LOS ANGELES — The union representing Los Angeles police rank and file sued Chief Michel Moore on Tuesday to force the department to stop making officers’ photos public and to claw back images of undercover officers given out under the state’s public records law.
The lawsuit follows more than a week of controversy, after the LAPD released the names, photographs and other identifying information of more than 9,300 officers to a watchdog group that posted them on its website.
The LAPD released the images and information as part of a public records request to a journalist with the nonprofit newsroom Knock LA. The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, an activist group, then turned the photos into a public, searchable database called “Watch the Watchers,” which includes each officer’s name, ethnicity, rank, date of hire, division/bureau, badge number and photo.
