LAPD officer could face state charges after secretly recording discriminatory remarks

A Los Angeles Police Department officer could face criminal charges after secretly recording colleagues making homophobic, racist and sexist remarks while on duty.

Daniel Flores, an LAPD officer, made the recordings before turning the audio over to his superiors as evidence, according to an internal affairs complaint he filed last year.

But California law generally makes it illegal to record conversations without the consent of the people involved. Flores has now been told that his internal affairs case was transferred to state prosecutors, who are weighing whether to bring charges under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, his attorney, Greg Smith, told The LA Times.

Violations of that law can be prosecuted as either a misdemeanour or a felony.

According to the complaint, the recordings were made between March and October 2024 in LA personnel buildings near LAPD headquarters. Flores gathered around 90 recordings of officers responsible for deciding who could join the police force, capturing slurs and other offensive remarks.

Smith said Flores’ defence is that he believed he had authority to make covert recordings as part of an investigation because he is a police officer.

The LA Times also reported that a separate administrative investigation by the LAPD found Flores guilty of policy violations and recommended a 90-day suspension without pay.

The lawsuit says Flores “was subjected to numerous statements he considered to be derogatory towards himself and others based on race, national origin, sex/gender, and sexual orientation.”

The case highlights how workplace discrimination complaints can collide with privacy laws, even when the material is gathered to document slurs and bias. For LGBTQ people in law enforcement and other institutions, such disputes can complicate efforts to prove hostile treatment on the job.

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