Private attorneys representing 321 unnamed LAPD officers have filed an initial legal action against the City of Los Angeles, claiming that a recent production of public record data on LAPD employees included the profiles of some officers working in undercover assignments, whose information is typically withheld from such disclosures.
"This presents a significant threat to the citizens of Los Angeles," said attorney Matthew McNicholas, who's West LA law firm represents dozens of other officers in unrelated lawsuits against the City.
"Several undercover operations have had to stop, and several undercover officers have been threatened, with direct threats, requiring their families to move," he said, adding that the officers had been identified and verbally threatened on the street.
According to the claim, which is an initial step required before a lawsuit can be filed, the City produced a volume of information about LAPD officers in response to two public records requests, and in both cases, the claim alleges the City failed to fully remove the names, photos, and identifying information of some undercover officers.
The LAPD routinely produces so-called roster data in response to records requests about its employees, including names, ranks, assignments, salaries, and employee identification or serial numbers.
Typically, however, the Department removes information about officers who work in specific undercover assignments, such as narcotics, even if the same officers' names and information had previously been produced in records disclosures.
McNicholas said in the two records disclosures in question the City removed only the profile information of undercover officers who work in internal affairs, who investigate and surveil other officers suspected of wrongdoing.
The union that represents most LAPD officers, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, filed a complaint March 20 about what it described as a "negligent and reckless" release of the information.
The first records request was filed by a person named Ben Camacho in 2021; the second was filed in December 2022 by the "Stop LAPD Spying Coalition." The information disclosed by the City was later published on a website called, "Watch the Watchers."
The "Watchers" site requires users to supply an officer's name or serial number in order to see their photograph.
McNicholas said he was worried the underlying data was being downloaded and viewed in other ways that would make it more likely a person spotted on the street could be identified as an undercover police officer.
"You have to assume the information is being pulled off," he said.
He said the total number of officers serving in undercover assignments was unknown, but estimated another 100 or so could join the legal case.
The City of Los Angeles generally doesn't comment on pending lawsuits.
