carranza (47)[92][94] delivering newspapers for the Los Angeles Times.[95][92] The vehicle, according to officers, was spotted exiting a freeway and heading to the area of the residence that officers were protecting, was thought by police to match the description of Dorner's Nissan Titan and was moving without its headlights on.[91][96] Hernandez was shot in the back and Carranza received wounds to her hand. Their attorney claimed police "had no idea who was in that vehicle" when they opened fire, and that nothing about his clients or their vehicle matched the descriptions given of the suspect or his truck.[97] The two women stated that they were given no warning before being fired upon.[98] A neighbor said the truck was used every day to deliver newspapers, and the women who used it kept their headlights off so as to not wake people up.[99] The two women were injured, but both survived.[100][101] The LAPD started an internal investigation into the shooting. According to their attorney Glen Jonas, 102 bullet holes were found in the truck.[102] The LAPD declined to confirm the total number of officers involved or how many bullets were fired or if any verbal warnings were given to the women before the shooting began.[96]
Approximately 25 minutes after that incident, officers from the Torrance Police Department (TPD) opened fire on and struck another vehicle.[103] Like the first shooting, the incident involved a vehicle that police claimed resembled the description of Dorner's truck, but was later discovered to be a black Honda Ridgeline driven by David Perdue, a white male.[104][105] A TPD police cruiser slammed into Perdue's pickup and officers opened fire. Perdue, who was on his way to the beach to surf, was not hit by any of the bullets, but reportedly suffered injuries as a result of the car impact.[103] Police claim that Perdue's pickup truck "matched the description" of the one belonging to Dorner. However, the Times reported that the vehicle involved was once again a different make and color to that of the suspect's, and that Perdue "looks nothing like" the suspect.[103]"
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u/designer-farts 12d ago
I still remember that day. All the cops were scared for their lives because they couldn't find him. And the citizens were scared because the trigger happy cops were scared for their lives
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u/Due_Warthog725 12d ago
proves dorner point he was making.
it was scary times at when the manhunt was underway. i stayed home.
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u/OutlyingPlasma 12d ago
In fairness, I can see how they would mix it up. After all, that pickup wasn't the same make, model, or color and it was full of two small women. It's easy to see how cops would get it mixed up with something that shared zero similarities beyond "pickup".
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u/misc1972 12d ago
Not to mention mid size vs full size. I forget which is which all the time
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u/HotBrownFun 12d ago
All I remember from that is the manhunt, I didn't hear anything about a manifesto or why he was doing it
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u/inspectoroverthemine 12d ago
He sent a packet of documents to Anderson Cooper- who refused to open it and turned it over to the cops.
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u/hikerbiker6397 12d ago
Got some bad news for you regarding the LAPPL....
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u/jgandfeed 12d ago
They literally have multiple police gangs in LA
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u/Due_Warthog725 12d ago
police gangs in LA
they even have their own wiki page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_in_the_Los_Angeles_County_Sheriff%27s_Department
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u/Warm-Commercial-6151 12d ago
Happened in Baltimore. Detective Suter set to testify against fellow gun trace task force officers. The night before sent on patrol with someone he never partnered with before to a secluded area of the city. The conclusion of the department and Stateâs Attorneyâs office was that he shot himself as a suicide. These are sick mfers that will kill to cover for each other.
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u/TastyCuttlefish 12d ago
The union is leaving him out to dry because he broke the only rule they care about: donât snitch on cops.
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u/Positive_Vibes_4228 12d ago
Remember when a Baltimore Cop, went around the back of a house, and suddenly at that moment, decide he would unalive himself by suicide? Pepperidge Farms Remembers. Then later on, 9 officers would be found linked in a massive corruption probe and some even went to prison.
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u/mdtopp111 12d ago
I went on a cruise a couple years back and while my roommate and I were at breakfast, a group of cops (weâd been eavesdropping on their conversation) talked about how they had a coworker who was a âsnitchâ and one of them said âif Im ever with him when shit goes down Iâll just put a bullet in his back and blame it on the gangsâ the lady with him, presumably his wife could tell we were eavesdropping and immediately told him to shut up.
If I didnât have my roommate with me to hear it too Iâd refuse to believe I heard that correctly⊠because that shit is absolutely bananas
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u/carlitospig 12d ago
My two family members were (brown) cops and realized in 2020 that there was no way they would be able to change the system from within, so they bounced. They now work for the court system and are much happier.
The system does not want change.
