Undercover Los Angeles police file claims in photo backlash

McNicholas announces the filing of a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department, on April 4, 2023, in Los Angeles, for wrongly releasing the identities of LAPD undercover officers. — AP

LOS ANGELES: More than 300 undercover Los Angeles police officers filed legal claims against the city and police department on April 4 after their names and photographs were released to a technology watchdog group that posted them online.

The watchdog group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition posted more than 9,300 officers’ information and photographs last month in a searchable online database following a public records request by a reporter for progressive news outlet Knock LA. Hundreds of undercover officers were included in the database, although it’s not clear exactly how many because the database doesn’t specify which officers work undercover.