LOS ANGELES (NewsNation) — A newly filed lawsuit essentially demands that the Los Angles Police Department (LAPD) and the city take legal action to stem the fallout from an information scandal involving the release of the personal information of officers, including those working undercover. The police union says it’s the least the department can do given what’s happened and the growing safety concerns among the rank and file.
The goal of the new lawsuit, The Los Angeles Police Protective League versus the City of Los Angeles and Police Chief Michel Moore, is to, “Go to court (and) take all legal action to claw back or take back the photographs and names of officers that are out there that shouldn’t be out there,” according to Robert Rico, an attorney for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD officers.
However, according to the union, much damage has already been done, even if there was a clawback of information.
“This will not be a perfect solution, but unfortunately, it’s the only solution. And we, on behalf of our members, will do whatever we can to force the city to get back to court,” Rico said.
It’s been two weeks since the LAPD acknowledged what it called the “accidental release of photos and personal information” of more than 9,300 officers in response to a public records request.
At a Tuesday news conference, Moore touted the city’s lower murder rate, but he has yet to publicly respond to the new lawsuit.
In a separate case last week, the union succeeded in getting the Killer Cop 1984 Twitter account suspended. That account allegedly weaponized the information release and offered bounties on officers of up to $2,000.
But the Stop LAPD Spying website, which incorporated the information in the data release to create a searchable database, is still up.
The fallout has some officers who work undercover second-guessing their assignments and questioning why some officers in internal affairs were not part of the release. They’re dismissing the chief’s apology, and skepticism abounds over what he knew and when.
“I think this is something that would be obvious: If you’re gonna release photos, you would think that the chief would know about it. So, for the chief to say he doesn’t know about it, I just don’t believe it one bit,” said one undercover officer who spoke with NewsNation on the condition of anonymity.
Neither Moore nor the LAPD responded to a NewsNation request for comment. The LA City Attorney’s Office responded with “no comment.”