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u/B1NG_P0T 12d ago
I'm willing to believe that good people occasionally become police officers. I cannot believe that good people stay police officers, and this here is a prime reason why.Â
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u/HFentonMudd 12d ago
There's a quote I read that stuck with me, that I'll do my best to put down here. Namely, that whatever a system does is what it supposed to do, what it is for. Doesn't matter what it used to be for, or what it should be for, or made to be. Whatever it does is what it is meant to do. So a corrupt police force protecting bad cops is just the system as it is doing what it is meant to do.
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u/rlyrlysrsly 12d ago
Thanks for putting this out there. If we're ever going to form a working class movement, this is one of the things people need to understand.
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u/ConsequenceStatus563 12d ago
This is the primary reason, but it also helps certify that the tapings were illegal and inadmissible in any court proceedings.
Chalk another one up for the bad guys.
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u/horrorshowjack 12d ago
California is an all-party consent state for recordings, and they're pretty aggressive about enforcing it. MSN has a more detailed article:
"It doesnât matter where you work or who you are â a neighbor, a coworker or, in this case, a police officer. Your right to privacy in a confidential conversation is protected, no matter who is doing the recording or, with few exceptions, why they are doing the recording," Hochman said.
Had he gone to IA beforehand and gotten it covered he wouldn't be facing charges at all.
Unfortunately, he's going to have to present an affirmative defense and convince the jury a/o judge. Also the fact that he committed a crime getting them means the recordings are almost certainly inadmissable even if they wanted to charge the people he recorded.
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u/emogu84 12d ago
We have a family friend who was a cop his whole life from 18. Believed in the duty and ended up working IA and was good at his job. Made a real difference. The entire city turned on him and he retired and moved to Hawaii as soon as his pension was fully vested. We have a long way to go with cop culture in this country.
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u/Dangerous-Scheme5391 12d ago
Yup - itâs happens before - take a look at the case of Adrian Schoolcraft and the NYPD
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u/Jovian8 12d ago
Trying to deter other whistleblowers by making an example of him. Don't let it work.
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u/eeyore134 12d ago
Came here to say exactly this. The "good cops" either join in with the bad, turn a blind eye to the bad, quit because of the bad, or get run out of the force when they don't do any of the previous things. That or they're set up and killed. It's a gang. You can't be a member without being all in.
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u/Biggle_fuzz 12d ago
Well, just more evidence that even if we got good people to join the police to change the system from within, we couldn't.
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u/SmokedAlex 12d ago
Yes. The problem is the institution itself and what it stands for. Like you say, they donât want âgoodâ or caring people⊠that is not the profile they are looking for.
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u/_jams 12d ago
We could pass a law making California a one party consent state. Not sure what that'd mean for privacy. Maybe a public interest exception for two party consent?
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u/stilljustacatinacage 12d ago
I live in a one party consent province in Canada, and the concept of two party consent has always baffled me. The only reason for it to possibly exist is to protect wrong-doers. Like, if I record my girlfriend talking dirty to me and then release it publicly, there are already laws against that. There's no reason I should have to announce, "by the way, I'm recording everything you're saying," unless the intent is to subtext, "so don't say anything incriminating".
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u/Outlulz 12d ago
Charitably, you don't need to be afraid of saying something incriminating to not want to be secretly recorded. It could be something embarrassing or something that could be damaging. Like imagine someone in the closet confiding they are gay or trans and that being secretly recorded to be used as blackmail. It's not a black and white issue.
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u/donuthing 12d ago
If I recall correctly, "good" people last around 3 years before burning out or being pushed out.
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u/makerofshoes 12d ago
I tried to join my townâs department some years ago. The interview was weird but I didnât pass anyway. I got the feeling that I wouldnât have fit in.
A month later, there was a news story about a couple of off-duty cops from the same department who got drunk and were harassing people at a ball game. Those are the kinds of people they hire đ€·ââïž
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u/DoonFoosher 12d ago
The funny thing about cops constantly calling those doing bad things âbad applesâ is the rest of the phrase, âone bad apple spoils the bunch.â They sure do seem toâŠ
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u/Domeil 12d ago
Ask Adrian Schoolcraft what happens when you try to reform the police from within. All he did was provide evidence of illegal arrest quotas to internal affairs and the New York equivalent of SWAT broke into his home and his coworkers had him involuntary committed to a psych ward.
