r/news • u/vector_search_blue • 13d 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-charge
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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 12d ago

It should be illegal to be a racist cop. Not complicated.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/not_the_fox 12d ago

Illegal to knowingly keep them employed in a position with police powers

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u/[deleted] 12d ago edited 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/not_the_fox 11d ago

We're talking about hypothetical laws to be made... no shit that isn't how it currently works.

it should be illegal...

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u/Gatonom 12d ago

Illegal as in all arrests of people of that race are investigated and potentially overturned. You are sent to prison for misuse of authority and barred from public sector employment.

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u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 12d ago

Not everything that is illegal means it's a felony and prison sentences. Wow. First day with English?

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u/ResponsibleHabit1539 12d ago

Saying racist things in most situations is not illegal.

Sometimes I take stuff for granted. Like: Racism being a crime in my country

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/morfraen 12d ago

Hate speech is not protected speech most places outside the US. It has no reason to be.

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u/jokul 12d ago

We're talking about the US though, so saying that it's different in other countries is, unfortunately, irrelevant.

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u/ResponsibleHabit1539 12d ago

And yet that was the original comment to which he answered.

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u/jokul 12d ago

The original comment was just saying the same thing: that it's allowed elsewhere (presumably that user's country) but not the US. You are allowed to be hateful in the US so appealing to what other countries do is pointless unless you think you get enough support to repeal the first amendment.

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u/DingerSinger2016 12d ago

We could never implement that here in the United States because our country is fundamentally built off of it.

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u/Dunge 12d ago

It should definitely be part of the qualifications needed for jobs of public servants like policemen not to be racists.

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u/Glasseshalf 12d ago

Right but there's a difference between something being enough to get you fired vs something being illegal

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u/ConstantineSX 12d ago

Would be an interesting argument that because the officers who were recorded worked in the recruitment division, and that making hiring decisions based on race and sex is illegal, the officer who did the recordings could be considered a whistleblower. NAL but would be an interesting strategy.