CBS News reported Officer Daniel Flores turned over 122 audio recordings stored on a USB drive to Internal Affairs and the Office of the Inspector General.
Prosecutors allege the recordings violated California’s two-party consent law. If convicted, Flores could face up to 13 years in prison.
The Los Angeles Times reported the recordings were made between March and October 2024 while Flores was assigned to the LAPD’s recruitment unit, where officers help determine who can join the police force.
Flores’ attorney, Alan Jackson, criticized the decision to file criminal charges, arguing prosecutors are targeting the officer who reported alleged misconduct rather than those accused of making discriminatory remarks.
“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 in a statement, according to the LA Times. “Not the officers who were recorded using racial, sexist, and anti-gay slurs… The officer who reported them.”
Flores is expected to plead not guilty, as Jackson argues California’s recording law applies only when people have a reasonable expectation their conversations will remain private.
Flores has also filed a civil lawsuit against the LAPD. According to CBS News, the complaint alleges the recordings captured officers using anti-gay slurs to describe colleagues they believed were LGBTQ+ and referring to Black people as “monkeys.”
The complaint adds that an officer made additional remarks invoking racist stereotypes about Black people.
Jackson argued the prosecution risks discouraging officers from coming forward with evidence of misconduct by punishing the person who documented the alleged behavior rather than those accused of discriminatory remarks.
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