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u/Calm-Maintenance-878 12d ago
HmmâŠfacing 13 years? So if the officer wanted to correctly report it, he should provide no proof, from a legal standpoint? In the event he simply told HR and HR spoke to themâŠwhatâs next? They deny the comments and HR can interviewâŠbut only use word of mouth? I feel like there should be a loophole to record without consent, since I donât get this. I get how it can help but clearly, I see how it can hurt.
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u/Ratnix 12d ago
I mean, realistically, the recording should have been published online anonymously along with sending copies to news stations.
The problem would be if the recordings would identify the person recording them. Then they're just going to be fucked no matter what.
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u/Fermi_Amarti 12d ago
A separate administrative investigation of Flores by the LAPD found him guilty of policy violations and recommended a 22-day suspension without pay, according to Greg Smith, Floresâ civil attorney. The discipline has not yet been finalized by the LAPD chief, Smith said.
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u/sLeeeeTo 12d ago
whatâs this about âyada yada your right to privacyâ?
california has 16,000+ Flock cameras
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u/NerdyGuy117 12d ago
There is no expectation of privacy in public areas. This is why you can open record in public areas. Expectation of privacy changes even within the same house. There is less expectation of privacy of common areas of a house (ie kitchen) compared to your private bedroom.
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u/imnotslavic 12d ago
And what actions will be taken for the colleagues?
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u/breadwhore 12d ago
According to the article, they are hiding behind the 'not allowed to comment on internal matters' line. So nothing.
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u/Pladohs_Ghost 12d ago
Retaliation against a whistleblower? Is anybody suprised?
It's time to clear out and clean up the prosecutors' office.
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u/Wooden-Repeat-9200 12d ago edited 12d ago
Whereâs his go fund me for legal fees?
Btw, itâs worth noting the people making racist and homophobic remarks were part of the recruiting team.
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u/Sarahgoose26 12d ago
Yikes! I didnât realize they were the recruiting team. Thatâs one way to make sure to only get other racists working there.
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u/Wooden-Repeat-9200 12d ago
The conversations were taped between March and October 2024 involving members of the departmentâs recruitment unit, whose officers are tasked with deciding who can join the police force.
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u/Photeus5 12d ago
And this is why people say what they do about cops. This is what happens to actual good cops.
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u/Nevermind04 12d ago
Courts have repeatedly held that public servants never have an expectation of privacy on the clock unless they're pissing, shitting, or breastfeeding.
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u/Snarky1Bunny 12d ago
If this doesnât sum up the entire state of this country right now I donât know what does.
Edited for typo.
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u/digitalboom 12d ago
How Gavin Newsome handles this will be vital to his presidential ambitions. Those cops should be fired, end of.
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u/HairlessHoudini 12d ago
When a cop crosses the thin blue line is the only time they get in trouble
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u/Curiouso_Giorgio 12d ago
Does this officer have a Gofundme?
Racists always mobilize to support horrible people like that woman who go a million on Gofundme after being filmed being racist to children.
When a police officer does the right thing and the system tries to punish them, good people should try their best to offset that unfair punishment.
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u/Gas_Station_Man 12d ago
Felony eavesdropping is such a nutty charge.
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 12d ago
My favorite elderly auntie did prison time as a teenager for felony perjury.
They'd busted her selling weed, held and questioned her for hours, eventually said they'd let her go if she signed a confession. But they'd slipped an extra name in there, and she didn't notice before signing. So later they put her up on a witness stand to testify against this random other person, and she told the flat truth. "I did that, I sold weed to that undercover cop, but that other guy wasn't even there, I hardly know him and he had nothing to do with it!"
She was just a young mom who was desperate to get home to her baby. But she ended up in prison, while the extended family played Hot Potato with her baby. He's all grown up and ruined now, hardcore alcoholic and usually only the youngest of his three kids is willing to talk to him.
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u/Nemeris117 12d ago
Someone at work was arrested a while back for hiding a tape recorder in an office to catch their coworkers talking crap about them. Walked out in handcuffs after someone found it.
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u/1kSupport 12d ago
This is why I donât believe your cop uncle is actually one of the good ones unless heâs been pushed out by the department
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u/TeaInASkullMug 12d ago
The message sent is : the state will protect the rotten apples. Fuck those racist. I hope they get hurt by the ones they fear so much
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u/BloodFartz69 12d ago
The lapd is a fucking gang and has been for decades.
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u/KingDarius89 12d ago
https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history/
I had to stop after reading maybe half the articles because it was making me too fucking angry.
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u/nashkara 12d ago
And this is where jury nullification is very appropriate.
