LAPD officer recorded colleagues’ racist comments and filed an complaint. Now he’s been slapped with felony eavesdropping

Los Angeles County prosecutors charged LAPD officer Daniel Flores with 16 felony counts of eavesdropping on Friday, the LA Times reported. These charges stem from his decision to secretly record colleagues who were allegedly making racist, sexist, and homophobic comments while on the job.

The recordings were captured between March and October 2024. They involved members of the department’s recruitment unit, which is the team responsible for deciding who joins the police force. Flores eventually turned about 90 of these recordings over to his superiors when he filed an internal affairs complaint last year. He stated at the time that he hoped the evidence would be used to discipline the individuals responsible for the comments.

L.A. Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman released a statement regarding the charges. He noted that while he found the recorded comments deplorable, he believes Flores violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act. This act prohibits recording others without their consent.

If he is convicted, Flores faces a sentence of up to 13 years in prison

“This case serves as a warning to anyone seeking to record a conversation without the other person’s permission that doing so is illegal and has been a crime in the state of California for over 50 years,” the statement read. “It doesn’t matter where you work or who you are – 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.”

The defense team for Flores is pushing back hard against these charges. His attorney, Alan Jackson, argues that the legal action is a major misstep by the District Attorney’s Office. “Today the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged a police officer with a crime for reporting racism inside the Los Angeles Police Department,” Jackson said. “Not the officers who were recorded using racial, sexist, and anti-gay slurs. Not the officers who sat in a government building and said those things while holding the power to decide who becomes an LAPD officer. The officer who reported them.”

Jackson intends to argue that Flores made the recordings while acting within the scope of his duties as a police officer. He maintains that his client was investigating misconduct within the workplace. Furthermore, Jackson claims the eavesdropping law only applies when speakers have a reasonable expectation that their words will not be overheard or recorded.

He believes the charges send a chilling message to others. “if you document bigotry inside the LAPD, you will be the one who ends up in a courtroom. It tells them the safe move is to hear slurs and say nothing,” Jackson stated.

The lawsuit filed by Flores against the city last month provides more detail on the nature of the recorded conversations. According to the suit, supervisors and colleagues made inappropriate comments about women and used derogatory terms for queer colleagues. The lawsuit also alleges that officers referred to Black people as monkeys and made claims about their food preferences. Another conversation reportedly involved a supervisor making derogatory remarks about the death of Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela.

While the legal battle unfolds, Flores is also facing an administrative investigation by the LAPD. This internal probe found him guilty of policy violations and recommended a 22-day suspension without pay. Greg Smith, the civil attorney for Flores, noted that the discipline has not yet been finalized by the police chief.

It remains unclear if any of the officers recorded by Flores have faced their own punishments, as California law requires most police personnel investigations to be kept confidential.