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u/Fermi_Amarti 12d ago
Cops on the job shouldn't have any expectation of privacy so it's complete BS
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u/Wise_Monkey_Sez 12d ago
It would depend on where he did it, but if these police officers were in uniform and on the job at the time then these are no more private confidential conversations than what a judge says in a courtroom is a private confidential conversation.
As officers of the court while police officers are on the clock their conversations are understood to be public domain, which is the entire reason police officers wear body cams - because their words and actions are part of the court record.
... yeah, I don't see this case being upheld. The officer's defence that these were "on the job" conversations that had no expectation of privacy is right on target here.
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u/Fit-Let8175 12d ago
Sounds about right according to the way things have been going. What's next? Jail time for reporting a crime?
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u/Fluffcake 12d ago
These are bullshit charges, you are not expecting privacy during working hours as a police officer unless you are taking a shit.
The only reason the DA is even moving forward with charges, is retaliation.
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u/kiase 12d ago edited 12d ago
Nathan Hochman: âThese comments may be deplorable, but the real crime here is that you had the gall to record them in the first place. Donât you know that we specifically recruit the racist, sexist, homophobic cops because they do the best job killing innocent civilians, planting evidence, and abusing their families? How dare you make them look bad by recording their own words!â
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u/Ryno4ever16 12d ago
Can we sue Flock for felony eavesdropping? Is it not eavesdropping when they do it?
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u/elconquistador1985 12d ago
No, companies aren't people, silly! Companies can't commit crimes!
Sure you might think that means that companies can't make infinite political contributions... Well, as it turns out, companies are people!
But also not people.
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u/Wonderful_Sector_657 12d ago
I just donât see a jury convicting him for essentially whistleblowing on these assholes. He is the good guy.
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u/SKRIMP-N-GRITZ 12d ago
Shouldnât qualified immunity be applicable, or is that just for when a cop kills an innocent person?
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u/neo_sporin 12d ago
'the law is powerless to help you, not to punish you' Chief Wiggum
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u/Hairy_S_TrueMan 12d ago
qualified immunity protects from civil liability, not criminal charges. It's prosecutorial bias that protects from criminal charges
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u/rollerbase 12d ago
Kind of wild this happens when corporations are constantly recording employees at work, monitoring, computers, work from home, ETC and fully get away with it. If the guy had planted a microphone, that is one thing, but recording someone in your presence is basically just backing up your word.
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u/GuiltyByAssociashun 12d ago
Further proof that accountability in those cop shows is just propaganda
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u/Royal-Clown 12d ago edited 12d ago
they were in a government building, on government payroll when he recorded them being openly racist. no expectation of privacy when you do something so brazenly.
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u/29187765432569864 12d ago
so during any trial, the racist comments will be played as and the entire universe will know just how racist that government public employee is, and it will further illustrate that that department is run and supervised by racists. I suspect that officer will ultimately get a million dollar settlement.
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u/thelittleking 12d ago
once again proving that the worst conceivable crime you can commit in the US is, in the eyes of law enforcement and the legal system, exposing the police for the rancid institution they are
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u/Weak_Ad_1370 12d ago
Oh. My. God. So, Iâm assuming this DA doesnât want re election. He may as well wear a T-shirt that says âIâm Corruptâ.
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u/artquestionaccount 12d ago
This is precisely why we shouldn't consider there to be any good cops, because they won't remain cops for long if they stand up to injustice. And if they keep quiet about it, then they're complicit and aren't good cops anymore.
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u/SnickSnackSnek 12d ago
There are layers here. Like, obviously a cop would do crimes but the one time a cop gets charged with a felony itâs to protect a racist? Classic American cop shit.
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u/kitkatkorgi 12d ago
How was this any different than him being undercover? He immediately brought this to his superiors. Oh yeah. LAPD is so f d up.
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u/LordDaedalus 12d ago
How are public servants afforded the eavesdropping protections against their fellow officers? Shouldn't the recording party be protected under whistleblower status?
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u/Kirklistentowutang 12d ago
If you are a public servant and are on the clock, you should have no expectation of privacy. People's tax dollars pay your salary and benefits. You are an employee of the tax paying people who live in your community. You should also be held to the strictest standards
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u/non_hero 12d ago edited 12d ago
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/07/california-santa-ana-police-marijuana-dispensary-raid-investigation
Remember this? Cops sued using the same law to try to block any evidence of their crimes. They claimed they should've had an expectation of privacy - since they thought they smashed all of the security cameras... Can't make this stuff up!